So true! But for this to work well enough to make a difference, significant changes would have to be made to the system of distribution of goods and services in the United States. Efficient rail transport in the United States, similar to what you might find in Europe, only works if the transport goes where people need to go, and if it is cost-effective. In Europe, the rail systems are heavily subsidized by the government, and the government in turn heavily taxes its citizens. Take the Netherlands, for example -- they have a fantastic public transportation system that can take you just about anywhere you need to go, and it's affordable. However, the country is already designed for such a system (stores are close to the city centers, and the cities are heavily populated), and the people pay so much in taxes (75% for some!) that tax evasion is a national sport. I'm not saying that it won't work in America, but I'm saying that it will work only in isolated areas or new developments built for such a thing from the ground-up. It may be idealistic to imagine well-designed communities in the U.S., but the realistic viewpoint is that this doesn't exist and probably won't for the forseeable future. I believe the answer is for us to find alternative sources of energy that are cheap enough that the average person will be interested.
-Steve > "...much of the inefficiency within the American energy grid is from > transmission losses. Instead of nuclear, we need to invest in clean > micro-generation of renewable energy distributed throughout well-designed > communities that encourage light rail over cars." > _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
