Transportation

I created this topic because it is the #1 reason for global carbon emissions. Here is a 2015 Time Magazine climate change list to back that up: http://time.com/3935248/am-i-hurting-the-planet/

In the August 2015 Consumer Reports magazine, check out the list on page 63, of oil-gulping vehicles, which alone is worth the price for that magazine issue. The biggest surprises on that list for me are the following, with % of vehicles needing at least 1 qt. oil between oil changes in parentheses. Newest model years fare best, and 2010 model years (shown below) fare worst:

Subaru Outback (14), Subaru Legacy (19), Subaru Forester (4), Subaru Impreza (2), Volvo XC60 (6), Volvo XC70 (13).

Bottom line: Save your motor oil purchase receipts to show your car dealer in order to get repairs. If you buy any of the vehicles on that list, also purchase an extended warranty.

March 2016: Here is an eye-popping chart by the new US competitor to AAA:

http://www.betterworldclub.com/roadside-assistance/how-we-compare/#BWCvAAA

>1 MaureenRoy: car dealer? I'll have to complain to my brother as I took his 30 year old Subaru Impreza off his hands for $1000. It does take a lot of oil. We drive very old cars in New Zealand, I'm sure they're not very efficient. The average age for a car here is 14 years, compared to 11.5 in the U.S.

>2 MaureenRoy: that's cool they do roadside assistance for bicycles.

As of April 4, 2016, 300,000 people have put down a $1,000.00 deposit on the new Model 3 electric car from Tesla. Tesla stock prices have climbed over $100.00 a share since its introduction! Here are some additional details on the Model 3 from a news blogger:

http://bgr.com/2016/04/04/tesla-model-3-hidden-details-video/

The following account of a US road trip with an electric car adds many crucial details to our understanding of what it's like to drive an electric car:

http://www.sunset.com/travel/wine-country/electric-car

I don't drive. Luckily, I live in a city with (not great, but) decent public transit. I do sometimes have to ask friends for help to pick up things like cat litter, though.

"Britain to ban sale of all diesel and petrol cars and vans from 2040

"As part of a government strategy to improve air quality, Britain is to ban all new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040 amid fears that rising levels of nitrogen oxide pose a major risk to public health.

"The commitment, which follows a similar pledge in France, is part of the government’s much-anticipated clean air plan, which has been at the heart of a protracted high court legal battle."

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jul/25/britain-to-ban-sale-of-all-dies...

Diesel ferries being replaced will remain in service in their final years as back-up (tourist season, emergencies, maintenance), but looks like electric ferries will replace diesel in future. Lots of wind and solar producers in the area:

Ontario Building Fully Electric Ferries for Wolfe and Amherst Islands
Province Fighting Climate Change with New, Clean Ferries
Ministry of Transportation | March 16, 2018 2:00 P.M.

Ontario is building the first fully electric non-cable vessels in Canada with two new ferries to connect the mainland with Amherst Island and Wolfe Island.

...reducing greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 7.4 million kilograms of carbon dioxide per year, the same as taking 1,357 cars off the road, compared to conventional diesel ferries...Over the 60 year lifespan of the ferries, Ontario will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 446 million kilograms of carbon dioxide.

https://news.ontario.ca/mto/en/2018/03/ontario-building-fully-electric-ferries-f...

8 contd. Solar sails sound a little tricky--wonder what design they went with in the end.

Solar, wind powered ferries to sail on S.F. Bay
‘Like switching from a gas guzzling SUV to a hybrid car,’ activist says
Miguel Llanos | 5/25/2006

Two (600-passenger) tourist ferries powered in part by the wind and the sun will carry visitors to San Francisco’s Alcatraz island under a contract between the National Park Service and a private company...

...Solar Sailor, an Australian company...operates a similar ferry in Sydney.

...one Solar Sailor concept includes a large, rigid wing covered in solar panels that captures solar and wind power while also allowing sail navigation when conditions are right. In bad weather, the sail folds down flat above the deck like a roof.

...“Large batteries on board the vessels will store electricity generated by the diesel generators and collected by solar panels,” Bluewater said in a statement. “The electricity then powers the electric motors.”

The batteries allow the diesel engines to be turned off at port, which means no smells or emissions at the boarding ramp. The vessels can also be plugged into an onshore power outlet to recharge the batteries.

The diesel generators themselves will burn low-sulfur fuel and will have pollution controls that cut emissions by 70 to 90 percent compared to conventional marine diesels...

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/12734717/ns/us_news-environment/t/solar-wind-powered-f...

World's first electrified public road opens in Sweden
Apr13 2018

...The 2km stretch outside Sweden's Arlanda Airport ...

An electric truck working for the logistics company PostNord will over the next 12 months use the road to stay charged as it shuttles deliveries between Arlanda Airport and its distribution centre 12km away.

The truck has been fitted with a connector underneath its chassis which attaches to an electrified groove in the road, drawing power like a car on a Scaletrix track.

"Everything is 100 percent automatic, based on the connector magnetically sensing the road," Hans Säll, Chief Executive of the eRoadArlanda Consortium, told The Local. "As a driver you drive as usual, the connector goes down onto the track automatically and if you leave the track, it goes up automatically."

..."You can send data through electric cables, so it's no problem to identify the car, and the rail will know if you are allowed to draw electricity or not and it will be able to charge you."

... there's an enormous difference in cost between having cars with big batteries, and cars with small batteries and electric roads."

But he said that setting up a national system would require investment in infrastructure.

...overhead cables developed by the German engineering giant Siemens..."can only handle heavy traffic"

.safety risk is minimal.

"The electricity is about 6cm down in the tracks and the electricity is also connected to the earth, so even if we flood the road with salt water, if you measure the electricity at the surface, it's less than one volt."

https://www.thelocal.se/20180413/worlds-first-electric-road-opens-in-sweden

Charts: methods of transport, cycling safety, air pollution, public transport cost, public cycle schemes in Europe's cities.

How green is the transport in Europe’s cities? A story in five charts
Emma Howard | 5/22/2018

Parisians love to walk. Moscow has a serious air pollution problem. And London's public transport is wildly expensive

...When in Rome, drive. When in Paris, walk. When in Copenhagen, cycle

...London is not safe for cyclists

...Moscow has a serious air pollution problem

...London’s public transport is wildly expensive

...Brussels is big on bike sharing (still, just 3% of journeys are by bike)...

https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2018/05/22/green-transport-european-cities-five...
_________________________________________________________________________

Kodukula, Santhosh; Rudolph, Frederic; Jansen, Ulrich; Amon, Eva (2018): 'Living. Moving. Breathing.' Hamburg: Greenpeace Germany
102 p. https://www.greenpeace.de/sites/www.greenpeace.de/files/publications/living_movi...

Collectively, the world's ships emit the same amount of carbon as Germany, and air quality is a local issue in ports. Fascinating to me, at least, the strategies that can help bring down fuel use (BBC audio report below).

The UN's International Maritime Organization has decreed that as of Jan 1, 2020, allowable sulfur content of fuels will decrease from 3.55% (heavy fuel oil, $450-500 per ton(ne?)) to 0.5% (marine distillate, 30-60% more expensive), which will drive fuel efficiency strategies. An existing cargo ship with life span of ~40 years will have fewer options to reduce fuel use than newly constructed ones. (I bet there will be pressure to change Jones Act, which stipulates that ships that serve US ports only must be built in the US.)

Smart Boats That Sail on a Bed of Bubbles (23:00)
BBC World Hacks

What’s being done to clean up the shipping industry and make it less polluting? Nick Holland looks at innovative ideas to make ships burn less fuel.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3cswvs2

12, contd.

Maersk pledges to cut carbon emissions to zero by 2050
Richard Milne, Nordic Correspondent December 4, 2018

World’s largest container shipping group throws down challenge to industry
Container ships currently use bunker fuel, a residue from crude oil that is cheaper but dirtier than petrol and diesel...

https://www.ft.com/content/44b8ba50-f7cf-11e8-af46-2022a0b02a6c

Mea culpa: I remember too many out-of-town environmental meetings where attendees from my town would realize we could have car-pooled with a little forethought...

Record private jet flights into Davos as leaders arrive for climate talk
Rebecca Ratcliffe | Tue 22 Jan 2019

David Attenborough might have urged world leaders at Davos to take urgent action on climate change, but it appears no one was listening. As he spoke, experts predicted up to 1,500 individual private jets will fly to and from airfields serving the Swiss ski resort this week.

Political and business leaders and lobbyists are opting for bigger, more expensive aircrafts, according to analysis by the Air Charter Service, which found the number of private jet flights grew by 11% last year.

“There appears to be a trend towards larger aircraft, with expensive heavy jets the aircraft of choice, with Gulfstream GVs and Global Expresses both being used more than 100 times each last year,” said Andy Christie, private jets director at the ACS.

This is partly due to the long distances travelled, he said, “but also possibly due to business rivals not wanting to be seen to be outdone by one another”. Last year, more than 1,300 aircraft flights were recorded at the conference, the highest number since ACS began recording private jet activity in 2013.

Countries with the highest number of arrivals and departures out of the local airports over the past five years included Germany, France, UK, US, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, according to ACS.

The World Economic Forum’s global risk report, released ahead of this week’s meeting, identified environmental challenges, including the failure to mitigate climate change, as top of the list of dangers facing the world economy...

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jan/22/record-private-jet-fl...

Air quality on cruise ship deck 'worse than world's most polluted cities', investigation finds
Chloe Farand | 4 July 2017

...Daniel Rieger, of the German environment association NABU (Nature And Biodiversity Conservation Union), said: “Ships cause not only greenhouse gas emissions, but also sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter.

"Per day one cruise ship emits as much particulate matter as a million cars. So 30 cruise ships pollute as much as all the cars in the United Kingdom.”

...John Maggs, president of the Clean Shipping Coalition, also told Dispatches: “Most large ships burn heavy fuel oil. It’s a residual product from the refining industry, so after the refiners have produced the petrol and diesel we put in our cars, they’re left with what is essentially a waste product. It’s called residual fuel, or heavy fuel oil.

