Blog Two Topic One Technologies: Transportation Part I: Technological overview

1.1 Any vibrant economy requires huge movement of raw materials, goods and persons
1.2 Nowadays it is done mainly trough the use of fossil fuels in internal combustion engine
1.3 This technological solution is not sustainable, due to the limited supply of fuels and the pressing evidence of climate change acceleration.
1.4 Furthermore the costs of the technological solutions is too high for most developing countries to afford. 1.5 Therefore this post will concentrate on the available and plausible technologies diverging from the current mainstream.
1.6 Small discussion about the financing and applicability will be presented in the second part.
2 Transportation infrastructure
2.1 Travel mediators – the man made structures, which make different ways of transportation possible
2.1.1 Roads
2.1.1.1 Existing – the current infrastructure is based on flat surface low friction mediator enhancing speed, access and safety in operating wheeled vehicles. It has been the tradition for two thousand years. The result is high quality roads on rather high price – depending on the terrain a highway road costs between 2 and 5 million Euro per km.
2.1.1.2 Potential – the available research is concentrated in making the existing roads safer, or slightly less expensive to build and maintain. There is no concept shifting technology I am aware of.
2.1.2 Airports
2.1.2.1 Existing – The mainstream technology uses high speed and dynamics of curved wings to get airborne. Hence the requirement for durable and safe runways. Other important part are the cargo delivery system and the commercial area (security and passport checks including). Their capacity and cost vary greatly depending on the design, location and quality. However new airport with capacity between 2-3 million passengers per year would cost at least 100 million.
2.1.2.2 Potential – should the means of travel evolve (3.2.2; 3.2.3) the airport design can also be change significantly – and the cost reduced. Even if the airplane technology does not change new materials and smart designs may reduce the cost for building new airports.
2.1.3 Rail road
2.1.3.1 Existing – wheeled vehicles movement occurs on rail track. The former are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on. The travel distance is covered by tracks (usually bi-rail, sometimes monorail). That requires specific physical properties of the track and makes rail relatively expensive – depending of the terrain 2 to 6 million Euro per km (electrification included). Monorails with electromagnetic levitation cost considerably more – 10 to 30 times more.
2.1.3.2 Potential – despite the many patented innovations including different train rails (Crossrail), wheels (RRD) and train designs ( A-train) the ground-braking concept belongs to Tubular Rail. In this innovation the track is actually carried by the train. The Tubular Rail concept developed from the observation of the relationship between the balance point of a beam at rest on two points. The inventor noted when sliding a pencil off the edge of a desk, given a uniform weight distribution, the pencil - or any beam - could be pushed to almost 50% of its length before tilting would occur. Reversing the orientation of the wheel and the rail is truly unique. By placing the wheel (or roller) permanently on a fixed structure and the rail on the now strengthened car, the car itself bridges the space between the rollers. Tubular Rail Technology uses the principle of the cantilever beam - a projection anchored at one end. Since the car is moving within- and is held by - the support rings (stanchions), the effect is to create a cantilever beam. The beam is fixed in its vertical orientation but mobile in its horizontal orientation. Therefore this rolling cylinder is constantly shifting from a cantilever beam on the ends to a post and beam (in its middle) and then back again. That allows drastic reduction of construction costs.

2.1.4 Ports
2.1.4.1 Existing – sea and river ports operate by providing dock and cargo transfer facilities to buoyancy vessels. To this end deep navigation route is maintained. Current technology allows containers with large capacity to be speedily transferred from ships to other means of transport. The technology is relatively recent and though providing reliable and fast processing of large quantities is not universally implemented. Ports also require naturally accruing features such as coast line, bay or large river.
2.1.4.2 Potential – there is little to suggest specific change. The containers processing technologies are likely to diverse and radio or infra-red tags will be increasingly used in near future, but unlikely to bring great change.
2.2 Re-fuelling infrastructure
2.2.1 Road – the vehicles transporting passengers and goods have limited fuel capacity. Therefore a re-fuelling stations are build around the road infrastructure to allow easy access to refined fossil fuels.
2.2.2 Rail, Sea and Air – the vehicles are large enough be able to store large quantities of fuel. In the case of electrified rail the energy comes from centralised grid.
2.2.3 With the exception of some self-sustaining technologies (e.g. high efficient solar panels) there is not so many ideas for changing the concept. Construction costs to provide hydrogen, or electricity storage due to fuel convergence may however be considerable.
3 Air transport
3.1 Mainstream technology - When air flows past an airplane wing, it breaks into two airstreams. The one that goes under the wing encounters the wing's surface, which acts as a ramp and pushes the air downward and forward. The air slows somewhat and its pressure increases. Forces between this lower airstream and the wing's undersurface provide supports of the wing. Maintaining high speed is however a requirement.
3.2 Alternative technologies
3.2.1 Very light jets -Microjets are generally considered to be a new category of plane because of their smaller cabin size compared to other business jets. They are also powered by a group of newly developed and smaller jet engines
3.2.2 Dirigibles - Modern airships have a natural buoyancy and special design that offers a virtually zero catastrophic failure mode. They are somewhat slow (125 km/h) and have small lifting capacity, however the plans and potential are considerable.

