This is what you get when you depend on journalism majors to write your copy.
Posted on 10/22/2009 6:14:17 AM PDT by Willie Green
Maglev is environmentally friendly and eliminates the need for fossil fuels in transporting goods.
Cal State Long Beach was awarded in September $245,000 by the U.S. Department of Transportation to support the engineering department for research on magnetic levitation technologies.
Magnetic levitation, or maglev, is a form of transportation technology that eliminates the need for any type of fossil fuel because it uses electricity and a system of powerful magnets to lift and propel.
The CSULB engineering department is working with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories to develop a maglev system to be used for moving goods and other cargo. This system will be using an electrodynamic levitation system, which is the only form of maglev capable of moving a container.
These funds have been used to improve a CSULB test vehicle, including the purchase of necessary fixtures. Dale White and Shannon Foss are the two graduate students who have been working on the maglev prototype. White works on the electrodynamics, while Foss works on the freight logistics.
“[Maglev technology] needs to be proven still,” said Ken James, project director. “The only way to prove it in this economy is to prove that it makes money.”
James said it is difficult to prove that maglev trains are profitable because they are a less familiar mode of transportation.
A maglev train is cheaper to build than a traditional highway. It costs $70 million per mile to build a maglev track, compared to $200 million per mile for an eight-lane freeway. Also, maglev trains cost little to nothing to maintain, so they make money immediately, James said.
A maglev train does not cause any pollution, according to James. It also has the smallest footprint when compared to other modes of transportation, meaning that it doesn’t take up a lot of space. When a maglev track is built, homes will not need to be destructed. It is also elevated, so the maglev track may be built over existing freeways or other infrastructures.
Due to the current problems of transportation emissions, maintenance costs and required space, maglev trains seem to be a viable transportation method.
“Instead of trying to make other forms [of transportation] cleaner, we went for a new form altogether,” James said. He quoted Albert Einstein: “You’re not going to solve any problems with the technology that caused those problems.”
The Center for Commercial Deployment of Transportation Technologies, a CSULB-sponsored center, received the award, which will be distributed to the engineering department.
“CCDoTT is a partnership of academic institutions, government and commercial entities, formed to enable the Department of Defense, the Department of Transportation and other sponsors to leverage advanced technologies in solving defense and commercial transportation infrastructure problem,” according to a press release.
CSULB’s test vehicle, which would not carry people, is near completion. The next step is to make a commercial demonstrator, which is a full-scale working model. With the proper funds, this could be completed within the next three years.
Sheesh.
I had to stop there.
Nuclear is unacceptable to Environmentalists, so that is eliminated.
Hydro (water) is unacceptable because it endangers species according to the Environmentalists as well.
Thermal may be acceptable to them, but that has not show to be powerful nor available enough either.
That leaves Fossil fuels, Gas, Coal and even Bio (which is still unacceptable to the Greens).
Thus the premise of the Article, that Electricity without fossil fuel will support Maglev Trains is futile.
Perhaps the writer is a Borg.
“eliminates the need for any type of fossil fuel because it uses electricity”
Where does this idiot think electricity comes from? Sheeeesh...
Well, ya reckon they put on of them thar windmills on toppa tha train so it made the trains lectricity whuil it wuz a goin down tha track?
A high percentage of the electricity in this country is generated from fossil fuels. We need many, many more nuke plants!
In addition to her concept of free electricity, look at this.
A maglev train is cheaper to build than a traditional highway. It costs $70 million per mile to build a maglev track, compared to $200 million per mile for an eight-lane freeway.
Show me how "a maglev track" can transport as much as "an eight-lane freeway."
By the way, that "$200 Million per mile" figure is suspect.
Check out
http://www.arkansashighways.com/roadway_design_division/Cost_per_Mile_JULY_2009.pdf
Which shows a cost ranging from $7,950,000 for a rural 4 lane freeway to $12,750,000 for a 6 lane urban freeway in Arkansas.
Just how stupid are these people, or how stupid do they think we are?
Oh come on, the faith in science dictates you ignore the fossil fuels used to generate the electricity. Besides, the obammyites will soon tell us that a new discovery must be just around the corner when we completely convert to ‘green energy’, perhaps tapping the magnetic field of the earth! Come on, ‘they’ make reality now, don’t you know ‘they’ won?
This is what you get when you depend on journalism majors to write your copy.
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