"From an environmental point of view, it’s bad because of the air pollution caused by the very high sulphur content. The shipping industry, however, has traditionally liked it because it’s much cheaper than other fuels.”...

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/pollution-cruise-ships-po-oceana-higher...

Swedish shipping to go fossil-free by 2045
Sami Grover | February 14, 2019

This could speed up progress for the industry in general.

From spinning sails to kite-power, there are plenty of ideas out there for reducing the carbon footprint of the shipping industry. Usually, however, they are supplemental power sources, designed to reduce overall emissions, but not eliminate them entirely.

Business Green reports, however, that the Swedish shipping industry has loftier goals: aiming to go 100% fossil fuel-free by 2045. Specifically, the Swedish Shipowners' Association is working with a government initiative called Fossil-Free Sweden to figure out a roadmap for their industry to contribute to overall national goals of 70% emissions cuts for domestic transport by 2030, and net zero by 2045.
If achieved, that would put Sweden ahead of shipping giant Maersk—which is aiming for the same goal by 2050. But it's good to see pressure building from multiple sides, hopefully creating the kind of competition that can move innovation forward even faster than expected. (It's worth noting that this comes hot on the heels of concern that installing scrubbers on existing ships and/or switching to lower sulphur fuels could be counterproductive.)

Now, exactly how the industry achieves its lofty goals remains to be seen, but an opinion piece by two industry leaders suggests they are betting on a mix of electric propulsion, significant efficiency improvements and 'low carbon' biofuels (careful now!) to get them where they need to go...

https://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/swedish-shipping-go-fossil-f...

SeaBubbles shows off its ‘flying’ all-electric boat in Miami
Sarah Perez / 2/17/2019

...This innovative boat design combines technology from nautical industries and aviation and intelligent software to raise the hull of the boat out of the water using foils, which helps it consume less energy by allowing it to travel on rougher waters with reduced drag, while also keeping the passenger cabin relatively comfortable.

When raised, the boat is “flying” above the water, so to speak.

...a way for cities to reduce traffic congestion and help the environment by taking advantage of the area’s waterways to move people around in fast water taxis.

...a normal boat with a normal combustion engine, the fuel price you’re paying is between $70 and $130 per hour. With us, it’s $2,” he says.

The cost savings come from an all-electric design, which means the boat charges at a power station — preferably one that’s solar charged, of course — instead of guzzling gas...

https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/17/seabubbles-flying-electric-boat-miami/

Hydrofoils have been around since the 60's, maybe earlier. Hardly innovative.

Maybe, but looks like a useful 'green' mode of transportation through canals (and flooded streets?) made possible by computer, electric energy, etc.
(Ontario Ministry of Transportation has contracted for first electric ferry in North America. Expected in 2020. Can't imagine it in sometimes rough and frozen St Lawrence River--SO hoping it's a winner!)

SeaBubbles testing the Fly By Wire control system (2:53)
SeaBubbles | Apr 4, 2018

SeaBubbles testing its new foils technology the Fly By Wire control system, in Geneva.
Congratulations to our technical team!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeAmbKeHuiE

>19 margd:

I thought hydrofoils operated at high speed, which would tend to make them unsuitable for canals and flooded streets? They're more open water craft, aren't they?

Sea Bubbles seem to be operating at moderate speeds in video--computers make that possible?

(I though the bubbles in the name were supercavitation technology, but maybe rather a description of the capsule?)

London introduces strict vehicle emission charges (Al Jazeera)

London motorists driving older, more polluting vehicles must pay a new charge from Monday as part of one of the world's toughest vehicle emissions programmes...

If Seeing the World Helps Ruin It, Should We Stay Home?
Andy Newman | June 3, 2019

In the age of global warming, traveling — by plane, boat or car — is a fraught choice. And yet the world beckons.

The glaciers are melting, the coral reefs are dying, Miami Beach is slowly going under.

Quick, says a voice in your head, go see them before they disappear! You are evil, says another voice. For you are hastening their destruction.

To a lot of people who like to travel, these are morally bewildering times. Something that seemed like pure escape and adventure has become double-edged, harmful, the epitome of selfish consumption. Going someplace far away, we now know, is the biggest single action a private citizen can take to worsen climate change. One seat on a flight from New York to Los Angeles effectively adds months worth of human-generated carbon emissions to the atmosphere.

And yet we fly more and more...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/travel/traveling-climate-change.html

Uganda's bamboo bikes: 'A sustainable luxury' (BBC)

Video: Meet Kasoma Noordin, from Kampala in Uganda, who makes high-end bicycles with a difference. Rather than using metal or carbon, he makes his frames from a naturally strong and lightweight material that he grows himself: bamboo.

Thunberg certainly lives her convictions. Hopefully, video-conference technology via robots or whatever will one day negate need for personal attendance at such gatherings!

(Mid-August...hope no storms! A friend of my sister's, sailing from Toronto to Caribbean was rescued from sailboat already one foot under the sea. Took weeks/months for him to recover from the fright. )

Greta Thunberg to Cross the Atlantic by Emissions-Free Boat to Attend UN Climate Summits
Andrea Germanos | Jul. 30, 2019

Sixteen-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg will head to the Americas (mid-August), and, keeping in line with her climate commitment not to fly...she will make the voyage by fossil fuel emissions-free boat.

...two-week long trip...UK (to) New York City. Thunberg will attend events including the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York in September and the UN climate summit known as COP25 in Santiago, Chile.

...The boat, the Malizia II, is "a foiling sailboat built in 2015, which is fitted with solar panels and underwater turbines to generate electricity on board the vessel," according to a statement. It will be captained by professional sailors Boris Herrmann and Pierre Casiraghi, who is the grandson of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco...

https://www.ecowatch.com/greta-thunberg-sailing-atlantic-2639498015.html

Scientists reduce friction--at atomic levels at least:

Scientists seek materials that defy friction at the atomic level
Going super-slippery could help cut down on energy loss
Emily Conover | August 1, 2019By

...by scrutinizing atoms’ wily ways, scientists are devising new techniques to cut down on friction, going beyond known slippery surfaces like ice, Teflon and the banana peel of countless comedy gags. Some scientists have found ways to bring friction down to near-zero levels, a property known as superlubricity. Others are studying quantum effects that reduce friction.

...Atomic acrobatics might help turn friction up and down at will, a useful ability since there are times when friction, a force working against the motion of a sliding or rolling object, is helpful. The frictional force of tires on asphalt, for example, lets a car turn without spinning out. But friction also saps the car’s speed, so that more energy is needed to keep the vehicle moving.

...Some materials slide easily over one another, while others require extra oomph to move. That movability is described by a number called the coefficient of friction. The more slippery the pair, the lower the coefficient. The numbers below are estimates; exact values depend on conditions.

Sliding materials Coefficient of friction
Index finger on sandpaper 1
Tires on dry pavement 1
Tires on wet pavement 0.6
Steel on steel 0.6
Tires on icy pavement 0.2
Banana peel on linoleum 0.07
Steel on Teflon 0.04
Steel on ice 0.01

...Gaining the ability to wrangle friction could have real-world consequences. It’s estimated that a third of the energy that goes into powering fossil fuel–guzzling cars is lost to friction, converted into other forms of energy like heat and sound. The same hindrance affects just about every other machine imaginable, so that an estimated one-fifth of the world’s annual energy consumption goes to fighting friction. Reducing those losses would mean “huge savings”...

Citations

A. Sumant. “Superlubricity — near zero friction from nanodiamonds.” TEDx. November 30, 2018.

M. Dienwiebel et al. Superlubricity of graphite. Physical Review Letters. Vol. 92, March 26, 2004, p. 126101. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.126101.

Y. Song. Robust microscale superlubricity in graphite/hexagonal boron nitride layered heterojunctions. Nature Materials. Vol. 17, July 30, 2018, p. 894. doi: 10.1038/s41563-018-0144-z.

B. Weber et al. Molecular insight into the slipperiness of ice. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. Vol. 9, May 9. 2018, p. 2838. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.8b01188.

Z. B. Fredricks et al. Tuning Nanoscale Friction by Applying Weak Magnetic Fields to Reorient Adsorbed Oxygen Molecules. Condensed Matter. Vol. 4, December 20, 2018, p. 1. doi:10.3390/condmat4010001

S. Kawai et al. Superlubricity of graphene nanoribbons on gold surfaces. Science. Vol. 351, February 26, 2016, p. 957. doi: 10.1126/science.aad3569.

T. Zanca et al. Frictional lubricity enhanced by quantum mechanics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Vol. 115, April 3, 2018, p. 3547. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1801144115.

...

UK Government releases vision for biodiverse railway lineside

The Department for Transport (DfT) has set out a clear strategy for how it expects Network Rail to protect and enhance the UK’s lineside environment...

This ambitious document challenges Network Rail to achieve no net loss in biodiversity across the network by 2024, deliver a net gain in biodiversity by 2040 and produce a vision statement and biodiversity action plan by December 2019.

These targets build on the good practice Network Rail already deploy across the network to ensure vegetation does not delay journeys...

UK rail line becomes first in world to be powered by solar farm (Guardian)

The world’s first solar farm to power a railway line directly is due to plug into the track near Aldershot, paving the way for solar-powered trains.

From Friday, about 100 solar panels at the trackside site will supply renewable electricity to power the signalling and lights on Network Rail’s Wessex route.

The 30kW pilot scheme could pave the way for a larger project capable of directly powering the trains that use this route from next year.

The solar breakthrough comes as Network Rail plans to spend billions of pounds electrifying rail lines to avoid running trains on diesel. This could help reduce air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and costs.

Solar panels are already used to power the operations of train stations, including Blackfriars in central London. But the Aldershot project is the first time a solar array will bypass the electricity grid to plug directly into a railway’s “traction” system...

>28 John5918: Cool! Some day trains could decarbonize much shipment of containers now done by trucks and ships? Looks like ferries are also going electric with Ontario (no coal) taking world's largest in 2020.

World’s largest all-electric ferry completes its maiden trip
Fred Lambert - Aug. 21st 2019

...Ferries are a good place to start electrifying cargo transport on the sea since they cover the same routes again and again. It makes it easy to plan for the range and charging solution of all-electric ferries.

