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Sep 8, 2016

FREIGHT SHUTTLE PROJECT * USA: Electric and driverless one

* Texas - Might solve trucking-related problems. It'ld be the first commercial rollout at Houston's seaport

  (Video from Texas A&M Transportation Institute - 16 July 2016) 

 ... The freight shuttle system (FSS), technology developed at Texas A&M University, is designed to displace trucks so they can operate in more convenient locations — and it’s an electric, driverless system at that... The technology will be on display on Sept. 9 in Bryan, Texas, as the state’s governor stops by to take a look for himself. The event will also serve as the formal announcement of the agreement between a privately funded licensee of the technology and the Port of Houston to develop a freight shuttle system... The idea is to provide a means to transport containers from the port to a hub farther out from busy, congested corridors. That way, oversized trucks don’t have to navigate constricting urban streets, saving time, gas and manpower in the process. It’s about efficiency... Seaports aren’t the only target for the FSS concept. Roop said it could work anywhere the pain point is high enough — any place where trucks must deal with too much congestion or other obstacles... College Station, TXS, USA -- Future Structure, by BEN MILLER - SEPT 6, 2016

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Mar 11, 2015

INFRASTRUCTURES * Europe: Green Corridors for trucks

* Volvo and Sweden to tread on ‘Green Corridors’


-- EU estimates say, goods transport in Europe will increase by 50 percent between 2000 and 2020, and that could very well mean perennially clogged roads if the transport system is not streamlined. Volvo Trucks has put a plan into operation, and the government of Sweden is considering the idea to make the transport of goods more efficient. While rail and seaborne traffic is bound to increase, it necessitates an efficient and environmentally sound road transport system as well... Volvo group has put ahead the idea of green transport corridors and aim to start a project in January on the efficient handling of goods on Swedish highways. The roads will be built to complement sea and rail routes, and among other things, will also include extension of the vehicle rig to increase load capacity, thereby reducing the number of trucks on the road, and new IT systems and communication systems to help the driver gain better fuel economy and more information on the road system. Other considerations include streamlining loading/ unloading of vehicles and distribution of clean or renewable fuels... The project seems fairly simple in principle, and perhaps even the implementation will not include trouble. It is great to see someone tackling a problem before it gets out of hand... (Source: Automotto.org)

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Mar 10, 2011

INFRASTRUCTURES' CONCEP'T * WORLDWIDE

* Italy - Building a bridge to renewable energy. The Solar Wind bridge concept combines solar cells and wind turbines to generate power for around 115,000 homes

Rome,Italy -New Italian Blood, by Francesco Colarossi, Giovanna Saracino, Luisa Saracino -2, March 2011: -- The solar park is conceived as a green “promenade”, along which there alternate panoramic viewing points and entirely self-sufficient solar greenhouses. As with city farms, visitors to the park will be able to stop and buy the local produce grow in these greenhouses... The asphalt will be substituted with a technological road surface of a kind already in use in the USA -“solar roadways”-. The road surface itself will, therefore, collect energy as a part of a power-generating system composed of a dense grid of solar cells coated with a transparent ad highly resistant form of plastic... The entire system is capable of producing around 40 million kWh per annum – enough energy to provide power for approximately 15.000 families... 
The hybrid system proposed (combining solar and wind power) allows for a continuous production of Energy. The project is based on the idea of utilizing the space between the pillars of the existing viaducts to house a system of wind-powered turbines which will be integrated into the structure. This ensures contained land use and therefore a reduced impact on both landscape and environment in addition to re-designing the visual profile of the viaduct... The solar park proposed in the competition will stretch the full length of the inner carriageway, with the outer carriageway remaining reserved for the transit of vehicles...


* Switzerland - Around the world in 0.083 days: Acabion's vision for future transport

