Guide to Alternative Transportation Table of Contents
Guide to Alternative Transportation is a series consisting of 3 parts.
- Guide to Alternative Transportation: Part 1, Understanding Transit
- Guide to Alternative Transportation: Part 2, Public Transport
- Guide to Alternative Transportation: Part 3, Ride Sharing and the Community
Transportation represents a major force in the world today. From the convenience it has provided people to the way to shapes our approach to resources and politics, transportation’s importance is hard to be overstated. However, as the world is rapidly beginning to realize, transportation can be both a blessing a curse.
In this guide, we’ll discover different elements of alternative transportation. From fuels to public services and personal innovations, we’ll find out what the future of transportation looks like. With this first section, we’ll begin with an understanding of where conventional transportation”is” in the world and then move on to an understanding of alternative transportation.
The State of Transportation
As noted, transportation has brought mixed results to the world. Of course, it would be silly to argue that developments in transportation have been a purely negative thing; with the development of stronger, better designed ships, we were able to explore distant lands; with rail, we were able to move our good at speeds like never before; and with the cars today, we are seeing a marriage of technology, personalization, and efficiency.
While that is good, transportation is remains to be the least efficient member of our energy model. As noted, “the transportation sector wastes a full 75%, making it just 25% energy-efficient.” What’s worse, transportation’s main source of energy is petroleum. Petroleum has long put the nation’s energy security at risk, making this a double-dose of bad.
What is Alternative Transportation?
What lies at the root of these problems is not transportation itself, but rather the means being employed by transportation. Alternative transportation seeks to ameliorate these problems, open new industry, create new jobs, and offer something to the field of environmental protection. There are several areas within the thinking of transportation:
- Public Transit: One major form of alternative transportation is public access transit. Good examples would be the LA Metro system or the Metro system of Washington, D.C. Public transportation offers an extremely efficient way of transit, especially because many cities are adopting natural gas policies with their buses.
- The Community: Ride sharing and carpooling are both ways to get around with less of an impact on the world. While these don’t necessarily adopt new technology, they both still encourage sustainability and awareness of the issues.
- Fuels: Another major aspect of alternative transit is fuels. “Biomass” is used as something of a blanket term for those fuels derived from plant life – algae, for example. Many fuels offer us much needed alternatives to petroleum.
- You, the Person: Of course, you can always use yourself as a form of transportation. While this can only get you so far, biking or walking to the places you need to be offer a healthy alternative to standard transportation, for both you and the planet. At very least, try to work this into a mixed plan with public transit.
At the end of this guide, we will have explored each aspect of transportation, offering tips, advice, and even reviews on some common forms of alternative transportation. You’re ready to move on to part II!
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