The operators of the first all-electric ferry in Norway, the ‘Ampere’, reported some impressive statistics after operating the ship for over two years...

They claim that the all-electric ferry cuts emissions by 95% and costs by 80%.

https://electrek.co/2019/08/21/worlds-largest-electric-ferry/

Trump is challenging California's right to curb car pollution (Al Jazeera)

White House contests authority of most populous state to regulate auto emissions, but Sacramento may have a legal edge...

UK bus firms vow to buy only ultra-low or zero-emission vehicles from 2025 (Guardian)

Bus operators have pledged to buy only ultra-low or zero-emission vehicles from 2025 as they called on the government to outline a national strategy to encourage more people to use buses...

KLM replaces plane with high speed train (Railway Gazette)

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is to replace one of its five daily flights between Brussels and Amsterdam Schiphol with reserved seat capacity on a Thalys high speed train service from March 29 2020.

This is intended as the first step in a programme to gradually cut back the number of flights between Brussels and Amsterdam, with passengers using rail to connect with intercontinental flights at Schiphol. This would support the airline’s sustainability initiatives, and enable airport slots to be used for flights to long-haul destinations...

>32 John5918: Dang! How gracious and forward thinking that is.

Trump strips California of power to set auto emission standards (BBC)

The White House has stripped California of its right to set its own vehicle emissions standards and banned other states from setting similar rules.

The waiver allowed the state - America's most populous - to set stricter standards than the federal government.

President Trump says the move will cut car prices and the impact on emissions will be minimal.

But it is likely to spark a legal battle over states' rights.

California has already taken steps to block the administration's efforts.

"We will fight this latest attempt and defend our clean car standards"...

>34 John5918: That headline is misleading. Trump is trying to do that but California will sue and it will be tied up in the courts for a while, possibly until the next president who will reverse course if she isn't Trump.

>35 jjwilson61:

Correct!

States sue Trump over blocking of California emissions rules (Al Jazeera)

A group of 23 states on Friday sued to block the administration of President Donald Trump from undoing California's authority to set strict car pollution rules...

Electric cars could be just another ecological disaster (Asia Times)

Around the world, consumers have so far been reluctant to embrace electric cars, but a tipping point will come when there are sufficient charging points and drivers realize that a car that runs on fossil fuel has no resale value. And when that happens, whether the electric car is going to save us or destroy us will depend on what type of power we use to charge its batteries...

Could electric roads spark a green transport revolution? (BBC)

Specially adapted trucks in Germany are being tested on electric roads. Power is fed directly to the vehicles from overhead power cables. It's costly - but could cut carbon emissions.

Probably not economically viable on any scale, but an interesting concept.

Huh--I remember seeing cable buses in downtown Toronto in my youth. Apparently originated in UK and US.

The History of Toronto's Trolley Buses (1922-1993)
James Bow | December 16, 2013
https://transit.toronto.on.ca/trolleybus/9005.shtml

Electric buses (sans cables?) seem to be the next-gen thing these days in many cities, e.g.,

TTC puts first all-electric bus into service on Toronto roads
Gabby Rodrigues | Updated June 12, 2019
https://globalnews.ca/news/5345722/ttc-all-electric-buses-toronto/

(Electric ferries, too--Kingston/Wolfe Island, Ontario will soon have the largest, though that's a record that won't long stand, I bet!)

>39 margd:

Yes, trolley buses were widespread in London in my youth, and as you say they still exist in Toronto and probaby one or two other places. Wiring routes in a city where all the trolley buses on a particular route belong to the same company, though, is on a rather different scale than wiring long distance motorways. But who knows, it might happen.

A negative development: Qatar Airways operates 9-minute flights between Maastricht and Liège (The Brussels Times)

They're operating a 9-minute cargo flight on a route that takes only 30 minutes by train. As one Liege city councillor says, "This is an ecological aberration”.

>41 John5918: Takeoffs and ascension burn the most fuel, so 9-minute flights must be the worst!

>39 margd: BC and Washington State are buying electric ferries that look MUCH bigger than Wolfe Islander IV!

"The Washington State Department of Transportation says the huge Seattle ferries together burn through 4.7 Million gallons of diesel each year: almost 18 Million litres. That is just over a quarter of the whole system’s 18 Million gallon / 68 Million litre annual burn."

Until shore charging infrastructure is in place, west coast ferries will continue to burn fuel, sounds like.

Also, unless just too decrepit, fuel-burning ferries will no doubt be sold to other uses. The fuel-burning Wolfe Islander III will serve as backup during busy summers and in emergencies--it has 15-20 years left in its lifespan I think?

https://plugboats.com/worlds-busiest-ferry-systems-going-electric-hybrid/

How airships could return to our crowded skies (BBC)

Hybrid airships already produce a fraction of the pollution of a conventional aircraft. Now HAV has been given over £1m ($1.3m) by the UK government and industry to reduce it to zero by developing an electric propulsion system for the massive aircraft...

Climate change: Speed limits for ships can have 'massive' benefits (BBC)

Cutting the speed of ships has huge benefits for humans, nature and the climate, according to a new report. A 20% reduction would cut greenhouse gases but also curb pollutants that damage human health such as black carbon and nitrogen oxides. This speed limit would cut underwater noise by 66% and reduce the chances of whale collisions by 78%...

And British Airways and other airlines are to "review" a practice which creates excess CO2 to save a few dollars...

BA to review 'fuel tankering' after Panorama revelations (Guardian)

Carrying excess fuel saves airlines on fuel bills but has adverse environmental impact

Growing demand for SUVs 'could negate electric car benefits' (Guardian)

The world’s thirst for oil will continue to grow over the next two decades, with climate-damaging emissions climbing until at least 2040, the global energy watchdog has warned, pointing the finger at the growing appetite for gas-guzzling cars.

Growing demand for SUVs in the US, China, Europe and elsewhere could negate all the environmental benefits of the increased use of electric cars, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says. Because of their size, SUVs are harder to electrify than smaller vehicles...

I have to confess I drive a large 4WD diesel, but I hesitate to call my 20-year old Land Rover an "SUV". Mine isn't a Chelsea Tractor (a UK soubriquet for the large SUVs which are used only to pick up the kids from posh private schools in an exclusive part of London where the chance of going off-road is roughly similar to that of a snowball in hell), it's a working vehicle which we need as we have to negotiate a rough and frequently muddy 25 km dirt road to get to the nearest tarmac road. There are now electrification kits available for Landies, used on some tourist safari vehicles, but at the moment the cost looks to be in the region of USD 30,000, the range is only about 60 km or so between recharges, and since I am off grid I would have to invest in a lot more solar panels and batteries in order to be able to charge it. Not an option at the moment. Maybe prices will come down and technology will improve.

World's first fully electric commercial aircraft takes flight in Canada (Guardian)

The world’s first fully electric commercial aircraft has taken its inaugural test flight, taking off from the Canadian city of Vancouver and flying for 15 minutes...

The e-plane – a 62-year-old, six-passenger DHC-2 de Havilland Beaver seaplane retrofitted with a 750hp electric motor – was piloted by Greg McDougall, founder and chief executive of Harbour Air. “For me that flight was just like flying a Beaver, but it was a Beaver on electric steroids. I actually had to back off on the power,” he said...

A Major but Little-Known Supporter of Climate Denial: Freight Railroads (The Atlantic)

In the fight against climate change, the nation’s freight railroads have painted themselves as heroes. Rail is the “the most environmentally friendly way” to move cargo over land, says the Association of American Railroads, the industry’s trade group. The industry’s four biggest companies agree: “Railroads are essential to moving {climate} objectives forward,” says CSX Transportation, the largest railroad east of the Mississippi.

Yet for almost 30 years, the biggest players in the freight-rail industry have waged a campaign to discredit climate science and oppose almost any federal climate policy, reveals new research analyzed by The Atlantic.

The four largest American freight railroads—BNSF Railway, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific, and CSX—have sat at the center of the climate-denial movement nearly since it began, documents and studies show. These four companies have joined or funded groups that attacked individual scientists, cast doubt on scientific consensus, and rejected reports from major scientific institutions, including the United Nations–led Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Their effort has cost at least tens of millions of dollars and outlasted individual leaders and coalitions...

Throwing Our Car Culture Under the Bus | Dan Hendry | TEDxOttawa (11:45)
Jan 2, 2020

Dan Hendry has a simple but powerful model to transform public transportation and it starts with training youth. On-bus orientation and free passes has increased high school ridership from 28,000 to close to 600,000 annually in Kingston, Ontario. The underlying philosophy in the development of this project has been: with encouragement, mastery of transit tools, true life experience and a bus pass in hand students will gain independence and confidence. This confidence in themselves and their experience will facilitate students to use the bus now locally, and in the future, anywhere their lives might take them. Follow Dan on Twitter @SustainableDan Dan strives toward promoting sustainable initiatives for the Limestone District School Board, and is the manager of community based learning & innovation at St. Lawrence College. His concern for the environment is what drives him to take initiative in promoting sustainable solutions within the Kingston community. He continues to engage in initiatives that promote positive sustainable change throughout the Kingston community. His combined interest in sustainability, innovation, entrepreneurship, student mentorship, and community have been well integrated into his personal, academic, and professional experiences. Dan is continuously seeking new opportunities to connect with like-minded professionals who engage in sustainable & innovative initiatives within the community. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoQE_Tu0gTg&feature=youtu.be

Why you shouldn't feel too guilty about flying (Business Insider)

But I also think the debate around flying -- particularly the Swedish notion of flygskam, or flight shame -- reflects a larger problem in the way we talk about climate change.

It's a conversation that is heavily skewed toward individual behavior and personal choice -- how much I fly, what kind of car you drive, whether we've installed efficient light bulbs. And that obscures a much bigger, and more important, picture.

While we fret over our own actions -- and each other's -- we are failing to ponder much more consequential questions about how the systems that shape our lives have led us to this point of crisis. Questions about corporate malfeasance, the power of big money and decades of political failure.

The finding that just 100 companies -- including vast oil and gas concerns -- are responsible for 71% of all greenhouse gas emissions since 1988 has provided a framework for a different way of thinking about this problem.

