Thursday, January 21, 2010

Chapter Six

With the increasing use of fuels, industries have been able to utilize these resources to improve the transportation of information. Over time, various of methods of transporting goods and information have gone from traveling by train (which was, and has remained very helpful in highly populated areas like cities), ships, and cars. Ships have been able to transport large quantities of goods, though they burn more fuel, they can carry heavy loads. He mentioned the use of bycicles, which is the fastest, most energy efficient way of moving for people. Airplanes have also made a significant contribution to the movement of goods, people, and information. With the rate of technology improving, computer chips and internet (powered by fossil fuels) can now be easily used to transfter information, and the use of aiprlanes, or trains are helpful in moving goods and people around.

anaerobic- living or active in the absence of free oxygen;

The economy can become more efficient through transportation because engineers can develop new designs that allow machines (cars, trains, planes, etc.) to travel farther on less fuel. What this does, however, is increase popularity among them, and transportation use increases, generates more revenue and use, and then the fuel use increases, too. As demand grows, new designs are made to imrpove efficiency levels.

Communication opens up conversations and idea-swapping between countries as they experiment and implement programs, new machines and models, to reduce energy use. Reducing energy consumption isn't something to be made secret and exclusive to the country using it, but rather, they're sharing new methods of efficiency. With the internet as widely used as it is, and the transportation available to make lives far more convenient, innovative designs and ideas can be more easily shared and fine tuned to fit the needs of a country, as well as the global community and environment.

Recently, Dan Morse showed me a blog that showed that 600,000 people in Denmark biked to work by 12:30 pm, being the most widely used method of transportation there. I'll try to find the link for that!

1 comment:

  1. Note the continuum of attributes of transportation modes. An individual ship uses a lot of energy, but per ton of freight moved it is by far the most efficient approach. However, it's also the slowest. Trains are somewhat less efficient, but faster. Trucks are less efficient still, but they give you more control over your deliveries. Planes take the most energy, but move things the fastest. Goods are moved in different ways, depending on their value and the importance of getting them to their destination quickly.

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