Category Archives: transportation

Information and notes about transportation issues.

if google was really serious about climate change

Google is very proud of their solar panel project: Google has installed over 90% of the 9,212 solar panels that comprise the 1,600 kilowatt project. Panels cover the rooftops of eight buildings and two newly constructed solar carports at the … Continue reading

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Excellent series of blog posts about High-speed rail in California

Here are some good posts about California’s High-Speed-Rail project.

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How to drive a manual transmission

From Shannon: hmm well the number of people I know who keep replacing clutches & transmissions much higher than the issues I’ve had w/autos If you already know how to drive, learning to drive a manual transmission takes 45 minutes. … Continue reading

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How to buy a car.

My response to Shannon’s thinking about buying a car: Congratulations saving so much money by avoiding car ownership for so long. Here is my feedback: Forget the concept of a car retaining its “value”. A car is a liability not … Continue reading

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California High-Speed Rail project: Altamont (Immediate Benefit) v. Pacheco Pass (Fuzzy Future)

The California High-Speed Rail Authority is trying to pretend that the Pacheco Pass alignment is somehow equivalent to the Altamont Pass alignment. They are not. There are a number of key differences. The Altamont Pass roughly follows the i-580 corridor … Continue reading

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Amtrak promotes the destruction of your civil liberties

The letter I sent to Amtrak : As someone who has traveled on Amtrak frequently, as a rail fan, and as an advocate of rail in general within the environmental community, I am extremely upset that Amtrak is contributing to … Continue reading

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Interesting emissions data from UPRR

According to this: 1 double stack train equals 280 trucks trains are 2-4x more fuel efficient than trucks on a ton-mile basis trains are 2-3 cleaner than trucks w.r.t NOx emissions on a ton-mile basis

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how the world will pass the U.S. by

More countries ignoring the silly backwater U.S.: If you’re a world traveler, you’ve probably already heard about the LGV Perpignan-Figueras, a new high speed rail line, currently under construction, which will connect the French and Spanish rail systems. Work began … Continue reading

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how taiwan proves that it is possible to build HSR in an anti-environmental way

From the Hong Kong Standard I called up Linda Arrigo, a local activist and member of Taiwan’s Green Party. I wanted an environmentalist’s take on the HSR’s impact on Taiwan. After all, anything that offers an alternative to driving has … Continue reading

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how come only Californians think that Americans love their cars

So this from the east…. notice not a word about how Americans love their cars so much that they would never get out to take a train… especially a train that easily beats the car! Published Tuesday, September 12, 2006, … Continue reading

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