This approach, rather than blaming individuals for living in the world as it is, places responsibility on big fossil fuel companies that have known for decades what their products were doing to the climate but chose to propagate doubt about the overwhelming scientific evidence instead of working to develop cleaner alternatives.

It also places it on the politicians who have too often done their bidding, failing to use their power to demand reductions in carbon emissions.

"The big polluters' masterstroke was to blame the climate crisis on you and me"...

Interesting argument (by "an environmental journalist, and I care tremendously about the climate"). While it doesn't remove the need for individuals to take their own responsibility for climate change, it's an interesting thought that the big corporations have done a first class PR job of shifting all the focus to individual actions while themselves continuing to produce 71% of the greenhouse gas emissions.

Airless tires

Bridgestone Airless Tires Are Coming to a Semi-Truck Near You—But First, Bikes

The company's airless tires are composed of three pieces—the wheel, the "web," and the tread.
…
The company has developed an airless truck tire rated to support 5,000 pounds at speeds of up to 75 mph without overheating. (A comparable pneumatic tire would need to be inflated to 120 psi for the same duty cycle.) Apparently, the time saved by fleet managers no longer needing to check and maintain tire pressures—as well as spent repairing punctures and blowouts on the road—is significant.
…
Kimpel also told us that this is a sustainability play for Bridgestone, given that unlike pneumatic tires, the rubber tread can be replaced as it wears without worrying about whether it's airtight. They don't know yet about the service life of the wheel and web, though they say they're looking into how the components can be reused to maximize sustainability. Bridgestone has been eyeing airless tires for years, and it isn't the only tire manufacturer looking at the tech—Michelin has been toying with the idea, too.

Could sleeper trains replace international air travel? (The Conversation)

Flight shame is reviving overnight rail travel in Europe (Quartz)

Is this the start of an aviation revolution? (BBC)

As air journeys go, it was just a short hop into the early morning sky before the de Havilland seaplane splashed back down on the Fraser River in Richmond, British Columbia. Four minutes earlier it had taken off from the same patch of water. But despite its brief duration, the flight may have marked the start of an aviation revolution.

Those keen of hearing at the riverside on that cold December morning might have been able to pick up something different amid the rumble of the propellers and whoosh of water as the six-passenger de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver took off and landed. What was missing was the throaty growl of the aircraft’s nine-cylinder radial engine.

In its place was an all-electric propulsion engine...

Climate change means longer take-offs and fewer passengers per aeroplane – new study (The Conversation)

As the local climates at airports around the world have changed in the past few decades, the conditions that pilots have relied on in order to take off safely have changed too. Our new research suggests that higher temperatures and weaker winds are making take-off more difficult. In the long run, this means that airlines are delivering fewer passengers and cargo for the same amount of fuel...

climate change isn’t just about temperature – winds are slowing down and changing direction around the world too. This is a problem for airport runways that were built many years ago to align with the prevailing winds at the time.

Research has predicted that take-off distances will get longer as the climate warms. This is because higher temperatures reduce air density, which the wings and engines need to get airborne. With reduced headwinds, aeroplanes also need to generate more groundspeed just to get into the air. Once they’re up there, they’re subject to in-flight turbulence, which is getting worse due to climate change increasing the energy in jet stream winds...

It's close on 25 years since I was involved in running humanitarian airlifts in Sudan, but I seem to recall that a C-130 taking off in the relative cool of dawn could carry 19 tons of food aid to drop on people's heads, while the same aircraft taking off in the heat of the afternoon (with the temperature often in the forties C) could only carry 12 tons. A big difference.

>54 John5918: And don't forget

Your Plane Was Delayed Because the Tarmac Melted

INSTEAD OF FLIGHT SHAMING, LET’S BE THOUGHTFUL AND SELECTIVE ABOUT ALL TRAVEL (ensia)

Some interesting comparative statistics.

Heathrow third runway ruled illegal over climate change (Guardian)

Plans for a third runway at Heathrow airport have been ruled illegal by the court of appeal because ministers did not adequately take into account the government’s commitments to tackle the climate crisis...

The court’s ruling is the first major ruling in the world to be based on the Paris climate agreement and may have an impact both in the UK and around the globe by inspiring challenges against other high-carbon projects. Lord Justice Lindblom said: “The Paris agreement ought to have been taken into account by the secretary of state. The national planning statement was not produced as the law requires”...

Climate campaigners win Heathrow expansion case (BBC)

Controversial plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport have been thrown into doubt after a court ruling. The government's decision to allow the expansion was unlawful because it did not take climate commitments into account, the Court of Appeal said. Heathrow said it would challenge the decision, but the government said it would not appeal...

Next stop, hydrogen-powered trains (BBC)

As old diesel trains are phased out of rail networks around the world, the UK is about to test a new type of engine that could help to decarbonise railways – hydrogen-powered trains...

Construction starts in Netherlands on longest cycling bridge in Europe (Guardian)

The 800-metre Blauwe Loper will only be accessible to cyclists, pedestrians – and bats

UBS predicts post-pandemic shift from air to high speed rail (Railway Gazette)

‘By Train or Plane?’ The Traveller’s Dilemma after Covid-19 and amid Climate Change Concerns was prepared by UBS researchers in an attempt to determine which business sectors will be most and least affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, what the short-, medium- and long-term options for aviation may be, and what market opportunity may exist in Western Europe.

The report sought to ascertain what a shift from air to rail for both business and leisure passengers would mean in terms of carbon emissions. It also aimed to assess the impact on industries related to the air and rail modes, including OEMs and suppliers to the oil and gas sectors as well as infrastructure and airports.

The report found that consumers and governments were becoming ‘more climate aware’, with the Covid-19 outbreak revealing in industrialised countries ‘what clean air means’...

Are we witnessing the death of the car? (BBC)

Cities around the world are seeing dwindling numbers of fossil-fuel powered cars on their streets, and many are planning to keep it that way after lockdowns ease...

Air France ordered to curb competition with rail in France (International Railway Journal)

The ban on short-haul domestic air travel will apply to routes where trains offer a journey time of 2h 30min or less. This means Air France will no longer be able to sell tickets for domestic travel on flights between Paris and Bordeaux, Lyon, Nantes or Rennes. Only passengers using these flights to connect with flights to other destinations will be allowed to travel by air.

“The plane should no longer be a means of transporting {people} in one hour or one hour 15 minutes which could be done at lower cost of CO2 by train in two hours or two hours 30”...

Ugandan-made Electric Buses a Game Changer for Uganda's Public Transport? (SoftPower)

Uganda's nascent car maker, Kiira Motors Corporation, has launched a new prototype, an electric powered bus, causing excitement among Ugandans about the future of mass transport especially in the capital Kampala...

Completely unconnected to this, but I read last week that Uganda has also started to produce locally made smartphones.

World’s largest all-electric aircraft set for first flight (Guardian)

The world’s largest all-electric aircraft is about to take to the skies for the first time. The Cessna Caravan, retrofitted with an electric engine, is expected to fly for 20-30 minutes over Washington state in the US on Thursday. The plane can carry nine passengers but a test pilot will undertake the inaugural flight alone, cruising at a speed of 114mph (183km/h). The engine maker, magniX, hopes the aircraft could enter commercial service by the end of 2021 and have a range of 100 miles...

Of personal interest to me as we often travel in Cessna Caravans in South Sudan - it's a very popular aircraft for humanitarian aid operations. A range of 100 miles would be useless here, though, as few journeys are as short as that. Hopefully the range will gradually be increased.

>63 John5918: I can't see a range of only 100 miles being useful in more than a handful of places.

>64 rastaphrog:

I agree. Certainly pretty useless in my neck of the woods. They say they hope to increase it, and I think they mention that some of the purpose-built electric aircraft (as opposed to conversions of existing aircraft like the Cessna Caravan) already have significantly longer range.

The revolutionary boat powered by the ocean (BBC)

The Philippines’ traditional three-hulled boat is being redesigned, to draw its power not from fossil fuels, but from the energy of the waves...

“The outrigger’s job is to provide stability so the bangka doesn’t tip sideways,” Salvador says. “But I also noticed that each time a wave hits the outrigger, the outrigger constantly reacts to the upward and downward movement of the wave. What if we can convert this reaction – this kinetic energy – into electrical energy?”...

West Midlands to gain 500-mile cycle network (Guardian)

Starley network to provide vehicle-free routes or lanes separated from traffic... Named after the “father of cycling” in the UK, James Starley, and his family, all the routes on the network will be dedicated to “active travel”, with the ambition that the routes will either be traffic-free away from the highway, or within roads but physically separated from traffic. Hoping to emulate the success of Manchester’s Bee Network and the Cycleways in London, politicians say the Starley Network represents a new era for the region, which has seen a surge in people taking to their bikes since the coronavirus pandemic...

Moderate Tories join greens to call for fossil fuel car ban by 2030 (Guardian)

A group of moderate Conservative MPs has joined green groups in calling for the government’s ban on new fossil fuel vehicles to be brought forward by five years to 2030 as part of a plan to ignite a green economic recovery.

The recently reformed caucus of centrist Conservatives has called on ministers to accelerate the shift to electric vehicles as part of a comprehensive green policy report aimed at bringing the UK in line with the official advice of the government’s climate tsars.

The One Nation group of about 100 Conservative MPs, or a third of the parliamentary party, formed in opposition to a hardline no-deal Brexit under Theresa May and relaunched late last month in a bid to steer Boris Johnson away from the hard right of the party...

Reminds me a bit of the "Righteous Republicans" thread in the Pro & Con group. Righteous Tories?

Swedes to build wind-powered transatlantic cargo ship (yes, it’s a sailboat) (thenextweb.com)

A Swedish consortium including the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, maritime consultancy SSPA, and lead by ship designers Wallenius Marine has developed the wind Powered Car Carrier, or wPCC for short. It’s a transatlantic ship capable of carrying up to 7,000 vehicles and reducing emissions for the crossing by 90%. And it’s powered directly by wind. Look at those big fins on top of it, I’m going to call them sails...