3.2.3 Hunt Aviation Gravity Aircraft - “The idea that an airplane can fly endlessly carrying heavy loads of passengers and cargo without burning any fuel, can stop and hover in place weightless at any time, and can takeoff and land vertically is a radical departure from accepted thought concerning aviation. The new hybrid “gravity-powered aircraft” is formed by merging the capabilities of the following devices into a single new aircraft apparatus: (1) an aircraft capable of aerostatic (lighter-than-air) lift to gain altitude; and, (2) a glider aircraft

capable of aerodynamic lift, having a high glide ratio to accomplish long range gliding; and, (3) an innovative new extremely low drag vertical axis wind turbine that is capable of harnessing the force of the wind to generate power as the aircraft glides upward via positive buoyancy and glides downward via gravity acceleration”
3.2.4 Alternative fuels - synthetic fuel from biomass, fast-growing “algae” and jatropha, gas-to-liquid (GTL) kerosene
3.2.5 Air traffic management - “An innovative Air Traffic Management concept called Tailored Arrivals has been demonstrated to significantly lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions”
4 Road transport
4.1 Mainstream technology - Tiny amount of high-energy fuel (like gasoline) in a small, enclosed space if ignited will create incredible amount of energy, which is released in the form of expanding gas. Almost all cars currently use what is called a four-stroke combustion cycle to convert fuel into motion. This technology is unsustainable because it emits large amount of greenhouse gases and is based on non-renewable energy sources.
4.2 Alternative technologies – most of the alternative technologies concern improvements in navigation systems and automation of controls. However in the developing world the technological advances that concern me are in the area of alternative fuels and smart commuting technologies
4.2.1 Electric cars - produce zero localized emissions since they’re propelled by electric motors that run on batteries charged at home, or special electric vehicle charging stations. Using this technology on large scale would require much greater electricity consumption. Furthermore without extensive centralised grid the construction of storage facilities would be very expensive.
4.2.2 Ethanol - Ethyl alcohol is the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. As a fuel, ethanol can be used in flex fuel vehicle models that have been designed to run on alcohol, gasoline, or any combination of the two fuels from the same tank. Most ethanol today is produced from corn or sugar cane, although this will change as cheaper cellulosic ethanol made from fast growing woody grasses and other biomass becomes a reality. The downside is that areas used for food growth would change to ethanol fuel growth, which would exacerbate food shortages in the developing world.
4.2.3 Biodiesel is a renewable alternative fuel made from various sources ranging from waste vegetable oil to soybeans. It can often be used seamlessly in diesel engines of all kinds. Biodiesel is a cleaner fuel than standard petroleum diesel. The production costs are high and the growth areas larger than those needed for ethanol. Up point is that waste materials can be incorporated in the production process.
4.2.4 Green Diesels - Ultra-clean burning diesels have been on European highways for years. The Lupo, produced by Volkswagon, gets 90 mpg
4.2.5 Hydrogen is perhaps the cleanest of all alternative fuels, burning with nearly zero emissions in an internal combustion engine and with emissions of only water vapor and heat in an electro-mechanical fuel cell. Hydrogen vehicles are being developed in many forms by most major car manufacturers. Since the main method for hydrogen production is electrolyses it will require lots of electricity. Furthermore building the re-fuelling infrastructure would be costly
4.2.6 Hybrids combine two or more different propulsion systems, typically a gasoline engine and one or more electric drive motors. Most hybrids on the road today compliment their gas engines by charging a battery when breaking. Engines running on diesel or other alternative fuels can also be used in hybrids. A hybrid drive is fully scalable, which means the drive can be used to power everything from small commuter cars to large buses and even locomotives.
4.2.7 Plug in hybrids boast great potential for improving fuel economy. Plug in hybrid technology allows gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles to be recharged from the grid and run many miles on battery power alone. A gas engine provides additional driving range as needed after the battery power is gone. Plug in hybrids may never need to run on anything but electricity for shorter commutes. Plug-in hybrids are now available on the market and are likely to be a long-time leader in new technologies.
4.2.8 Plug-in electrics- General Motors hopes to have its plug-in Chevrolet Volt on the market by 2010. The Volt concept car that GM has shown at auto shows around the world can travel up to 60 km on electricity from its rechargeable battery, but also has a three-cylinder gasoline engine to recharge the lithium-ion battery pack that would extend its range.
4.2.9 Fuel cell - promising long-term outlook, but some obstacles yet to overcome, such as cost, improved performance, reducing the size and weight of the fuel cell systems and setting up a hydrogen fuel supply infrastructure. The current refining process for hydrogen fuel is a dirty process, and will need improvement. Daimler Chrysler has invested $1 billion in fuel cell research and has built ten fuel cell vehicles either as concept cars or test vehicles, each one powered by Ballard fuel cells. Honda's fuel-cell car, the FCX, is currently being road tested.
4.2.10 Segway - electricity powered mobile individual transport. It is excellent for commuting with

speed up to 20 km/h with range up to 40 km. The cost is around $7000 and is excellent for commuting purposes.
5 Rail transport
5.1 Mainstream technology – there are two principle propulsion technologies, diesel and electric. The latter is spread mainly in the developed world and is much cleaner and sustainable, it also requires additional investment.
5.2 Alternative technologies
5.2.1 Electromagnetic levitation - is a system of transportation that suspends, guides and propels vehicles, predominantly trains, using magnetic levitation from a very large number of magnets for lift and propulsion. This method has the potential to be faster, quieter and smoother than wheeled mass transit systems. The power needed for levitation is usually not a particularly large percentage of the overall consumption; most of the power used is needed to overcome air drag as with any other high speed train. The main drawback is the astronomic cost for construction.
5.2.2 Multivalent combustion engines – use hydrogen or other forms of alternative fuel. The prime focus is on some of the noble gases. The engines are still in prototype phase. For more information see 4.2
6 Sea Transport
6.1 Mainstream technology – the ships use fossil fuels, using the technology described above (4.1)
6.2 Alternative technologies
6.2.1 Bio fuels- see 4.2
6.2.2 Sail is wind-powered alternative. Unfortunately this option is much more expensive and not as reliable.
7 In the second part of the Transportation topic I will discuss the financing and organisational issues. At the end I will make argumented suggestions about technology choice in the developing countries environment
8 Thank you for reading my post