More than 50 percent of the 64,000 new transit buses expected to arrive on roadways worldwide by 2015 will be fueled by alternative sources of energy, compared with 28 percent of new bus deliveries in 2010, according to a report by U.S.-based Pike Research.

The most significant growth will occur in North America and Asia, where more than 60 percent of all new buses will be powered with alternative fuels within five years.

“Of the various options available for making mass transit cleaner, buses are the easiest to implement because changes can be completed without significant new or upgraded infrastructure,” said Dave Hurst, a senior analyst at Pike.

According to the report, hybrid electric buses will have the smallest impact on infrastructure since they usually use diesel fuel; while natural gas buses are less expensive, they require fueling stations. While the number of hydrogen fuel cell buses will continue to increase, their growth will be small compared with other alternative fuels because they require hydrogen refueling points.

Article appearing courtesy Yale Environment 360.

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Going forward, how do localities move forward in the 21st Century? While a lot of metro areas depend largely on the traditional mode of transportation–cars to get to and from their destinations. However, what separates traditional metro areas from those of the 21st Century is one of commitment to green and alternative transportation. While some metro localities continue with the status, some are progressing into the 21st Century in terms of their commitment to green and alternative transportation, namely in the form of expanding public transit.

One such metro area that is planning for the future–21st Century–is the Metro Atlanta area. In fact,the metro Atlanta area has dedicated “more than half of the $22.8 billion in formal applications (to the state), $13.5 billion were mass transit projects, compared with $8.5 billion in road projects, according to AJC.” As a result, thinking about the future means making a serious commitment from localities to show that they want something other than what has already been the traditional method of transportation–something different, something green, something unique, and finally something that moves the Metro Atlanta region forward rather than backward.

As such, it is great that $13.5 billion of their “formal applications” are for mass transit projects rather than traditional infrastructure projects which have relied primarily on building more bridges, overpasses, and highways. In other words, the Atlanta area is looking at ways to change the notion of what suburbia has come to mean here in the U.S.–miles and miles of endless roads. Instead of endless roads, Metro Atlanta recognizes that suburbia should change its “regional culture” from one of dependence on cars to one that is dependent on green alternative forms of transportation such as mass transit.

Changing such a culture clearly begins with the small step of localities such as Cobb County, a suburb of Atlanta requesting funds from the state that are primarily mass transit and other forms of transportation other than more and more road projects which has traditionally been the case. Thus, to alleviate traffic congestion that often plagues suburban communities like Cobb County, there should be rail lines that extend from the city of Atlanta way out into its suburban communities. Such a change appears to be coming with Atlanta’s suburbs taking a step in the right direction through their commitment to spend more on the future and less on the past. To meet that goal, instead of requesting money to widen suburban highways, they have made a request for spending on new and innovative infrastructure projects in the form of mass transit.

Article by Patrick Kenney, appearing courtesy Justmeans.

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The year is 2015. One million electric vehicles whoosh along America’s highways and the noise is, well, not likely to inspire fist-pumping rock and roll anthems. But if we reach the goal President Obama has set of one million EVs in four years, it’s the start of a quiet revolution that can ultimately free us from Big Oil.

Cars and trucks are so much a part of the American culture that it’s hard to believe we’ve been behind the wheel for barely 100 years. Henry Ford’s first Model T’s rolled off the assembly line in late 1908 — a do-everything, go-anywhere vehicle that could get up to 25 mpg. Incredibly, just over a century later, the average fuel-efficiency for all American cars and trucks is worse than the Model T’s. That’s not progress (unless you’re an oil company).

Because more than 70 percent of the oil we consume goes to transportation, we can’t break our petroleum habit without rethinking how we get around. Cars and trucks that use little or no gas will be part of the solution. But we’ll also need high-speed rail, smart transit-oriented development, and, of course, much better mass transit. Like it or not, though, Americans won’t be ready to give up driving completely anytime in the foreseeable future. If we do electric vehicles right, they won’t have to.