My FB friend was lucky to have a chance to visit this boat about a few months ago when he had a business on the island where the vessel was moored then. He was totally awestruck by the system of power supply as well as the mission they are carrying.

https://www.raceforwater.org/en/news/japon-neuf-escales-en-neuf-mois/

It is not exactly “transportation”, but I thought it suits here.

I am glad they dodged recent two powerful typhoons.

East Africa’s first commercial electric tuk-tuks launched (Star)

An innovative East African e-commerce platform has announced the groundbreaking launch of electric tuk-tuks to its delivery fleet in Uganda. This makes the vehicles the first to be used commercially in East Africa. Built by Gayam Motor Works, the new fleet of vehicles take just three hours to charge and last for approximately 2-3 days...

>71 John5918: 👍

Electric Boda-Bodas Launch: A Promising Day For Electric Transportation In East Africa (Clean Technica)

Kenya and Uganda’s electricity grids are predominantly powered by renewable energy. Geothermal, wind, hydro, and some utility-scale solar power Kenya’s grid, making up over 90% of the generation mix...

Forty-nine electric motorcycles raised a lot interest in Nairobi’s Karura Forest on the 2nd of March, as the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) launched a pilot electric bikes project in the presence of Kenyan government officials and business leaders. The 49 electric motorcycles are part of a larger pilot program that includes another 50 electric motorcycles in neighboring Uganda...

Boda-boda is the local name for motorbike taxis. The name dates back to the use of bicycles to ferry people across international borders - "border-border" was simplified to "boda-boda" - and then transferred from push bikes to motor bikes. They are absolutely lethal, as few of the drivers have genuine licences, nor any training nor knowledge of the rules of the road, but they are a cheap and essential part of the public transport system in many poorer countries. You'd be amazed at how many people (adults and children) and/or goods you can fit onto a motorbike.

France moves to ban short-haul domestic flights (BBC)

French lawmakers have moved to ban short-haul internal flights where train alternatives exist, in a bid to reduce carbon emissions. Over the weekend, lawmakers voted in favour of a bill to end routes where the same journey could be made by train in under two-and-a-half hours...

Cargo vessels could one day be powered by wind energy, company says (2:11)
Nathan Coleman | April 14th 2021
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/ca/news/article/cargo-vessels-could-one-day-be...

Short-haul flight ban is a good start – now we need to reimagine the modern airport (The Conversation)

If your journey takes two and a half hours or less by train, then no flights are allowed. That’s the idea recently approved by the French national assembly as a strategy for reining in the aviation sector’s greenhouse gas emissions...

for shorter journeys with multiple travel options, some academics argue that a cultural change is necessary. One that promotes lower consumption and greater sufficiency over speed and convenience and raises the question of whether alternative ways of travel that leave a lighter footprint could suffice. Research suggests that encouraging such a transformation in attitudes might be effective...

A solution could be integrated ticketing across all modes of transport, ensuring connections are automatically rebooked, whether by land or sky. This idea is already taking off. Some airlines, including AirFrance, offer passengers combined air and rail tickets. Lufthansa is working with Deutsche Bahn to replace flights with trains for national connections. Renfe, the national rail provider in Spain, is also working towards an integrated service which could include short air segments alongside longer train journeys. In the UK, Gatwick Connects - rolled out at London Gatwick airport in 2015 - simplified connections between low-cost airlines, automatically rebooking passengers if needed. A similar concept could be used with ground connections to the airport...

In case of interest, great graphics:

Millions of electric cars are coming. What happens to all the dead batteries?
Ian Morse | May. 20, 2021
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/05/millions-electric-cars-are-coming-what-h...

UK government backs scheme for motorway cables to power lorries (Guardian)

The government will fund the design of a scheme to install overhead electric cables to power electric lorries on a motorway near Scunthorpe, as part of a series of studies on how to decarbonise road freight. The electric road system – or e-highway – study, backed with £2m of funding, will draw up plans to install overhead cables on a 20km (12.4 miles) stretch of the M180 near Scunthorpe, in Lincolnshire. If the designs are accepted and building work is funded the trucks could be on the road by 2024...

Hm. We used to have overhead electric cables to power large vehicles in UK. They were called trolley buses. Around sixty years ago they all disappeared in the name of modernisation. Seems they were actually more modern than people realised at the time!

Diesel-Killing Locomotive Of The Future Runs On Solar Power (Clean Technica)

The creators of the solar-powered locomotive of the future were aiming to set a Guinness record for speed last weekend, and that is more than just your ordinary attention-getting stunt. Demonstrating the functionality of PV panels on rail cars could help set the stage for solar power to knock diesel fuel out of the railroad business. No word yet on the official results, but solar is beginning to wiggle its way into a field dominated by fossil fuel...

Train or plane? The climate crisis is forcing us to rethink all long-distance travel (Guardian)

All domestic plane journeys in Britain should be banned and passengers told to take a train. So says the Campaign for Better Transport in its contribution to the climate emergency debate. Planes emit six times more CO2 per passenger mile than trains. The trouble is that plane tickets tend to be half the price of train ones. So tax planes, and subsidise trains...

Travel was the great beneficiary of the leisure society. Only now are we appreciating its cost, not just in pollution but in the need for ever more extravagant infrastructure... The answer to CO2 emissions is not to shift passengers from one mode of transport to another. It is to attack demand head on by discouraging casual hyper-mobility... The answer to CO2 emissions is not to shift passengers from one mode of transport to another. It is to attack demand head on by discouraging casual hyper-mobility...

Britons should rediscover the virtues of locality and neighbourhood. The way to protect life on Earth is not to fly to Glasgow for the Cop26 summit. It is to stay at home...

Freightliner takes down electric locs due to high electricity prices (RailFreight)

The shocking rise in electricity prices has sparked some rail freight operators into a startling scenario. Electric locomotives are to be stopped and operators will resort to diesel traction instead. This would pose difficult questions for the UK and devolved governments, who lay claim to a diversified energy generation policy. It would also drive a freight train straight through decarbonisation plans...

Listening to yesterday's 'Newscast' podcast on BBC Sounds (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0b1yxb8 ; there may be geographical limits to access), with Adam Rutherford talking to Mohamed Nasheed, Speaker of the Maldives parliament, at COP26 representing the Climate Vulnerable Forum of 48 countries. Starting at 27m. 30s., talking about the conundrum of the Maldives' tourist industry's dependency on long-haul aviation, Nasheed says "... there is hydrogen fuel, but it has to use nuclear to heat up the atoms." "That's red hydrogen, isn't it?" "Yeah."

I'm okay with:
green hydrogen ("water split by electrolysis using renewables such as wind or solar, producing hydrogen and oxygen")
blue hydrogen ("natural gas split into hydrogen and CO2, with the CO2 captured and stored)

And a quick Google search came up with:
pink hydrogen ("as green hydrogen, but using nuclear energy as its source of power")
gray hydrogen ("as blue hydrogen, but the CO2 is not captured but released into the atmosphere")
yellow hydrogen ("as green hydrogen, but only using solar")

But what is red hydrogen? Another name for pink, or something else again? And why is this form of production more suitable for making aviation fuel than other processes?

American trains need more than railfan nostalgia
A review of "Amtrak, America's Railroad"
Eric Goldwyn and Jonathan English | Nov 6, 2021

Amtrak, America’s Railroad: Transportation’s Orphan and Its Struggle for Survival from Geoffrey H. Doughty, Jeffrey T. Darbee, and Eugene E. Harmon

...When (Amtrak) was formed 50 years ago as a publicly-owned private corporation to take over the money-losing passenger operations from 20 private railroad companies, many expected that within a few years intercity rail travel would be replaced entirely by “modern” bus and air travel.

The United States Government provided Amtrak with $40 million while the private railroads contributed a more significant sum, roughly $200 million to ensure a smooth transition from passenger rail to intercity bus and air travel. But most of the cash flowed back to the private railroads for use of their trains, crews, and tracks. Today Amtrak remains in a liminal state. It has neither faded away, as many expected, nor become a modern passenger railroad that contributes meaningfully to transportation, decarbonization, or economic development goals outside of the Northeast Corridor.

...Outlined clearly in the book, Amtrak’s greatest problems stem from transportation policies that disadvantage passenger rail, uncertainty stemming from two-year allocations from Congress, and a governance structure that has inevitably pit the Amtrak board against the revolving door of Amtrak presidents...

...Unexamined in the book, however, is the connection between railroads, land use, and alleged economic development goals.
If towns and cities want to retain Amtrak service that operates at a loss, they need to cultivate a land-use mix that attempts to support rail travel by making the stations an anchor of development that can serve as a destination for, or source of, riders...

...High-speed rail, which doesn’t exist in the United States, is most competitive with automobiles and airplanes on short- to medium-length journeys that are less than 5 hours, or about 500 miles. Slower conventional rail is competitive only on even shorter distances. This is unfortunately the challenge for most Amtrak services outside the Northeast Corridor. In many cases, they struggle even to compete on travel time with the automobile...

https://www.slowboring.com/p/amtrak-review

Rwanda goes electric with locally made motorbikes (BBC)

The start-up Ampersand is pioneering the switch and hopes that over the next five years almost all of Rwanda's motorbikes will be electric. It is an ambitious dream - there are around 25,000 motorbike taxis operating in Kigali, some driving up to 10 hours a day, often covering hundreds of kilometres daily. "Motorbikes make up more than half of all vehicles in this part of the world"... "In Rwanda, drivers spend more in a year on petrol than the cost of a new motorbike. We've shown that we can offer an alternative in the same style as their current motorbike {that} costs less to buy, less to power and less to maintain"... savings on fuel and maintenance can double a driver's income...

While there are challenges to rolling out electric vehicles across Africa - such as a shortage of specialised skills, the reticence of venture capital investors and disrupted supply chains - Mr Whale argues that the continent can be a leader in a global shift to e-mobility...

It's Time To Be Clear: Rail And Public Transport Are The Quickest Way To Reach Decarbonisation (Rail Africa)

If we really want to make transport faster, cheaper and easier for all, let’s first provide people with more and better rail and public transport...

Can we use big batteries to power our trains? (Ars Technica)

With the rapid pace of development in electric vehicles, we will likely get to a place where eliminating carbon emissions from one form of transport is possible. But cleaning up the remaining major modes—planes, trains, and ships—appears to be considerably more challenging. A new analysis suggests we have a good idea of how to improve one of those.

