|
TriTrack Benefits the Environment
Benefits to the Environment
Health
- Reduces NOx emissions by 90%.
- Electric cars emit zero emissions, but that does not mean they aren't responsible for any: the electricity to power them has to come from somewhere. Today's power plants emit 1/10th the NOx compared to internal combustion engines, and in the near future, scrubbers will be installed in these power plants, reducing their emissions by another factor of 10. See Power Efficiency for more details.
- While NOx is the primary player in polluting the central Texas air we breathe, other emissions associated with internal combustion engines will be greatly reduced as well.
Increases Green Space
- TriTrack guideway is elevated, and requires minimal ground space. By
replacing new highways with TriTrack guideway, there is no need to bulldoze
any more green space. In fact, interconnecting ribbons of parks and other green space could be in the shadow of the guideway.
- TriTrack cars require much less parking space. Because the cars are so
lightweight, with the help of the parking trolley they can be parked on their tail ends in 1/10th the space of a traditional car. This can reduce the amount of space dedicated to parking lots.
Cleans Up the Sky
- The skyline is littered with random power, cable and telephone lines, all held up with various utility poles. This can be cleaned up by consolidating all the lines and utility poles into a conduit down the center of the TriTrack guideway.
Natural Resources
Powered by cleaner sources
- Fossil fuels are a limited resource, and we are burning through them at an alarming rate. Traditional roads take a tremendous quantity of raw materials to build, and both roads and parking lots take up ground space.
- About ½ of the crude oil the United States consumes goes towards transportation, and about ¼ of our oil comes from OPEC. By replacing half the cars on the road with TriTracks, we can eliminate our reliance on OPEC altogether.
- It doesn't matter to the TriTrack where its energy comes from. As clean energy sources like wind, solar and hydrogen become more practical and common, the TriTrack will become even greener.
- Without considerable increases in the efficiency of transportation, the goal of sustainability cannot be reached. The TriTrack is much more efficient than other forms of transportation and would be a big step towards a sustainable future.
Fewer raw materials
- TriTrack guideway uses only a fraction of the raw materials needed to
build or even maintain asphalt road, and guideway is fully recyclable.
- TriTrack cars are extremely lightweight, and so they can actually be parked vertically on their tails. This dramatically reduces the size of parking lots, and can even move them up onto the roof of buildings. All that space can be converted back to green space or even new commercial space.
Comfort
- The heat island effect is a well known phenomenon where urban areas are much warmer than nearby rural areas. Part of the cause for this is the tremendous amount of energy that is being consumed in a concentrated space. TriTracks are very energy efficient, and the source of their power is easily decentralized, which means they can literally cool off the Earth. Houston is a prime example of a heat island, and within 15 years of people gradually switching to the TriTrack, the air would be a full degree cooler. This is even taking into account population growth.
|