For one thing, we must create new infrastructure to support those million EVs. Yes, that means charging stations, but it also means developing cutting-edge battery, electric motor, and solar-charging technologies right here in the U.S. If that seems daunting, remember that when the first Model T’s came along the vast majority of our roads weren’t even paved, and yet we managed to quickly develop the infrastructure that moved us from horse power to horsepower seemingly overnight.

And while we’re figuring out how to make it easy to charge our electric cars, we also need to make sure that we’re doing it with the cleanest energy possible. Replacing cars that run on energy from oil with cars that have run on energy from a coal-fired power plant, just replaces one problem with another.

The best way forward — solve both problems at once. Get those million cars on the road and aggressively move to cleaner sources of electricity. That’s why the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign is actually also an important part of moving Beyond Oil. (And with at least 150 proposed coal plants stopped so far, it’s a successful one, too!)

Finally, no matter what anyone says, the only realistic solution to the buffeting our economy takes from unpredictable gas-price hikes is to reduce demand at the pump. If there’s one thing the success of the first generation of hybrid cars showed, it’s that people are ready to adopt new technologies if it means they can use less gas. And when it comes to fuel economy, it’s hard to beat a car or truck that doesn’t need gas at all.

I’ve never met an EV owner who didn’t both love their ride and relish their freedom from the pump. Now if we can get a band like Arcade Fire or Gogol Bordello to crank out some electrifying new EV anthems, our quiet revolution will have a 21st-century soundtrack.

Want to tell President Obama that you’re eager to see the EV revolution get rolling? Send him a message in support of one million EVs by 2015.

Article by Michael Brune, appearing courtesy ecopolitology.

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Hot on the heels of the announcement of Russia’s first ever electric vehicle hybrid another announcement came about the bolstering of Russia’s green transportation systems. According to the announcement that came from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the country is preparing to begin serious work towards a high speed rail system. Russia isn’t alone on this plan either. Many countries around the world, including the United States, have been looking at how efficient and cost effective high speed rail transportation can be.

Russia’s plan to move into green transportation on the mass transit scale has been thin on the details so far, but it is said to be inspired by another high speed rail system. Recently, the Prime Minister rode on a Finnish high speed rail train with the Finnish President, Tarja Halonen, during his visit to the country. The train in question was a French made Allegro and ran on a rail that passed between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg. Putin says that the high speed rail he would like to have built in Russia would be ready in time for the 2018 World Cup which has chosen Russia for the host. Once the World Cup has come and gone, however, the trains would be utilized in a way to allow quicker travelling times between cities like Moscow, Kazan, Samara and Ulyanovsk and at a more frequent rate than current mass transit allows. While the future of such a rail service in Russia is unknown, all of the first rails would be run primary through the European portion of the country where the World Cup is to be held.

The announcement of high speed rails to bolster green transportation in Russia has come at a time when other projects have been announced across the globe. Turkey, for example, is currently testing new bullet train models on their currently existing high speed rails lines. In the United States, Florida has also announced that they will be working with Siemens to build a high speed rail line between Tampa, Orlando, and Miami. The Florida rails are a part of the greater picture presented by President Obama who has vowed to give over $80 million in grants for the development of high speed rail across the country in a bid to support a move towards green transportation.

No matter where it is established in the world, the development of high speed rails is pretty critical for the spread of mass transit and green transportation. Considering the size of the United States, it would seem this country could benefit from a system much like the Russians would. However, only time will tell if we are able to adopt new green transportation methods like the rest of the world or if we will get left behind.

Article by Richard Cooke, appearing courtesy Justmeans.

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As the Obama Administration pushes for high-speed rail networks across the country, Germany’s Siemens has secured a place for its Valero ICE trains in the Sunshine State.

Earlier this month, Siemens presented its vision of U.S. high-speed rail to the people of Florida with the “Future of Florida High-Speed Rail Tour,” a traveling exhibit featuring a full-sized model of the Velaro high-speed train.

Apparently, the strategy worked, as Florida recently announced that it would make transportation history as the first state to build a high-speed rail corridor, with trains connecting Tampa to Orlando and then to Miami in a second phase.

We want to give Floridians a taste of what a true high-speed rail train looks and feels like,” added Oliver Hauck, president of Siemens Mobility in the U.S. “Siemens Velaro trains are successfully running on some of the fastest and most important routes in the world today.”

