Monday, September 08, 2008
Transport blues
Today's Telegraph reports that an illegal convoy of the Segway upright scooters will head from the Houses of Parliament to the Department of Transport on Tuesday as part of a campaign to make their use legal on British roads.
Campaigners will be joined by Earl Attlee, Earl Liverpool, and the MPs Stephen Pound and Lembit Őpik MP. They believe that the Segway could play a key role in unblocking Britain's gridlocked main roads.
This presumes of course that drivers could overcome the problem of looking ridiculous in getting onto one of the devices in public in the first place. Bring back the Sinclair C5, I say. At least they were manufactured in Merthyr Tydfil.
Campaigners will be joined by Earl Attlee, Earl Liverpool, and the MPs Stephen Pound and Lembit Őpik MP. They believe that the Segway could play a key role in unblocking Britain's gridlocked main roads.
This presumes of course that drivers could overcome the problem of looking ridiculous in getting onto one of the devices in public in the first place. Bring back the Sinclair C5, I say. At least they were manufactured in Merthyr Tydfil.
Comments:
<< Home
I feel that we have gone past the stage of unblocking the roads of the UK; we haven't got anything that resembles an integrated transport system in the UK, anywhere!
Having been to the Netherlands on a few occations, it is easy to see that people don't rely on cars to get them to and from work on the 9 to 5, they use bicycles. The Netherlands has a much higher population density that most of the UK, somewhere around 17 million in the land area of Wales.
In addition how much are we filling petrol in our cars each week, rough guess, 25 to 30 litres. This amount of hydrocarbons (CH2) will weigh around 18½ - 22 kgs, burning this produces 42 - 50 kgs of Carbon Dioxide per week. Buses, Trams and Trains use much less fuel per passenger mile than cars, but the number of people travelling to work on the above modes of transport are in the minority c.f. car communters.
Any suggestions on how we could get people out of their cars and onto public transport?
Having been to the Netherlands on a few occations, it is easy to see that people don't rely on cars to get them to and from work on the 9 to 5, they use bicycles. The Netherlands has a much higher population density that most of the UK, somewhere around 17 million in the land area of Wales.
In addition how much are we filling petrol in our cars each week, rough guess, 25 to 30 litres. This amount of hydrocarbons (CH2) will weigh around 18½ - 22 kgs, burning this produces 42 - 50 kgs of Carbon Dioxide per week. Buses, Trams and Trains use much less fuel per passenger mile than cars, but the number of people travelling to work on the above modes of transport are in the minority c.f. car communters.
Any suggestions on how we could get people out of their cars and onto public transport?
# posted by 
: 8:39 AM
: 8:39 AM
Good points, but you don't mention that old buses and large vehicles used diesel engines which tend to produce more particulate matter linked to lung problems.
Also, what about Le Chatlier's principle? I notice that many forget to mention it, yet farmers (even if they are not aware of it) use it a lot to boost, e.g., tomato production in 'green houses', and of course we rely on it to produce millions of tons of ammonia for use in fertilizer production.
... what about thermal decomposition of rock? Magma/volcanoes release huge volumes of CO2. If the world goes through another volcano period the concentration of CO2 will increase by orders of magnitude compared to today's level. Going back to school physical chemistry, but calcium carbonate or any carbonate based rock will release carbon dioxide if heated enough. The Romans used such heating to make CaO (calcium oxide sometimes called quick-lime) for use in lime-mortar (the forerunner to modern day concrete).
Post a Comment
Also, what about Le Chatlier's principle? I notice that many forget to mention it, yet farmers (even if they are not aware of it) use it a lot to boost, e.g., tomato production in 'green houses', and of course we rely on it to produce millions of tons of ammonia for use in fertilizer production.
... what about thermal decomposition of rock? Magma/volcanoes release huge volumes of CO2. If the world goes through another volcano period the concentration of CO2 will increase by orders of magnitude compared to today's level. Going back to school physical chemistry, but calcium carbonate or any carbonate based rock will release carbon dioxide if heated enough. The Romans used such heating to make CaO (calcium oxide sometimes called quick-lime) for use in lime-mortar (the forerunner to modern day concrete).
# posted by : 5:16 PM
: 5:16 PM<< Home
