Edit topic

Updated your discussion topic below.

Subject
Enter a subject for your topic. Maximum 150 characters.
Post Body
Enter your post below.
The following quote is from F. Mack Shelor, Independent Consultant, South River Consulting, in an article from Energy Central at: http://www.energypulse.net/centers/article/article_display.cfm?a_id=872 I will cut and paste his reference to railroads rather than providing the whole article: "4. The U.S. could provide legislation and supports to the four major railroads to convert from fossil fuels to electricity on their lines. This would move the railroads from strictly fossil fuel to a market basket of fuels and could reduce fossil fuel demand by another 2.5 million barrels of oil per day. a. As a sub-set to this activity, the U.S. could provide a private initiative to create a national D.C. transmission system along the major rail corridors. This would provide a national grid that would not only provide a direct way to electrify the railroads but it would also significantly improve the national electrical efficiency. b. If the freight railroads were converted from diesel electric to direct D.C. electric, the cost for moving freight would be significantly lower and the displacement of fossil fuel for trucks would further reduce the demand for imported oil. This displacement could reduce oil imports even more. 5. Finally, the U.S. could create a D.C. electric high-speed passenger rail system along the major population corridors. When this initiative is coupled with the freight rail initiative it would create a viable national D.C. grid that would redistribute the lowest cost electricity from coast to coast. Perhaps just as importantly, this initiative would provide a viable way to utilize renewable resources. Wind as an example, can be modeled as individual projects or can be modeled as a cohesive national resource. If the D.C. system was in place, the available wind energy in the U.S. would significantly reduce greenhouse gases and would be available and reliable. Solar-thermal energy has not been well supported in the recent legislation, but if it could be properly supported, it would also become a national resource through a D.C. transmission system. Biomass, Geothermal and Hydro-Electric energy would become broadly distributed and would also displace a significant amount of fossil energy. A high-speed passenger rail system using electrically driven equipment would displace a significant amount of fossil fuel currently being consumed by airlines for reasonably short distance travel."
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag
E-mail Subscribe
Check the box below if you want to receive e-mail notifications when replies are made to this thread.

Receive notifications