The study, performed by California-based researchers, looks at the possibility of electrifying rail-based freight. It finds that the technology is pretty much ready, and under the right circumstances, the economics are on the verge of working out. Plus, putting giant batteries on freight cars has the potential to create some interesting side benefits...

Hunt for the ‘Blood Diamond of Batteries’ Impedes Green Energy Push
Dionne Searcey and Eric Lipton | Nov. 29, 2021

Dangerous mining conditions plague Congo, home to the world’s largest supply of cobalt, a key ingredient in electric cars. A leadership battle threatens reforms.

...Batteries containing cobalt reduce overheating in electric cars and extend their range, but the metal has become known as “the blood diamond of batteries” because of its high price and the perilous conditions in Congo, the largest producer of cobalt in the world. As a result, carmakers concerned about consumer blowback are rapidly moving to find alternatives to the element in electric vehicles, and they are increasingly looking to other nations with smaller reserves as possible suppliers.

There is a chance that Congo’s role in the emerging economy could be diminished if it fails to confront human-rights issues in its mines...

...Congo’s president, Felix Tshisekedi v. (Albert Yuma Mulimbi, is a longtime power broker in the Democratic Republic of Congo and chairman of Gécamines, Congo’s state-owned mining enterprise that works with international mining companies to tap the nation’s copper and cobalt reserves)...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/29/world/congo-cobalt-albert-yuma-mulimbi.html

Swedish-Kenyan Company Introduces First Africa-Made Electric Bus in Kenya (Mwakilishi)

Swedish-Kenyan company Opibus has introduced the first African-designed and manufactured electric bus in Kenya as part of its efforts to bring clean energy to public transportation. Opibus, which was the first company to make electric motorcycles in Kenya, plans to launch the bus commercially mid this year and bring it to markets across Africa by 2023...

No petrol, diesel buses to be allowed in BRT project, Gov’t says (Citizen)

The government has locked out petrol and diesel buses from the bus rapid transport (BRT) project which is due for rollout in Nairobi mid this year... only electric and select hybrid vehicles which use both electric and fossil fuel, and those that use biofuels like hydrogen and biogas, will be allowed on the special bus lane which seeks to ease traffic congestion in the city...

Fortescue starts work on world-first “Infinity Train,” a regenerating battery on rails (Renew Economy)

Fortescue Metals Group has unveiled a $50 million plan to develop a regenerating battery electric iron ore train project – dubbed the Infinity Train... In what it described as a world-first development, Fortescue said the train would use the gravitational energy generated on the downhill loaded sections of the iron ore giant’s rail network to recharge its battery electric systems, removing the need for additional charging on the return trip to reload...

BasiGo launches Sh5 million electric bus targeting PSV operators (Business Daily)

Kenyan electric vehicle start-up BasiGo has introduced a Sh5 million passenger electric bus in anticipation of increased demand for environmentally friendly transport. The 25-seater bus, which is designed by the world’s largest manufacturer of electric buses BYD Automotive, has a 250-kilometre range with a recharging period of less than four hours. Buyers will also be subjected to a daily subscription fee of Sh20 per kilometre to cover the cost of leasing the battery, nightly charging at a BasiGo depot as well as service and maintenance for the buses...

Detroit Auto Show featured a lot of innovation this year, including drones at the show, airports, and in the air. The Sigma-6 is an e-product from Airspace Experience Technologies that looks like answer to some isolated areas' ambulance needs!

Why the 2022 Detroit Auto Show Has a ‘Jetsons’ Vibe
Taylor DesOrmeau | Sept. 15, 2022

The Detroit Auto Show – which is open to the public from Sept. 17-25, features six flying vehicles...

https://www.aviationpros.com/aircraft/business-general-aviation/news/21280848/wh...
--------------------------------------------------------------

In a side attraction, my guys test drove a Bolt and a Rivian e-pickup truck--the latter still has them talking!

A comparison tool for e-vehicles
EV Showroom: Compare electric vehicles by range, price, or _______ ...
https://ev.dteenergy.com/vehicles

Electric planes will take to the skies 'this decade' but can never cross the Atlantic (4:58)
Reuters | October 18, 2022

Hydrogen could fuel the ships of the future (5:03)
Reuters | September 27, 2022

https://www.reuters.com/video/the-switch

Bicycle-powered car :D

0:09 https://twitter.com/gunsnrosesgirl3/status/1597934130435883010

If walking costs you $1, we all pay $0.01. If biking costs you $1, we all pay $0.08. If bussing costs you $1, we all pay $1.50. If driving costs you $1, we all pay $9.20. Via @thediscourse
study.

This isn’t just about choice. It’s about who pays for your choice...

Infographic ( https://twitter.com/BrentToderian/status/1599239279112499200/photo/1 )

- Brent Toderian @BrentToderian10:08 PM · Dec 3, 2022
City planner + urbanist at @TODUrbanWORKS. Global cities advisor. Past Vancouver {BC} chief planner. Founding @CanUrbanism President. BrentToderian@mastodon.online.

Wow--maps of US v. European passenger train routes:

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=438853788456514&set=a.175547828120446
---------------------------------------------------

Esp notable in Canada where all but a few Greyhound bus routes (connecting to US cities) closed this year!

https://news.greyhound.ca/

I hadn’t heard of anyone traveling by bus anymore. Daughter took Greyhound around 2000, and I used to take it regularly back in college.
A new acquaintance just mentioned that his son travels by bus from mid-Kentucky to mid-Pennsylvania to get to college. So it’s still possible.

I haven't travelled in about 3 years (not due to covid, but due to an old cat in palliative care), but I used to take the bus once or twice/year (two ways) to visit my parents.

I hate that I can't do that anymore (and I don't drive). IF Rider Express has re-started Calgary to Regina, I could go again, but they only got that running (briefly) as covid hit (then it was cancelled again for obvious reasons). Not sure if it's going again, but it was only running once/week, so not a lot of options.

Only having to travel one province over it's so much cheaper to take the bus.

I took the bus home in college. A few young folks visiting our summer place in Ontario took the train, if they didn't drive. In work force, used to love taking the train to downtown offices in Toronto and Chicago. Otherwise, drove and flew-- too much. Serving penance in my retirement.

Kingston (Ontario) adds three more electric Zambonis to fleet
Elliot Ferguson | Dec 15, 2022

...“These battery-powered electric ice resurfacers are expected to reduce fuel-related costs by 80 per cent and maintenance costs by up to 35 per cent,” said Brent Fowler, (Kingston, Ontario) director of corporate asset management and fleet. “In addition to these cost reductions, we will also have access to improved operational and maintenance data while providing an overall enriched operator experience, with Zamboni providing valuable ongoing training opportunities for staff.”...

https://www.thewhig.com/news/local-news/kingston-adds-three-more-electric-zambon...

margd: Another benefit of electric Zambonis, as opposed to propane, must be improvement in air quality in indoor rinks? Not a minor consideration for young hockey players and their parents! (Those early morning practices are hard enough without possibility of air pollution!)

>100 margd: As someone in an ice-hockey free part of the world, my main cultural reference point for zambonis (it feels as if the plural ought to be -ies. Camparis, camparies?) is Deadpool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4bbzm3uQ5Y

>101 Cynfelyn: :D

I had to check--where in the world could one live that has no ice hockey?? No rinks at all? Even Bangkok and the Middle East have rinks, though they are admittedly luxury items there!

Increasingly, rinks need to be indoors in our part of the country--to protect against thaws... My dad used to build backyard rinks for us kids, but I can't imagine investing the time nowadays for such a short-lived project. Dad with a hose was OUR Zamboni! :D

>102 margd:

I would suggest that in most parts of the world ice rinks are few and far between, and ice hockey is virtually unknown. I've no idea what a zamboni is, but I assume it's connected to ice rinks?

>103 John5918: I suppose no curling, either? You poor things! :)

I once dreamed that my Thai sons--no hockey stars--could serve on Thai-hockey equivalent of Jamaican bobsled team! :D

Photo of an even more energy-efficient Zamboni:
https://cottagelife.com/general/ontario-dad-makes-backyard-zamboni-with-bucket-o...

North America’s first zero-emission train to launch in Québec this summer
The Train de Charlevoix will release only water vapour
Joanna Whitehead | 2/23/2023

...A 2021 study by consumer group Which? found that, while rail journeys produced 80 per cent fewer carbon dioxide emissions than plane travel, train fares on popular UK routes were up to 50 per cent more expensive than air fares.

“Travellers who choose to take the train face significantly higher fares and journey times, putting those who want to lessen their environmental impact at a disadvantage,” said Which? travel editor Rory Boland.

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/rail-travel/zero-emission-train-quebec-nort...

GREAT LAKES AREA
Hovercraft transit service:

Not sure whether net C emissions will be less with biodiesel (fast) hovercraft between Toronto and Niagara v long hwy drive, esp as e-vehicles become the norm. I might opt for hovercraft if I worked downtown, but probably not as a tourist: need car to visit various attractions?

First-ever transit service hovercraft in North America plans to hit the water in summer 2023
Sierra Moore | February 23, 2023
https://greatlakesecho.org/2023/02/23/first-ever-transit-service-hovercraft-in-n...
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E-buses:

E-buses are HUGE! Wonder how they will navigate Ann Arbor's streets, though the one I saw wasn't fazed by two-lane stretch of Main St? Mostly for game-day?

Four electric buses will hit University of Michigan’s campus next summer
Elaine Mallon | February 22, 2023
https://greatlakesecho.org/2023/02/22/four-electric-buses-will-hit-university-of...
----------------------------------------------------------------

Bikeshare:

New bikeshare in Ithaca, New York hops on community biking trend
Mackenzie DeRaad | February 21, 2023
https://greatlakesecho.org/2023/02/21/new-bikeshare-in-ithaca-new-york-hops-on-c...

Funny how we're culturally (or geographically) conditioned. When I saw that headline, Great Lakes area, I immediately thought of the part of Central and East Africa commonly referred to as the Great Lakes region, and I was really surprised to hear that they were getting hovercraft, until I reached "Toronto" and realised they were talking about a completely different region of Great Lakes.

