Infrastructure Study: Planes vs. Trains (and cars)

Recently, an in-depth study was released comparing the environmental impacts of different transportation options. The interesting part about this study is how closely it looks at the options, including the impact of the built infrastructure supporting the trains, airplanes, and cars. Often, you will see opponents of cars discuss how much they distort land use, but nobody has quantified and compared cars vs. other options. Until now.

The actual article is here: "Environmental assessment of passenger transportation should include infrastructure and supply chains". The original article is a good read and the source for most of the discussion that has followed. There are many news organizations that have published their own take on the study, for example:

Fuel Emissions Focus "Too Narrow" (BBC News)

Planes, trains or automobiles? Air travel may be no worse for the environment than rail (Scientific American)

Train can be worse for climate than plane (New Scientist)

Think twice about 'green' transport, say scientists (AFP)

That New Study That Shows Planes Are Greener Than Trains? It Does No Such Thing (The Infrastructurist)

My favorite part of this story is that the lead author is a good friend from college. The shorter article was based on many years of collecting data and building models, which have been cataloged online. This study has been needed in the infrastructure debate for a long time. An honest assessment of transportation, land use, fuel choice, and infrastructure without a hidden agenda. The common sense answer to the ultimate question, What's the most green transportation system?: "it depends". But at least, now we know what it depends on.

Update: Greenwashing the Construction Industry

In a relevant update to my previous post on greenwashing, Scot Case, of the environmental consulting firm TerraChoice goes before the US Congress and says consumers are being deliberately lied to by corporations claiming environmental benefits to their products. In the article US shoppers misled by greenwash, the study finds that 98% of products claiming green-ness are false or misleading.

This is a great chance for the US federal government to set policies establishing fair market procedures for green products. People want to do the right thing, but they need help.

For those of us in the construction industry, this should serve as a warning. How much can you trust the claims of products available in the market? Third-party objectively verified results are the only way you will know for sure. Thus, LEED certification, Forest Stewardship Council, and similar programs will become the standard for green buildings. Nothing else will be relevant in the long run.

Also, I am happy to report that my greenwashing post was published in the April edition of Modern Steel Construction magazine, see the "Topping Out" section. This post apparently struck a chord with some people, and it was an honor to be selected.

US Men's Soccer Team

The US Men's Soccer Team chalked up their biggest win in recent history by defeating the No. 1 world ranked Spanish team (Espana). Thus, they are now playing in their first FIFA tournament championship game. The final game will be against Brazil on Sunday at 2PM ET.

This is my advice, go ahead and jump on the bandwagon. You'll never get a better opportunity to display obnoxious support for the "American" team. I've attached photos from the last two world cup qualifying matches I attended as a Friday morning present for everyone (I'm the tall guy).

US 2 - 0 Mexico
February 2009 @ Crew Stadium, Columbus, OH

US 2 - 1 Honduras
June 2009 @ Soldier Field, Chicago, IL

A US fan, same game

Are Cars the Future of our Public Transportation?

Watching with interest all the advances in robotics and automation used in the DARPA challenge I wonder if the technology will make its way into commercial products. Actually, I know it will. Soon enough we will have cars smart enough to drive themselves on public roads.

This would give us the possibility of a new kind of public transportation option. Imagine hundreds of "taxis" controlled by a central brain distributing cars to anyone in need (and willing to pay the fare). Instead of waiting for a bus and travelling along the existing routes you would be chauferred directly to your destination. You could work out all sorts of algorithms to maximize passenger load and efficiency, but I am not concerned with details.

This thought experiment as envisioned by many futurists should make us pause instead of encouraging us to proceed along our current path of development. I think the automated car public transportation option is a great evolutionary step that would fit into our existing urban landscape very easily, but it isn't what we need. We need a revolutionary change that will eliminate cars entirely.

Do we really need to terrorize our urban neighborhoods with yet another scheme that will send millions of two-ton hunks of metal rushing down the streets at deadly speeds? Do we need yet another option to prevent us from using our feet and bodies for travel? Yes, cars can be the future of public transportation, but I don't think they should be.

I believe that arranging our urban landscapes for human-scaled travel, human-scaled interaction, and removing cars from our streets is an achievable goal that will increase everyone's quality of life. A professor with the World Cancer Research Fund has just recommended that London replicate the public transportation system of Bogota, focusing on pedestrians and bicycling. It's a truly different approach and one that has been absent from the infrastructure debate in the US in most cases.

Bike Lanes: A first step

Not that we need to remove cars entirely, there will always be a need for trash/recycling collection, vans for the plumbers and electricians, and other actual needs, but much of our current travel can be radically altered. I once thought we'd have to see a lot of important government and corporate policies enacted regarding every aspect of life, but closing down streets for certain times of the day would be an effective and easy step to start with.

Accelerated Bridge Construction

As many structural engineers can tell you, streamlining the design and construction process is a great way to keep cost under control. With that in mind, here is another link to an engineer's website: Accelerated Bridge Construction.

It has a pretty good blogroll of interesting bridge websites for those who are interested, and also some posts of normal events through the eyes of an engineer.

The Infrastructurist Blog

You say you've been looking for a website that discusses infrastructure all the time? Our wishes have been answered:

The Infrastructurist

Co-Founder & Publisher: Alexander Jutkowitz
Co-Founder & Publisher: Mitch Stoller
Associate Publisher: Tom Blim
Editor: Jebediah Reed

Contributors to the Infrastructurist will include politicians, academics, representatives of major industry and advocacy groups, and journalists.

The site is edited by Jebediah Reed, most recently a senior editor at Radar magazine where he focused on stories about politics and media. During his tenure the publication was nominated for a National Magazine Award in the General Excellence category. Jebediah has also written for Popular Science, Men’s Journal, Worth and Salon.

Celebrate Irvington & Irvington Art Walk

This weekend is the Celebrate Irvington festival, taking place in the neighborhood. It's going to be an interesting event as this year will be combined with the unveiling of a new marketing campaign and coinciding with the Irvington Art Walk.

Unfortunately, I will be out of town this weekend bumming around NYC (woohoo!) so it's up to everyone else to make this event great and show support for all the businesses and artists in the neighborhood. But I thought it would be fun to show some photos and pieces from last year's event, where we hosted an artist and the photography club in the icehouse main space.

The flyer

Artwork perched safely on the steel walls and the easels

It's a great venue for *Large* art items

UPDATE:
New email from IDO says there will be additional events to sweeten the deal. Audubon Court will be open for viewing, and IDO representatives will be on-hand to discuss the new Irvington logo and the streetscape project breaking ground next year.

Radioactive Wasp Nests in Washington

Insert Spider-Man joke here...

Sting planned on radioactive wasp nests at Hanford

Unintended Break from Posting

Please excuse my absence of recent posts, I have been so busy with life in the real world that I have not had time for life in the virtual one. Mostly maintenance on our office building helping to prepare it for a commercial tenant, but also mundane activities like cleaning gutters and clearing out trash. I've had a lot of irons in the fire, but now everything is falling into place perfectly so I'm just running around trying to manage things.

On a side note, I'm heading to Chicago this weekend for the US Men's Soccer qualifying match vs Honduras. Lot of tickets sold, looks like they are even expanding seating options. It's supposed to be televised on ESPN2, so be sure to check it out.

Also, they are playing tonight at Costa Rica (also televised), so two games in one week on TV. Sweet...