What would be the next generation Transportation?
How long will we be continuing to make these polluting things called motor vehicles for our transport? I think it is high time the country had a plan to throw out these polluting ones and introduce a common transportation and non polluting platform.
I think it should be an electric rail system. how you generate your electricity might go on changing. But the electric motors are one of the best that man makes today in terms of noise, pollution and efficiency. I think that the transportation should move to rails for another reason too. On the rails the entire route and the movement can be totally controlled. One it can be fast. Two there can be times when we can have zero accidents.
There can be private cars on the rails and that would appear out of the sci-fi movies, though.
If you talk about pollution: have you ever realised how much pollution is caused by electricity power plants? Wether it is powered by coal, natural gas or nuclear power: there is always pollution of the air or the environment in general. Nuclear power may seem clean, but the radioactivity that is created, will harm the environment for generations, and nobody can do anything about it.
The only clean resources to generate electricity are wind and water energy, and you must be lucky enough to live in a part of the world where those resources can be applied, to feel completely comfortable.
Second: rail transportation will never be able to service the fine grid that any motor vehicle can. Tramways or undergound services in a city will only run over / under major streets, and people always need to go there in order to use it. Major railways can only provide services between villages and cities, and if the train stops too often, nobody wants to use it because of the fact that the travel time mainly consists of waiting at stops for people to get in. Express services have the disadvantage that people from places in between only see the train whizzzz by while they are waiting for their local multistop train.
Electric vehicles are indeed the future, but not trains. A new type of battery that can store far more power with much less weight is being developed, and when it is finished, the electric car will become practical.
from what i hear, hydrogen cars are an excellent alternative. whatever we move to, besides oil, we have to realize that change will be very difficult:
-new distribution centers
-people don't like change
-corporations would lose market
and theres probably other things that i cant think of. But of course, we WILL need to get off of oil EVENTUALLY. i'm in no hurry though.
| -TomJ- wrote: |
If you talk about pollution: have you ever realised how much pollution is caused by electricity power plants? Wether it is powered by coal, natural gas or nuclear power: there is always pollution of the air or the environment in general. Nuclear power may seem clean, but the radioactivity that is created, will harm the environment for generations, and nobody can do anything about it.
The only clean resources to generate electricity are wind and water energy, and you must be lucky enough to live in a part of the world where those resources can be applied, to feel completely comfortable.
Second: rail transportation will never be able to service the fine grid that any motor vehicle can. Tramways or undergound services in a city will only run over / under major streets, and people always need to go there in order to use it. Major railways can only provide services between villages and cities, and if the train stops too often, nobody wants to use it because of the fact that the travel time mainly consists of waiting at stops for people to get in. Express services have the disadvantage that people from places in between only see the train whizzzz by while they are waiting for their local multistop train. |
Many times we are limited by what we see. The cars also need roads as much as the trains need the rails. The difference is just that you lay a rail instead of the road which could become cheaper in the long run. Secondly, rails will ensure that we move very fast and is controllable by computers with minimum or no major new inventions like vision sensors, etc. A central computer can control an entire rail network unlike the case of a road transport system. Thirdly, you shouldn't trains stop frequently. Imagine a rail-cab on which you will leave the house and go to your office. Or suppose you need to go for a long distance, you will just connect yourself to a 'train' that might run once in a while.
True power plants are polluting. But over a period of time we might better it and make it more comfortable for working. We need not change the transportation system every time when there is a change in the fuel. | ocalhoun wrote: |
| Electric vehicles are indeed the future, but not trains. A new type of battery that can store far more power with much less weight is being developed, and when it is finished, the electric car will become practical. |
My trains I did not mean the long 'trains'. Already we have short three coach versions running frequently and swiftly in many places. This can become cabs; private cabs which everyone of us can own and run it from the house.I read that Public transportation really doesn't help the environment as people would like us to believe. the amount of pollution they put back into the environment is as much if not more than if the passengers were driving their own individual cars.
I'm all for an alternative fuel source, but as long as Oil is affordable Companies are not gonna fully pursue the alternatives like fuel cells and what not. I'm really hoping Hydrogen Fuel cells will be the future. the sound of water as your only exhaust sounds great.
Well first i must assure everyone, that cars,busses make much more pollution that all the plants, factoryes etc. Hydrogen cars, Hybrid cars are already being built as we spea. The hybrid cars (fuel and electrisity) are on the market and anyone can buy them. Hydrogen cars were presented on many car shows, but they are still only concept cars. That means they are like example of the future and there is no 100% guaranty that they will be mass produced. rshanthakumar said that there should be a plan to throw out fuel cars. You think government will finance this kind of project? dream on. Bsides, tha oil market is getting better and better as the oil prices rise higher. There are big bucks in this bussines and they will pump out the last cent from this part of market before going to alternative fuel.
I dream of something like this:
The final and the ultimate city might look like this before the space age sets in.
All transportation will be on electricity. There will be small cabs that are computer controlled. When you get into the car, you need to enter the destination, from your car's map. It will run on a rail and take care of the entire route. Takes care of any blocks in the way; may be a presedential motorcade, etc., etc., and then reach the destination. No drivers. No speeding. No going through the one way. And no overtaking because all the cars will be running at the same speed! May be running at around 1000 km / hr or some such thing. It will drive into every house, mall, etc.,
Electricity will be fed by the cables that run below the cabs and hidden, safely laid out.
What do you people think of this? I am not looking at one to ten years from now. May be fifty to hundred years from now...
I think in the future all cars will hover over the road and be on sort of a track so that they can go very fast with little accidents. They will be powered by electromagnets in the road, which would be powered by fusion power plants. Therefore, little pollution, everyone getting places fast, and extreme kool factor.
kevin
I heard a car running with only compressed air in France.
But of course not as powerful as hydrogen ones.