In April, President Barack Obama surprised many mass transit supporters when he endorsed a $10 billion investment in high-speed rail in the stimulus package, outlining 13 possible high-speed rail corridors throughout the United States, from Florida to California.

Later in the summer, the U.S. Department of Transportation delivered $80 million in grants for high-speed rail projects to several U.S. states, including California, Wisconsin, New York and New Mexico. Florida scooped up the bulk of that money however, pocketing a cool $66,600,000.

The Velaro can travel up to 250 miles per hour (403 kilometers/hour) and currently operates at high-speeds in Germany, Spain, China, Russia, France, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria. In 2006, a Velaro E trainset operated by Spain’s national rail authority, RENFE, set a world record for fastest unmodified commercial rail travel.

Article by Beth Buczynski, appearing courtesy Crisp Green.

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The first stop on the international showcase of high speed rail that I am writing for CleanTechies, will be in Germany. As much as I try to avoid writing in first-person narrative, this topic is quite close to my heart as Germany (where I lived for most of 2002-2003) is where my eyes were opened to how great public transportation can be and how it’s presence or absence severely affects quality of life.

The calamitous state of transportation in the US became apparent when I returned to my old Pennsylvanian home. Being thrust back into the car-dependent nightmare is still the source of much of my angst to this day.

Deutsch: Durch Erfahrung wird man klug.
English: Through experience man becomes clever.

It is my highest possible recommendation to go to Deutschland and zip around on their stellar 300 km/hour ICE (InterCity Express) trains. Take in the sights while enjoying a cold Franziskaner and dream of the day when you can travel with such ease in the good old US of A (be sure to save up beforehand because our dollar is pretty worthless over there). Amenities abound with roomy reclining seats, air-conditioning, wi-fi access, a full bistro and a television if you want to spring for first class. Long distance ICE trains can move you about the country at great speeds and seamlessly connect you to the transportation networks of cities. For example, the ICE feeds into Berlin’s ultramodern main train station and can get a traveler to anywhere in the capital via subway (U-Bahn), elevated train (S-Bahn) or by bus. Lehrter Bahnhof is a model of integrated transport.

Why do Germans get to have cool stuff like these sleek trains and other useful knick-knacks like health care and free higher education while millions of Americans do not have access to public transportation, go uninsured and face a mountain of debt if they chose to get a higher education? It boils down to one word: Solidarity

Solidarity is a German core value whereas in America the concept does not exist. This is not a matter of opinion. It is an obvious fact when you compare any number of aspects of German and American society when it comes to the rich and the rest. Public transportation is simply the most obvious case, but many other very important societal issues follow the same path.

The previous paragraph is where conservatives of the Glenn Beck/Rush Limbaugh crowd (which number in the millions) gets irate when it is pointed out that their ethos is not to care about anyone else but themselves. You hate freedom if you think it is sensible to tax the über-wealthy to build infrastructure that would benefit the rabble that make less than $1,000,000 a year. Irrelevant that taxing the ludicrously rich will improve mobility, create jobs, eliminate car-related overhead for lower-income individuals, reduce pollution, increase productivity by reducing time lost in traffic and reduce dependence on foreign oil.

That is the difference. Not money nor technological expertise, but a simple societal value allows German citizens to have access to world-class public transportation and leaves Americans with pathetic, nearly non-existent mass transit. It is time Americans realized that we need to work together on some level regardless of socio-economic background. Great American thinker/genius John Nash (an American) thought so.

Have the lessons of A Beautiful Mind already been forgotten? Adam Smith needs revision:

“The best result will come from everyone in the group doing what’s best for himself… and the group!”

[photo credit: Deutsche Bahn AG]

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The first series of this column was written on high speed rail in America. With an introduction to all the nation’s proposed corridors covered, this series will focus on the state of high speed rail around the world. An examination of already established high speed networks in industrialized countries and growing networks in developing countries will be compared and contrasted to what is being done (or just talked about then postponed) around the US. The purpose of this series is to highlight how far America is falling behind the rest of the world in giving its citizens mobility.