Zürich,Switzerland -Gizmag, by Darren Quick -January 31, 2011: -- Pneumatic Futurama-style transport systems were proposed as far back as the late 1800’s following the invention of pneumatic tubes for carrying mail around buildings. Swiss company Acabion sees such vacuum tube-based mass transport systems becoming a reality by 2100 and has conceived a vehicle capable of traveling at speeds of almost 12,500 mph (20,000 km/h) on such a platform. The company envisages a global network that would let users circle the globe in less than two hours and make transcontinental journeys possible in less than the time it currently takes to get across town...  
The first step in Acabion’s grand vision for the future is the latest version of its GTBO road-ready streamliner – the GTBO VII “da vinci.” This fully electric vehicle would have a top speed of 373 mph (600 km/h) would be orders of magnitude more efficient than a current fully electric compact car...  Thanks to its reduced projected area, turbulence and aerodynamic drag, weight and rolling resistance, Acabion says at 12.4 mph (20 km/h) the vehicle is eight times (or 800 percent) more efficient and at 124 mph (200 km/h) it is 10 times more efficient than a current fully electric vehicle, however, the company claims efficiencies 25 times (2,500 percent) greater than such vehicles are ultimately possible...
The GTBO has been designed for speed and efficiency. Like the Zerotracer, it drives on two main wheels like a motorcycle, with two additional side wheels activated when driving at slow speeds or for parking. Acabion hopes to start selling its streamliners by 2015 for an estimated US$3 million but says prices will drop with mass production...  The company anticipates that, due to the streamliner’s speed potential, by 2050 new elevated roadways – like those mooted for cyclists in the Kolelinia concept – will be needed to separate it from its dilly-dallying forebears...
These fully automated high speed tracks would initially transport people at speeds of around 186.4 mph (300 km/h), before stepping up to 373 mph (600 km/h) in subsequent decades. The tracks would be used for both city and continental mid- and long-range trips with a 1,700+ mile (2,735 km) trip from Los Angeles to Memphis that would currently take more than a day cut to around four hours...  Additionally, the vehicles wouldn’t rely on their own battery packs for power but would draw their energy inductively from the roads themselves, which would be supplied with 100 percent solar power...

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Sep 23, 2009

"GREEN" NEWS * WORLDWIDE

* USA - Online Tool Helps Truckers Plug In, Save Fuel

Corporations with their own delivery fleets can save fuel by having drivers take advantage of public truck stops that offer plug-ins so that engines don’t have to run while parked

Washington,DC,USA -The Enviromental Leader -September 22, 2009: -- ... The Mobile Truck Stop Electrification Locator is a new Web-based tool from the Department of Energy... From a cell phone, Blackberry or other mobile device, truckers can find detailed driving directions and a phone connection to the electrification station... The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a division of the DOE, has identified an initial list of 130 truck stops with electrification systems... Truck stop electrification equipment manufacturers, including CabAire, Shorepower, IdleAire and EnviroDock, are working with the government to identify new sites as they come into service, according to a press release... The EPA estimates that each electrified truck stop can help save up to $3,240 per truck parking space per year...


* USA - Tool Predicts Fuel Costs & Emissions for Fleet Managers

San Antonio,Texas,USA -The Enviromental Leader -Originally published, November 21, 2006: -- A new, interactive fleet processing tool lets fleet managers predict fuel costs and emissions for a wide variety of commercial passenger vehicles. Using these measurements, fleet managers can calculate and compare advantages of E85, B20 biodiesel and hybrid electric use within their fleets. The free, web-based tool comes from NextEnergy... The global fleet processing tool also aids fleet managers in evaluating emissions from various types of new powertrain technologies, engine sizes, and alternative fuel vehicles... The core of the Web site is a vehicular modeling and simulation program developed by Southwest Research Institute and used on projects for the U.S. government, U.S. Army and automotive manufacturers and suppliers... Users input fleet drive cycles (patterns) on a percentage basis of city and highway driving. The program then calculates and projects the baseline fuel costs and emissions produced. For side-by-side comparison, the host Web page also contains information on new, alternative fuel and advanced powertrain technologies. Users are able to select from these different technologies to determine the fuel costs and emissions produced...


* Europe - Industry call for green freight partnership in

London,UK -Logistics Manager -23 September 2009: -- Six European logistics and transport organisations have called for the establishment of a voluntary public private sustainable freight transport partnership in Europe... The organisations, are ECR Europe, the European Logistics Association, the European Shippers’ Council, the International Road Transport Union and Eurocommerce and the European Intermodal Association... A statement by the six said: “We consider voluntary public private sustainable transport partnerships as a valuable policy option and as a cost effective alternative to legislation”... The European Intermodal Association said: “Though we do endorse the Climate Transact Declaration including the phrase ‘We consider voluntary public private sustainable transport partnerships as a valuable policy option and as a cost effective alternative to legislation.’, it should not become a green card for public authorities not to produce necessary coherent sustainable transport measures”... (Image from worldcarfans: Volvo-green-corridors-transport-project)

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Aug 8, 2009

INFRASTRUCTURES * USA - Cascade Sierra Solutions gets $22.2 million for truck stop electrification

Coburg,OR,USA -The Trucker -8 July 2009: -- This week President Obama announced the largest investment in electric vehicle technologies ever. Included in the package was $22.2 million awarded to Cascade Sierra Solutions (CSS), a nonprofit organization based in Coburg, Ore., to advance truck stop electrification infrastructures... Cascade Sierra Solutions will partner with ShorePower Technologies, a New York based corporation, to install Shorepower Truck Electrified Parking Space (STEPS) systems for diesel trucks at 50 truck stops throughout the U.S.... CSS will also provide a rebate program to truck owners purchasing idle reduction equipment upgrades with electric stand-by capabilities. Approximately 25% of the equipment cost will be rebated for qualifying items...


