Posted on 08/29/2012 11:37:02 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Opponents of high-speed rail contend that it's a boondoggle because of its $68 billion pricetag. But a recent UC Berkeley study provides evidence that a California bullet train might be a good investment, particularly when it comes to reducing greenhouse gases and fighting climate change.
The study, published recently in the journal Environmental Research Letters, was the result of two years of research by UC Berkeley civil and environmental engineering professor Arpad Horvath and Mikhail Chester, professor at Arizona State University's School of Sustainable Engineering and The Built Environment. The study analyzed the environmental sustainability of a high-speed rail network compared to flying and driving. The authors concluded that the high-speed rail system, when it's completed, will consume less energy and emit fewer greenhouse gases and less pollution than autos or planes, even after accounting for future improvements in auto and airplane fuel efficiency and cleaner, greener technology.
"We're not only looking at greenhouse gases, we're also considering things like the potential for smog formation as well as human health respiratory effects," Chester said in an interview. "What we've found is that high-speed rail would be a cleaner mode."
According to the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, California's population will exceed 50 million people by 2040. ..
In 2008, voters approved $10 billion in bonds to pay for the start-up costs of high-speed rail. Since then, the proposed project has had numerous setbacks that have threatened to derail it. The price tag also has ballooned to at least $68 billion. Republican state Senator Doug LaMalfa, .. "Costs for high-speed rail will continue to rise even as public support plummets," LaMalfa said in a statement. "California doesn't have the money for this project."
(Excerpt) Read more at eastbayexpress.com ...
No one boarded the link going nowhere
but you didn't hear it here. (HSR in California? . it's enuf to make ya spew green.)
only if it’s made of Rearden Metal..........
“...California bullet train might be a good investment, particularly when it comes to reducing greenhouse gases and fighting climate change.”
Sooooo, these writers have demonstrated that they are collossal jewels of monumental ignorance in both science and economics.
Must be liberals.
What utter nonsense. NOTHING is good investment that purports to change the weather. That is out of the realm of human control.
Well that settles it then. Build it. Build it everywhere. Damn the cost.
Damn! Beat me to it.
I got a million ideas just as good as that!
Just ask Willie Green.
I prefer red white and blue.
I just watched Atlas Shrugged Part One last week.
I watched to see if they actually made Rearden Metal green.
They did...........
I thought 'Choo Choo' Willie was banned!
But, the industries that they skim from to support the railway’s deficits are greenhouse gas producing industries.
But there is a thread nearby:
As Isaac Hits Gulf Coast, Obama Jokes That GOP Believes Jobs 'Will Magically Rain Down'
Republicans say the stupidest things -- especially when you put words in their mouths.
Given that any constructed item requires energy to create (e.g., from iron ore to polished steel), I would imagine that the $68 billion in construction accounts for huge amount of energy use, which I would imagine would overwhelm any modest decrease in greenhouse gases for a train versus car trip.
Maybe they could get like a million sasquatches and they could just carry everybody in California.
Nobody ever gives me a lifecycle cost. I don’t give a damn if it runs emission free if the manufacture and installation is not also emission free. Tell me the whole story and then we can talk.
Maybe you know why a high-roller... ...like George Soros is interested in Rock Ridge.
Don't know. Got to do with where choo-choo go.
Mongo, why would George Soros care about where the choo-choo goes?
Don't know. Mongo only pawn in game of life.
High-Speed Rail Is Definitely Willie Green
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