These articles are meant as alarm bells to policy makers in Washington, warnings that the current state of rail is both a national embarrassment and a detriment to the quality of life of its citizens.

Policy makers are not the only audience for these pieces. The series will also touch on why good public transportation is not a popular topic for average Americans, despite its fundamental importance in providing a vital freedom: the freedom of movement. Only progressives stump for high speed rail and they are in the minority. A poll conducted in 2008 showed that 60% of Americans consider themselves “conservative”.  Millions of these conservatives are the people who do not believe in supporting quality public transportation, but paradoxically use the words freedom and liberty in every topic of debate.  This will be addressed.

There are two requisites necessary for building such infrastructure:

1.) The money – Check. This country is rich…really, really rich. The US is richer than Japan, richer than France, richer than any nation, or any combination of nations, on the Earth. Money is there and can be redirected from wasteful expenditures such as war and corporate subsidies to something with more ROE for the voter, such as building mass transit and alternative energy infrastructure.

2.) The will to do so – Not there yet. For the past few decades freedom of movement has been pegged to the automobile. The turn of the last century was a time when municipalities where concentrating on destroying mass transit rather than expanding and improving metro networks. The urges of political leaders to gut mass transit to keep areas segregated or distort the transportation market towards a car based paradigm are gradually fading. Demographics and the critical mass of congestion are chipping away at these obstacles.

One factor that is stoking the political will to improve mass transit is that car ownership is becoming a large burden in this recession. Many car owners sacrifice a large chunk of their earnings monthly to keep their cars from being repossessed, full of gas and insured. A person of modest means can be severely set back by a car break down or accident that can suck hundreds or thousands of dollars out of a working class person’s wallet. As economic pressure increases, so will the calls for better public transportation.

Mass transit is in its dark ages in the US. Let us look abroad in order to usher in a transportation Renaissance.

[photo credit: clappstar]

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This post is dedicated to my hometown, Hazleton Pennsylvania

This corridor hits close to home for your humble correspondent as I, Alexander John Lennartz, am a born and raised Pennsylvanian…who did not step foot on a passenger train in the state until age 25 when I moved to the greater Philadelphia area.

In my part of the country there is no passenger rail. A fact of life for the good people of Northeast Pennsylvania is that you cannot live without a car. This was, is and for the foreseeable future will be to only mean of transportation over mid to long distances. Pennsylvania’s proud locomotive heritage has fallen to the point that many in the state regard trains in the historical sense, no longer are a form of modern transportation. The Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Lancaster Country is a testament to when rails crisscrossed the Keystone State and help build and power America, moving goods and people quickly and efficiently.

After a long period of decline that led to the discontinuation of passenger rail in most of Pennsylvania, there are faint signs of a comeback for trains in the Commonwealth. This can be attributed in large part to the efforts of the governor, the honorable Edward G. Rendell. Former Mayor of Philadelphia, mass transit advocate and a man who does not hesitate to voice his displeasure at the sight of something he does not like (he admitted to booing Santa Claus at an Eagles game in 1968), Rendell is the first governor to take action against the death spiral rail has been on for decades. Even more encouraging is the support of both US Senators for rail projects that would link the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh together through the high speed Keystone Corridor, plus other rail projects in the state like the Scranton/New York City rail link.

James Carville is famously quoted as saying Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between. That is an exaggeration but contains within it a grain of truth. Driving through Central Pennsylvania is one of the most mind-numbingly boring exercises a person can go through. During the winter when the interstate is covered in ice and snow it can also be one of the most dangerous. The Keystone Corridor would be a boost not only for commuters between the state’s two biggest cities, but if it were to be connected to mid-sized cities in Central PA like Williamsport, Hershey and State College, the state would have an element of interconnectivity not seen in ages.

Pennsylvania has a rich history from the colonial period all the way through the contribution the state made in World War II. It was fitting Tom Hank’s character in Saving Private Ryan, Captain John H. Miller, was from a small town in Pennsylvania. Despite being the state that was a pillar of building the most powerful nation in the world, Pennsylvania standing in the Union is in decline. It desperately needs this project to inject jobs, vitality and a sense of pride in itself.

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