* Port of Tacoma to build truck overpass


Ver mapa más grande

Tacoma,WASH,USA -eTrucker, by Lanier Norville -21 July 2009: -- Port of Tacoma (Wash.) commissioners on Thursday, July 16, approved a $21.8 million contract to build the final piece of the Lincoln Avenue Grade Separation, a freight transportation project that includes an overpass to carry trucks and other vehicles over busy rail lines in the Tacoma Tideflats area... The 2,200-foot-long overpass will add three lanes of roadway over four sets of railroad tracks. According to the port, truck queues at the current at-grade crossing can last up to 45 minutes behind trains serving its two main intermodal yards... The port says it has completed three surface streets and relocated utilities to support the overall project. The final piece, the overpass itself, remained unfunded until the port received $15.4 million in March from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds..

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Jul 20, 2009

INFRASTRUCTURES * China - Paving Roads with Old Circuit Boards

With an eye to recycling, circuit boards are being used in asphalt

Shanghai,China -Scientific American (USA), by Mark Fischetti -June 2009: -- Millions of printed circuit boards from discarded electronics are tossed into landfills every year. In addition to the volume of waste, the material can leach chemicals into the soil. As an alternative, researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China are finding various ways to reuse the panels, including as an additive in asphalt... Xu Zhenming and his colleagues stripped the boards of all components, pulverized the remains into a powder and used an electrostatic separator to remove fine bits of any remaining metals, leaving a pulp of glass fibers and resin. They then added those remnants to warmed asphalt, to see if the pulp would act as a binder. Binders such as ground tire rubber and charcoal are typically added to improve asphalt’s stiffness at high temperatures (to reduce rutting) and its pliability at low temperatures (to prevent cracking). The pulp improved both properties, especially when the powder grains were made as small as possible... Zhenming’s team is testing the modified asphalt to check how it holds up to outdoor conditions over time. It is also experimenting with forming the pulp into sheets that could be made into structures such as park benches and fences...

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Apr 28, 2009

INFRASTRUCTURES * USA - Port of LA solar power project finally gets moving

City officials estimate the 10-megawatt project will produce several hundred jobs in construction, engineering and maintenance

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Press-Telegram Long Beach by Kristopher Hanson -27 April 2009: -- With more than 300 days of annual sunshine and enough open space to park tens of thousands of unsold cars, the world's largest megaships and more than a few shipping containers, the port seems to be a perfect place for a solar power plant... So far, workers have installed about half of the 71,000 square-feet of solar panels destined for the cruise ship terminal rooftop in the Port of Los Angeles. That installation marks the beginning stage of an ambitious project to provide enough clean energy to power 2,500 homes within six years... The port's solar initiative takes advantage of vast expanses of open space - including warehouse rooftops, terminal parking lots and empty road shoulders - to install 1.15-million square-feet of solar panels in coming years... The sun's energy will be used to power electric cranes and recharge electric container trucks and yard hostlers in coming years. Electricity will also be funneled to ships capable of plugging into dockside outlets while in port - cutting pollution levels from auxiliary engines... (Photo, by Daniel Figueroa)

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Sep 23, 2008

INFRASTRUCTURES * UK - London to showcase green roofs

London,UK -edie.net, by Sam Bond - 17 Sept 2008: -- A sea of green roofs could be London's best way to visibly demonstrate its commitment to the environment when the world turns its gaze upon the city in the run up to the 2012 Olympics... This was the opinion of Richard Blakeway, environmental advisor to Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, when he spoke at the World Green Roofs Congress in the capital on Wednesday. Mr Blakeway spoke of London's projected growth and its need to provide homes for a million more inhabitants by 2018. "What we've got to ensure is that as many as possible of these new buildings have green roofs," he said... The concept of pushing green roofs is in keeping with the emerging flavour of Mr Johnson's environmental policy, which favours promoting improvements to the capitals open spaces and tree planting over technical carbon-based fixes that the public can sometimes struggle to understand...

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