Get ready y'all, we all know diesel buses burn diesel fuel refined from good old crude oil from all of our friends in the Mid-East. Imagine if we sink (pun intended), I mean SINK a Billion dollars into BRT and at the end of 20 years, the tap runs dry? Okay, what if we have a gazillion barrels of the stuff in the locker but it is still a number set in stone (or should I say shale). Someday we are going to either run out, or we are going to see the numbers continue to rise as the producers notice the tank is draining. Either way, except for short little market plays, the stuff isn't going to get any cheaper, and sure not to get any more available to us.
What if we could build a Transit System that runs off of industrial waste furnaces? Or solar, wind or tidal generation? What about a Hydrogen Fuel Cell power plant turning a generator that powers the system? What if we could build it without rails where it is light, and with them where it is heavy in traffic? What if the roadway trolley-buses didn't need wires? Would you believe that technology is already available to us and is being used in THEME PARKS? A true electric bus, that recharges at stations as it passes over certain points buried in the pavement. No wire, no fuel, no waste, no fumes, no noise...
On the other side, we are basing our whole transit plan on the tried and true American way:
(http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa111/Ocklawaha/FuelUseDaily.jpg)
Kind of makes you want to say "Filler up mate..." Doesn't it?
Ocklawaha
You've got some great ideas here. My only worry is, if we don't base our transit plan on the tried and true American way of crude oil, we'll just use coal. Although it can be mined right here in the good ole' US of A, it's bad news for the environment in the long run.
I like your idea of using alternative/renewable energy. I'd really like to see Jax or UNF/JU/UF step up and start doing some serious research into tidal generators. Do you know of any examples where alternative energies are employed on a large scale in a major metro community's transit system?
Yes, Sacramento's LRT line has started using a true re-generative system as opposed to dynamic braking (which is sort of like having the clutch slow down your car as you downshift) By reverse poles they can power the wire back up with streetcars that are coming into a station or moving downhill. It is a rare case where 1 + 1 doesn't = 2 though, as you can NOT put as much power back into the wire as you take out. I is impossible to "Create Energy", but we can create power from energy stored.
I have also been hearing about industrial waste generation and some other ideas. Los Angeles may be getting their power from the wind farms but I'm not sure if there are numbers on what % of the power come's out of there or the solar stations. On the way to my property in Landers, there are miles and miles of wind generators. I agree, it would be so cool to get our local universitys working on this. I would certainly love to see it done in the field of LRT, Streetcar, Skyway and Trolley Bus, so we could cut back on our gas use.
Ocklawaha
Agreed, I'd love to see non-oil powered transit. I've been surprised at how many buildings in Jacksonville are green/LEED-certified, so the community might be able to gather enough support for something like that.
QuoteSolar panels to provide power at NJ TRANSIT facility
700KW DC or 800,000KW a year
NJ TRANSIT will create one of the largest solar-power installations in the state and produce clean, renewable-source electricity at its vast locomotive and railroad car maintenance facility in Kearny under a plan approved by the NJ TRANSIT Board of Directors. The solar power system will reduce NJ TRANSIT utility bills by $90,000 per year with no need for up-front capital funding and promotes New Jersey’s clean air and energy policy goals. A $1.57-million New Jersey Board of Public Utilities rebate will support construction costs
.
QuoteThe Ride the Wind!TM Project
Ride the Wind!TM Using Zero-Emissions Electricity from Wind Energy to Power Calgary's Light Rail Transit System
The project was fully approved by City Council on February 12, 2001. Here are the highlights of the project.
Vision Quest enters into a contract for Green Energy with Enmax
Enmax enters into an agreement with City Transit to deliver the wind power to the LRT.
All Emission Reduction Credits will be transferred to City Transit, via Enmax.
Ten new wind turbines will be financed, constructed, owned and operated by Vision Quest.
The new wind turbines will be online and delivering clean wind power by August 31, 2001. Wind energy facilities can be installed faster than any other large scale electricity generating technology.
Ocklawaha
I posted a complete piece on LRT using Wind power in my transit blog at:
http://jacksonvilletransit.blogspot.com/
Anyone interested in seeing the whole deal, come on in and check it out, also take the SKYWAY survey while your there.
Ocklawaha
Nice blog. It has a lot of information on it so I'm going to have to spend some time checking it out. If you're up to it, should email links to JTA RTS representatives on a regular basis.