There are partnerships between Great Lakes and African Great Lakes: I hosted a contingent of visitors checking out how Ontario and states jointly manage ours. My boss, persuaded that Africans hold women in low esteem--or so he said--decided to send my male underling to Africa...

Paul Eremenko @PaulEremenko | 11:28 AM · Mar 6, 2023:
Co-Founder & CEO of @Universal_H2. Former CTO of @Airbus & UTC. Also at Google, @DARPA, Moto.

More awesome footage of our first test flight of the world's largest hydrogen fuel cell powered airliner last week (yes it's green hydrogen, no it's not the Hindenburg)

1:54 ( https://twitter.com/PaulEremenko/status/1632780120208572418 )

The richest country in Europe is celebrating three years of free public transport (Euronews)

The 640,000 or so citizens of Luxembourg have been enjoying free public transport for three years and, unsurprisingly, they quite like it...

How Solar Roofs Are Being Used to Power Electric Cars
An EV that runs entirely on solar energy is still a pipe dream, but rooftop panels are showing up on models from Hyundai’s Sonata to Toyota's Prius.
Kyle Stock | March 29, 2023

{Paywall, unfortunately. one can see blurred photo of such a vehicle }

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-29/electric-cars-with-rooftop-so...

4 Nairobi Bus Operators Now Using Electric Buses (Clean Technica)

one of Nairobi’s top public transportation providers, Embassava Sacco, has announced the introduction of four electric buses to its fleet... Embassava Sacco took delivery of 4 BYD K6 electric buses. The BYD K6 has a range of about 250 km. Embassava Sacco has become the 4th Nairobi bus operator to adopt electric buses, which is a significant milestone. BasiGo began supplying electric buses to bus operators last year after a successful 6-month pilot program. The fact that 4 bus operators have already adopted electric buses in such a short time is an outstanding achievement. It shows that confidence in the new technology is growing in the local sector...

When I saw this article I said to my wife, "This is great news, but I've never seen one of these electric buses in Nairobi yet!" Then when I went into central Nairobi this morning, sure enough there was an electric bus right in front of me! So it's true!

I love electric vehicles – and was an early adopter. But increasingly I feel duped (Guardian)

Sadly, keeping your old petrol car may be better than buying an EV. There are sound environmental reasons not to jump just yet...

So I can keep my 41-year old Land Rover for a while yet!

Debunking three big myths about bike lanes
Taylor C. Noakes | May 24, 2023

Bike lanes do not increase congestion
a single two-way protected bike lane can move about 10 times as many people, and do so using less space, than a single lane of car traffic.
Protected bike lanes don’t just help decongest — they help decarbonize and improve public health and fitness.

Bike lanes are good for business
Over the course of a month, a cyclist or pedestrian will spend 40 per cent more than a motorist. Improvements to the public realm that facilitate pedestrian or cyclist access can increase retail sales by as much as 30 per cent. Installing bike-parking infrastructure can yield as much as five times the amount of retail spending per square metre than the same allowed to car parking. Cyclists and pedestrians were also shown to visit the small businesses of their local commercial thoroughfares more frequently than motorists did — frequently twice as often.

Bike lanes improve safety and reduce collisions
latest studies that demonstrate, unequivocally, that adding protected bike lanes improves safety not only for cyclists, but also for all road users.

https://www.tvo.org/article/debunking-three-big-myths-about-bike-lanes

>113 John5918: Good article. Though some buyers are required so that development proceeds. And those people who buy new and sell after three years are providing a market for those of us who can’t afford to buy new.
When I decided to replace my 2008 mazda for reliability issues (it was nearing 300,000 miles and I was driving 100 miles a day) it’s trade in value turned out to be $100. I kept it and gave it to daughter and granddaughter. They’ve put nearly another 50,000 miles on it

Snapshots of the End of Travel: On Trying to Enter a Personal No-Fly Zone
Amy Benson Wrestles With the Devastating Consequences of Air Travel
Amy Benson | June 14, 2023

...travel is not neutral, ethically or ecologically. You drop into a different culture, a woven mat of flora and fauna, but you bring you with you. Never neutral...

Large aircraft burn about one gallon of jet fuel per second. Climate scientists have learned to use literary devices—imagery and analogy—to help us understand the numbers. The Suzuki Foundation, a science-based environmental nonprofit, takes a few tacks. The micro: one five-hour flight emits as much carbon “as heating a European home for an entire year.” And the macro: “If the aviation sector were a nation, it would be among the top ten global emitters.” The BBC puts it this way: a one-way “flight from London to San Francisco emits… more than twice (the CO2) produced by a family car in a year.”

...flying is almost always worse {than driving}...

Jet fuel produces an average of 21.5 pounds of CO2 per gallon and aviation gas 18.4, while auto fuel produces 19.6. Not a calamitous disparity, but airplanes burn a tremendous amount of fuel taking off and landing. And then there are the contrails, a mixture of CO2, heavy soot, and water vapor. Contrails “that persist for hours can form human-made cirrus clouds, which trap huge amounts of thermal radiation that would otherwise escape into space.” The radiation trapped by these clouds causes “a warming impact 3x that of CO2.” ...

Not computed in the carbon footprints of flights is the jet fuel airlines sometimes dump in the atmosphere when they need to lighten the plane before landing. They try to avoid this by filling the tanks with little over the fuel needed for the voyage. British Airways once estimated that “only .01% of fuel used by the aviation industry each year is dumped.” But that still equals “almost two million gallons (per year) by U.S. airlines alone.”

Jet fuel emissions are set to spiral upward, just as the planet approaches the climatological Tipping Point. Currently, flights make up 2.5-5% of global emissions, though many climate scientists would weight the percentage higher to reflect the outsize damage those emissions cause. And this is with just three percent of the world population flying—the wealthiest citizens of the wealthiest countries. With burgeoning middle classes in China and India, the most populous nations, the number of passengers is “set to double in the next 20 years.” Even factoring in expected innovations in efficiency, emissions are expected to triple by 2050.

Oh, but carbon offsets! Modern day Indulgences, built on similarly shaky theology. It takes a leap of faith, in fact, to believe in the power of offsets to buy a clean conscience and a smaller footprint. The main mechanism for offsets is planting trees, but those trees are usually monoculture “forests,” terrible as a platform for biodiversity, and extra vulnerable to pests, fires, and species extinction. ...

"It is difficult to separate seeing and taking: the privilege of being among the 3 percent of the world’s population that flies."

Often, not a tree is planted. The money is paid, instead, to landowners (usually already wealthy) to prevent potential deforestation. But can hypothetical tree-saving cancel out the burning of an actual tank of jet fuel? What offsets do accomplish is market protection, ensuring guilt-free flights, cruises, tours, and resorts. Kevin Anderson, climate researcher for Nature, definitively scorches the offset economy as “…worse than doing nothing. It is without scientific legitimacy, is dangerously misleading and almost certainly contributes to a net increase in the absolute rate of global emissions growth.”...

https://lithub.com/snapshots-of-the-end-of-travel-on-trying-to-enter-a-personal-...

At least no wildfire smoke to marr tourist experience--today, anyway...

Runs from Quebec City to Baie-Saint-Paul until September
Emily Chung | Jun 28, 2023

The first hydrogen-powered train in North America is taking riders on a two-and-a-half hour trip through central Quebec this summer.

It's a demonstration that launched earlier this month to show how electricity stored as hydrogen can replace diesel fuel on railways; where installing electrified rails or overhead wires would be challenging.

Advocates for the use of hydrogen in heavy transportation say it could raise awareness and boost confidence in the emerging technology in North America.

The tourist train made by French company Alstom runs from Montmorency Falls in Quebec City to Baie-Saint-Paul — partway along the Train de Charlevoix route — on Wednesday through Sunday until Sept. 30, carrying up to 120 people in two rail cars.

...The same model of train, known as the Coradia iLint, has previously carried passengers in eight European countries...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/hydrogen-train-quebec-city-1.6888891
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Air Pollution in North America: Real-time Air Quality Index Visual Map
https://aqicn.org/map/northamerica/

Hannah Ritchie @_HannahRitchie | 2:00 AM · Jul 17, 2023:

You might have heard that EVs 'catch fire' more often than petrol cars.
But data from Norway – where EV adoption is highest – shows the opposite.
EVs were much less likely to catch fire.
Data is given per 100,000 cars.

h/t @robbie_andrew (his chart below)
Bar graph ( https://twitter.com/_HannahRitchie/status/1680819776099057665/photo/1 )

Brent Toderian @BrentToderian | 12:37 AM · Aug 7, 2023:
City planner + urbanist leading @TODUrbanWORKS . Global cities advisor. Past Vancouver chief planner. Past/founding @CanUrbanism president. Speaker.

The most important thing about this amazing Paris transformation is how fast it happened — how fast people on bikes “appeared” — once streets were transformed. You can’t write this off as “#Paris was always this way,” because it wasn’t. It took leadership.

0:29 ( https://twitter.com/BrentToderian/status/1688409066467622912 )
From Brice Perrin

Cuts in ship pollution may have added to global warming??

‘We’re changing the clouds.’ An unintended test of geoengineering is fueling record ocean warmth
Paul Voosen | 2 Aug 2023

Pollution cuts have diminished “ship track” clouds, adding to global warming

...The obvious and primary driver of {Atlantic fever} is society’s emissions of greenhouse gases, which trap heat that the oceans steadily absorb. Another influence has been recent weather, especially stalled high-pressure systems that suppress cloud formation and allow the oceans to bake in the Sun.

But researchers are now waking up to another factor, one that could be filed under the category of unintended consequences: disappearing clouds known as ship tracks. Regulations imposed in 2020 by the United Nations’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) have cut ships’ sulfur pollution by more than 80% and improved air quality worldwide. The reduction has also lessened the effect of sulfate particles in seeding and brightening the distinctive low-lying, reflective clouds that follow in the wake of ships and help cool the planet...

https://www.science.org/content/article/changing-clouds-unforeseen-test-geoengin...

