Energy Solutions

As I was restlessly trying to sleep this morning, I started having those annoying thought patterns I get when I am sick. Maybe you do this too when you are sick. Some particular cause or problem will get on your mind and you just roll it over and around until you are even sicker and just want to go to sleep again but can't. When you do go to sleep you end up dreaming of this same issue and in general get no rest.

I was thinking about how gasoline has gone up so much in recent days with all that is going on in Libia and Egypt. I heard yesterday that if Saudi Arabia fell the same way, we would have $7 per gallon gasoline. I realized if that happened we would face a very different world. Airplanes would probably cease to fly because nobody could afford it. Only Al Gore could afford to drive his SUV. Most of us would have to start looking at public transportation options, but we as Americans have few of these in most places.

I then thought of a CSX railway commercial that proclaims they can move a ton of freight almost 500 miles on one gallon of diesel fuel. How ironic I thought that the riders on the Information super highway may end up looking back at the Iron Horse for delivery from this mess. I recalled a focus that Obama has on high speed rail in this country. It seemed like a viable idea. Of course people are not freight, but break it down in weight and we should be able to get least 4 people nearly 500 miles on a gallon of fuel. We may even be able to get 8 or 16 people that far if we could just get rid of those darn Happy Meals that are blamed for making americans obese.

I then wondered why Japan, China, France and so many other 1st world nations have high speed rail and we don't. At this point a light bulb came on in my mind and I knew the answer. Americans love FREEDOM and PRICACY as well as CONVENIENCE. The mass transit systems of other countries do not offer either of these to the level that americans would be comfortable with. Then I thought about the possibility of "Pod" cars that either hook up or ride on a train for general travel then become detached for that freedom we all seem to enjoy so much. Of course that would not allow stopping on a whim to see a giant ball of rubber bands or a field of Cadilacs planted on end in the ground. It would also mean all of those restaurants and motels at every exit on the interstate would suffer economic ruin. This in itself may be the Happy Meal solution.

At any rate, I think high speed trains are a great idea we need to pursue as a country, but they are not the only answer. I wonder where we will get the money to afford high speed rail implementation. If it would be profitable, why has not a private company tried to go with high speed rail service. I think we like our privacy, freedom and convenience so much that another answer will have to be found. Whatever the answer, oil has to not be the fuel for it. We need to develope viable electric cars that can be recharged by the sun or outlets. We need to find was to capture energy that is currently wasted. Did you ever wonder how trains are able to slow down or stop without burning their brakes out? The answer to that could in fact be the answer to some of our energy problems.

Trains are actually propelled by electricity. Diesel motors generate that electricity. When trains need to stop or slow down, they convert the propulsion of the engines into braking by converting the engines to generators. These generators require much force to generate electricity just like the engines need much force to propell the train. The generators of course generate electricity in stopping or slowing the train much the same way hybrid cars do but on a much larger scale. This electric energy is radiated off as heat of using panels atop the engine vehicle.These train engines generate enough energy to run a small town but it is wasted. This is one area to both capture wasted energy and provide income to the railways.

Suppose this energy was stored in batteries that were off loaded periodically to "service" stations for electric cars and depleted batteries were loaded back on for recharging. People driving electric vehicles would then lease batteries from the railways to power their electric cars, while paying a fee to change depleted batteries for charged ones. Refuling your car would be a simple stop to quickly change out your batteries and pay your fee just as you do now for gasoline. The highway taxes could be added on to the fee just as it is now to each gallon of gasoline.

NOW...do you see why I was so restless and annoyed last night? I hate being sick! I knew if I didn't put it in print I may revisit it again tonight.