Green Options

Norfolk Southern unveiled an all-electric locomotive this week at its Juniata Locomotive Shop in Altoona, PA The 1,500 horsepower locomotive gets its power from 1,080 12-volt lead-acid batteries, the same kind found under the hoods of most cars.

No diesel motor here, just all electric baby.

England is working to combine two of the world’s cleanest methods of transportation through a new initiative.

A handful of strongly funded programs are geared to get more people bicycling to and from rail stations in England.

China just awarded Bombardier Sifang a contract to build 80 “very high speed trains” for the country.

These are super progressive trains that are energy efficient as well as lightning fast. China intends to invest a total of $300 billion in high speed trains by 2020.

On Friday, the St. Louis Cardinals will travel via Amtrak train from Washington D.C. to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for a weekend series with the Phillies. The railroad road-trip will be the first time in over forty years the Cardinals have traveled via train.

Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak told NPR that both he and the players were looking forward to the trip. “It’s very unusual for us, but it was something we looked into and it seemed to make a lot of sense,” said Mozeliak. “Plus it ends up shaving a significant amount of time off our travel.”

The Cardinals will ride in three privatized train cars that will be added to the standard train for the one hour, forty-five minute journey.

I have lived in Europe on two occasions now — for five months in the Netherlands (two years ago) and for ten months in Poland (currently). I have been green-minded since I was a young child, and knew that Europe did better on many green issues. Nonetheless, to come here and live here has given me more insight on the perspectives of the people and more of a practical understanding of why Europe fairs so much better than the US on many environmental issues.

Recently, I came up with a list of seven things that really stand out to me as good environmental practices in Europe that could be transferred to the US. These could all be adopted in the US, but some are more personal in nature and some are more systematic. Furthermore, some of the personal ones regard large, life decisions, and some are much simpler in nature and easier to implement into your life now.

Of course, Europe is not one country and things vary from country to country. Nonetheless, there are also several similarities across borders. I have friends in other countries and have traveled a bit as well, so I hope to be sharing the best of the best.

Here’s the list!

Editor’s note: This post was originally published on the Clean Fleet Report on April 7, 2009.

Intermodal solutions allow people to effectively navigate major cities such as New York, Washington D.C., Paris, Madrid, and Tokyo. Subway and light-rail are especially effective, but expensive to build. As cities grow, change, and morph, not every potential route can be served with subway and light-rail. Bus rapid transit is a cost effective way to duplicate some of the benefits of light-rail, at a fraction of the capital expenditure. Buses, taxis, car sharing, bicycling, and walking are all parts of the solution. For many, cars are their preferred way to get around, yet if all transportation were cars then cities would be frozen in gridlock.

High-speed rail integrates all these systems together and moves people from city to city at high-speed. When the distance is only a few hundred miles, high-speed rail coupled with city transit beats airplane and car every time.

Now an 800 mile high-speed rail network is being started in California. Because it depends on local and public-private partnership funding, as well as state and federal funding, it will be built in sections. First online are likely to be areas that are currently overwhelmed with passenger vehicles crawling on freeways that should be renamed “slowways.” Likely to be among the first in service are the Orange County - Los Angeles section and the San Jose - San Francisco section.

San Jose provides an example of current transportation problems as well as the future promise of high-speed rail integrated with intermodal solutions. Currently, during rush hour, cars crawl from all directions into San Jose, the self-proclaimed capital of Silicon Valley. Vehicles overload some of the nation’s busiest highways - 680, 880, 101, 280, 87, and 17.

When members of Congress sat down to hammer out the final details on the economic stimulus package, President Obama’s Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel greatly upped the ante for high-speed rail, asking House-Senate negotiators for $10 billion — far more than either bill had allotted.

Now is the time for an increase in our national gas tax to fund improvements in our transportation infrastructure and save a dieing manufacturing base.

Spain’s sleek new high-speed trains have stolen hundreds of thousands of passengers from airlines over the last year, slashing carbon emissions and marking a radical change in the way Spaniards travel.

Passenger numbers on fuel-guzzling domestic flights fell 20% in the year to November as commuters and tourists swapped cramped airline seats for the space and convenience of the train, according to figures released yesterday.

High-speed rail travel - boosted by the opening of a line that slashed the journey time from Madrid to Barcelona to 2 hours 35 minutes in February - grew 28% over the same period. About 400,000 travellers shunned airports and opted for the 220mph AVE trains.

Last year’s drop in air travel, which was also helped by new high-speed lines from Madrid to Valladolid, Segovia and Malaga, marks the beginning of what experts say is a revolution in Spanish travel habits.

Although Amtrak may be a greener choice for travel, some questions still remain about the company’s overall environmental policies. Trains are not money-makers and Amtrak is no exception. From the sounds of it, they are cutting some of their greener practices to shave a little off their expenses, but at what cost to the environment?

In a sweeping proposal intended to create jobs, inject life into the state’s economy, repair infrastructure, and bring Oregon’s transportation network into the 21st century, Governor Ted Kulongoski unveiled more than $1 billion in road, rail, bridge, mass transit and port funding yesterday.

The new transportation investments would be paid for with a myriad of tax and fee hikes, including:

• a 2-cent per gallon gas tax increase
• doubling the vehicle titling fee to $110
• raising the vehicle registration fee from $27 per year to $81 per year
• creating a first-time fee of $100 for titling cars new to the state
• raising the tobacco tax by 2½ cents

The plan also calls for borrowing $600 million and using and additional $16 million in lottery money.