Congestion pricing in NYC coming in 2024

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvsyJWWrWOH/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

https://www.manhattanbp.nyc.gov/initiatives/congestion-pricing-plan/

To reduce traffic and air pollution in Lower Manhattan and Midtown, the MTA will soon introduce a new toll for drivers below 60th Street.

(my understanding)
Electronic readers will read vehicle plates and bill automatically. No exemptions for low income residents, but tax rebates at the end of the year. Seems a major burden being imposed.

>121 2wonderY: Seems a major burden being imposed

But perhaps not as great a burden as pollution is placing on the world? And if I recall correctly, New York has a rather good public transit system.

Pioneering wind-powered cargo ship sets sail (BBC)

A cargo ship fitted with giant, rigid British-designed sails has set out on its maiden voyage. Shipping firm Cargill, which has chartered the vessel, hopes the technology will help the industry chart a course towards a greener future. The WindWings sails are designed to cut fuel consumption and therefore shipping's carbon footprint...The Pyxis Ocean's maiden journey, from China to Brazil, will provide the first real-world test of the WindWings - and an opportunity to assess whether a return to the traditional way of propelling ships could be the way forward for moving cargo at sea. Folded down when the ship is in port, the wings are opened out when it is in open water. They stand 123ft (37.5m) tall and are built of the same material as wind turbines, to make them durable. Enabling a vessel to be blown along by the wind, rather than rely solely on its engine, could hopefully eventually reduce a cargo ship's lifetime emissions by 30%...

MAGLEV trains: no friction? faster than planes?

China Has Built The World’s Fastest Train (1:18)
World Economic Forum
https://www.weforum.org/videos/23329-china-has-built-the-world-s-fastest-train
--------------------------------------------------------

This new 'levitating' Chinese train will be the fastest in the world
World Economic Forum | Jul 29, 2021

China has unveiled a new maglev train capable of a top speed of 600 kph.
The top speed makes the train the fastest ground vehicle in the world.
The train uses electro-magnetic force, meaning it "levitates" above the track with no contact between body and rail.
At 600 kph, it would only take 2.5 hours to travel from Beijing to Shanghai, a journey of more than 1,000 km or 620 miles.
By comparison, the journey would take 3 hours by plane and 5.5 hours by high-speed rail.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/07/china-maglev-train-fastest-world-electro-...
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/06/china-floating-train-faster-than-air-trav...

Nova Scotia's lobster fleet well-suited to go electric, study finds
Michael Tutton · The Canadian Press · Posted: Sep 21, 2023

Province's fleet produces emissions equivalent to about 35,000 cars a year

...Brent Dancey, director of marine climate action at Oceans North, said in an interview Thursday the move to electric would be most efficient for new vessels, for which energy-efficient hulls could be designed to mesh with the needs of batteries.

However, he said boats that are currently operating could also be fitted for electric systems, especially when their diesel engines need to overhauled.

...Under the group's "simplified analysis" of the costs of a 12-metre vessel's propulsion system — assuming the boat would use about 260 kilowatt hours daily of energy — the price for a diesel engine would be $70,000, versus $170,000 for a battery-electric system.

But over time, operating and maintenance costs over 20 years for the diesel engine would be about $280,000, much higher than the roughly $85,000 for the battery-powered boat...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/lobster-fleet-electric-oceans-north-s...
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P.E.I. company excited by new report promoting electric lobster boats
Report says governments should set adoption targets and provide EV-like incentives
Nancy Russell · CBC News · Posted: Sep 25, 2023

In the report, Oceans North says the key to getting the shift going is for governments to set a 'market signal' by setting clear targets for emission reductions, as has occurred in the motor vehicle sector. (Roger Cosman/CBC)

A P.E.I. company that just launched a hybrid lobster boat is applauding a new report promoting incentives and targets for electrifying marine vessels.

AKA Energy Systems is hoping to launch its own all-electric lobster boat within the next year, following up on its work with hybrid vessels...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-electric-lobster-boat-ne...

Researchers make surprising discovery about lifespan of EV batteries: ‘That was a shock’
Erin Feiger | September 19, 2023

...a study* done in March by Recurrent Motors Inc. — a Seattle-based battery analysis company — showed that overall, EV batteries are actually very reliable and long-lasting. In fact, they may last longer than the vehicles themselves.

The study took real-world data from 15,000 EVs of various makes and models in the U.S. By linking to the vehicles’ connectivity systems, the company took several battery readings daily, including charging activity, EV battery level, and estimated range.

The data showed that most EVs driven close to 100,000 miles still have at least 90 percent of their original range left...

https://news.yahoo.com/researchers-surprising-discovery-lifespan-ev-110000330.ht...
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* New Study: How Long Do Electric Car Batteries Last?
Liz Najman Researcher | March 27, 2023
https://www.recurrentauto.com/research/how-long-do-ev-batteries-last

Hannah Ritchie @_HannahRitchie | 8:42 AM · Oct 23, 2023:
Deputy Editor @OurWorldinData. Researcher at @UniofOxford. Honorary Fellow: @EdinburghUni
@EdCentreCC

"Electrification is efficiency".
The energy transition will reduce final energy demand (and primary energy too).
Here's the transition for transport 👇
My new post on this:
https://sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/electrification-energy-efficiency

Bar graph, EVs etc. ( https://twitter.com/_HannahRitchie/status/1716434864495284404/photo/1 )

EPA Proposes Endangerment Finding for Lead Emissions from Aircraft Engines that Operate on Leaded Fuel (News Release)
October 7, 2022

...“endangerment finding”... now obligates {US EPA} under the Clean Air Act to set new rules on what aircraft engines can emit.

“The science is clear: exposure to lead can cause irreversible and lifelong health effects in children,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. “Aircraft that use leaded fuel are the dominant source of lead emissions in our air.”

Now that the EPA has made its determination, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that it will move forward with rulemaking aimed at controlling or eliminating aviation lead emissions from piston-engine aircraft...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/10/18/lead-aviation-fuel...

Whoa! Aeroplanes still use leaded fuels? How did that happen?

"The Washington Post : Democracy Dies in Darkness"
Pity the article is behind a paywall, at least in the UK.

>129 Cynfelyn: Maybe you can access EPA news release?
EPA Determines that Lead Emissions from Aircraft Engines Cause or Contribute to Air Pollution 
EPA | October 18, 2023
https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-determines-lead-emissions-aircraft-engines-...

or LA Times:
Editorial: Small aircraft shouldn’t be allowed to keep spewing toxic lead into communities
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-10-24/editorial-leaded-gasoline-is-st...

If I recall correctly, shipping industry is responsible for ~4% of global CO2 emissions (= Germany). Electricity increasingly powers ferries with shorter runs than ocean-going vessels, but sounds like ships (often with defined, shorter runs) are also adapting the technology. Typically, such vessels are equipped with backup generators that run on fossil fuels.

Never simple, though: when shippers moved to cleaner fuels recently, we learned that there was loss of clouds along shipping lanes, clouds that cooled...

Another plus of electricty: ships powered by electricity are much quieter--hopefully benefitting aquatic animals, corals to whales... (Hope right whales aren't losing noise cues of approaching ships?)

Montreal-based (saltie) shipping reps were first & most responsive to need for ballast management back in 1990s (to prevent transport of invasive species). Not all associations are as helpful, so kudos to Montreal!

CSL Orders First Fully Electric Battery Capable Self-Unloading Ship
Shipping Telegraph | 27/12/2023

Canada Steamship Lines (CSL), the Montreal headquartered ship owner and operator of self-unloading vessels, has announced a 20-year strategic partnership with Australian-based Adelaide Brighton Cement (Adbri) to build and operate the world’s first fully electric battery capable self-unloading vessel..

..approximately 50% of the vessel’s energy requirements will be provided by a combination of shore power and battery energy storage, with plans to install sufficient batteries in the future to allow 100% electric operations.

...Louis Martel, CSL president and chief executive, explained: “Developed in line with CSL and Adbri’s shared decarbonization vision, this groundbreaking vessel will initially run on a hybrid diesel and battery system, replacing 25% of diesel with electric power and lowering Scope 1 emissions by 40% compared to Accolade II,” and he adds that “By 2031, we aim to run the ship entirely on electric power, further reducing Scope 1 emissions to less than 10%.”...

https://shippingtelegraph.com/shipyard-news/csl-orders-first-fully-electric-batt...

Factcheck: 21 misleading myths about electric vehicles
Simon Evans | 24 October 2023

FALSE: ‘An EV has to travel 50,000+ miles to break even’
Graph (https://twitter.com/CarbonBrief/status/1741611955939311850/photo/1)
FALSE: ‘VW’s e-Golf becomes more environmentally friendly only after 77,000 miles’
FALSE: The ‘electric Volvo C40 needs to be driven around 68,400 miles to cut carbon’
FALSE: ‘Electric vehicles have little or no CO2 advantage over the car you already drive’
FALSE: ‘Climate change is accelerating because of the ban on combustion-engines’
FALSE: ‘Old bangers are the green motorist’s choice’
FALSE: ‘EVs simply displace carbon emissions from roads to distant power stations’
MOSTLY FALSE: ‘Electric cars are not green machines’
INCOMPLETE: ‘Electric vehicles alone can’t solve climate change’
FALSE: ‘EVs are low-mileage runabouts…that take a long time to pay off their carbon debt’
FALSE: ‘Synthetic petrol could displace electric vehicles’
FALSE: ‘Hydrogen cars are more sustainable than EVs’
FALSE: ‘Sales of electric vehicles appear to be slowing’
FALSE: ‘Electric cars could soon be more expensive to drive than their petrol equivalents’
FALSE: ‘There are insufficient raw materials…for all vehicles to be EVs’
FALSE: The lifetime of EV batteries is ‘horribly uncertain’
FALSE: ‘Electric vehicles can explode – petrol ones only do it in movies’
FALSE: ‘Under Biden’s electric vehicle mandate, 40% of US auto jobs will disappear’
FALSE: ‘Electric car revolution at crisis point’ due to ‘charging point shortage’
FALSE: ‘Britain’s creaking power grid cannot cope with charging electric cars’
FALSE: ‘How your super heavy EV produces MORE pollution than petrol and diesel cars’

https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-21-misleading-myths-about-electric-vehicle...