At first, wouldn’t it be better to switch to electric
buses first? >It’s got government subsidy built in (local,
usually), moves lots of people, doesn’t need to accelerate
fast, doesn’t need to look sexy, and has lots of room for
storage of batteries...not to mention, can swap out
newly charged batteries at night, or recharge in situ!
Electric commuter trains with biodiesel backup engines could
be a next step, then if that works, electric powered
cargo trains with biodiesel backup, then the private companies can build their
superefficient nanobattery powered cars...no?
Private(home) use of solar/wind/stirling electric generation
could be next.
Slow, but steady transition....end of foreign oil(will
need a dinosaur oil company death watch), won’t
need to cater to other cultures, can leave them behind.
Here’s another idea, how about mining land fills for
combustibles? or metals....gets rid of land fill problems
for sure.
Every train in the US is powered by electric motors already.
A FEW of them obtain their electrical power by way of a third rail or trolley connection to the electric grid, but most locomotives generate their electricity on board, with a diesel powered generator set. These long-haul railroads account for less than 5% of our total oil consumption, but are far more efficient than airplanes, trucks, buses, or cars in terms of work performed per BTU.
We do need to increase our electric generating capacity and drastically upgrade our electrical grid, so perhaps we could include electrification of our major rail routes in that upgrade. That would shift that consumption from oil to whatever the electricity was generated from. That might be worthwhile, but since railroads are already so efficient, the total effect might be insignificant.
We already have natural gas powered buses here in the DC metro area. Agreed that this will have to be a long transition process. We have hundreds of millions of internal combustion engine vehicles that represent a huge capital investment for industry and individuals. The oil execs have stated that we will still rely 85% on oil to power our vehicles up to 2030. There are no easy answers.