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<p>[QUOTE="-jeffB, post: 24684976, member: 27832"]We don't have a lot of coal-burning trains out there still, do we? <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie2" alt=";)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The way I understood it, nearly all diesel locomotives are electric <i>anyhow</i> (diesel engine runs a generator which runs electric motors, electric motors also provide braking power by running them as generators and sending the power to a radiator). "All we need" is a battery system with power to match a diesel engine (a very tall order), and capacity to match a great big tank of diesel fuel (not even on the horizon AFAIK).</p><p><br /></p><p>I hope there's more research going into biodiesel (very low net carbon emission) than long-haul electric. There's going to be a <i>big</i> window where that saves more emissions than a push for "pure electric".</p><p><br /></p><p>I also see some talk about hydrogen, but I'm skeptical. Liquid hydrogen takes up four times the volume of diesel for a given energy content. (On the other hand, if you can build <i>fuel cells</i> that work at scale, you get better thermodynamic efficiency than from burning the stuff in an internal-combustion engine, so... maybe?)</p><p><br /></p><p>In any event, I assume (and hope) trains are here to stay. Even burning dirty stuff, on <i>ton-</i>miles-per-gallon they beat any other land transportation system, and it's not even close. (Barges do better, but if you think building railways over a mountain is expensive, try building a river.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="-jeffB, post: 24684976, member: 27832"]We don't have a lot of coal-burning trains out there still, do we? ;) The way I understood it, nearly all diesel locomotives are electric [I]anyhow[/I] (diesel engine runs a generator which runs electric motors, electric motors also provide braking power by running them as generators and sending the power to a radiator). "All we need" is a battery system with power to match a diesel engine (a very tall order), and capacity to match a great big tank of diesel fuel (not even on the horizon AFAIK). I hope there's more research going into biodiesel (very low net carbon emission) than long-haul electric. There's going to be a [I]big[/I] window where that saves more emissions than a push for "pure electric". I also see some talk about hydrogen, but I'm skeptical. Liquid hydrogen takes up four times the volume of diesel for a given energy content. (On the other hand, if you can build [I]fuel cells[/I] that work at scale, you get better thermodynamic efficiency than from burning the stuff in an internal-combustion engine, so... maybe?) In any event, I assume (and hope) trains are here to stay. Even burning dirty stuff, on [I]ton-[/I]miles-per-gallon they beat any other land transportation system, and it's not even close. (Barges do better, but if you think building railways over a mountain is expensive, try building a river.)[/QUOTE]
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