Environmental groups forced the ironically-named Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) hand by suing them for not adequately regulating pollution. The upshot: 300 cities and counties nationwide are in violation of the new, stricter standards – up from 85 counties based on the old rules. One in ten U.S. counties is over the new limit for ozone levels.
According to the Daily Green excess ozone, generated by factory smokestacks and the tailpipes of our good friend the car “…interacts with heat and sunlight, primarily on hot summer days. It can trigger asthma attacks, permanently scar lung tissue and contribute to respiratory and heart diseases. It can also damage crops, forests and other ecosystems.”
EPA scientists actually believed that more stringent air pollution restrictions were required by law. The Bush administration stepped in to soften the blow to industry and allow one-third more pollution than the EPA’s Science Advisory Board deemed safe and legal.
Photos via flickr by pfala and Simone Ramella.
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This is way too dangerous, it’s not going to happen. Trains are going to have to stop, slowly and safely, and people are going to have to get off, some of them, or all of them if needed. There are a million reasons why it HAS to be like this… Fire hazards, terrorist attacks, malfunction in a relatively complex mechanism that accepts and releases the top levels, a running train suddenly touching a foreign body at very high speed, etc. Very dangerous!!
I wouldn’t use that train.
Not to detract from the point of this thread but the Interstate Traveler includes this concept and is ready for construction to begin in 2009 in Michigan. It’s much more than a proposal.
Listen to an interview with the inventor at
http://www.keyboard-culture-global-warming.com/2008/06/interview_with_interstate_traveler_creator_justin_sutton_points_to_new_energy_future_with_solar_radi.html
Is it mentioned anywhere at what speed do they intend to release the carriage? I’m pretty sure it’s not 300km/h. It’s pretty difficult to make the contact with the rails smoothly at such speed, without he people in it breaking their necks. I’d guess something like 50km/h, and that isn’t so far from stopping. Certainly not wrt. energy savings.
I dont think its practical.. that means everyone who wants to get down will have to walk all the way to that particular compartment in order to get off..
I am Jack’s lack of physics !
The designer states that he’s from Hubei, and province in China, and the announcement clearly says “Wuchang Zhan” (Wuchang Station), Wuchang being part of Wuhan, the seat of Hubei Province. People in Hubei are with southern dialect, similar to some in Taiwan in that regard. ok
Ha Ha: If train goes, let’s say, 200 km/h which is 55 m/s, and you apply accel/decel of 1 m/s*s which is 0.1 g and *high* for a train, you need accel/decel time of 55 sec. For this you need to have decel/accel distance of 1512 m (d = 1/2 a*t*t). What an impressive long train you have…. or you have to perform a little astronaut training with the passengers before.
Aside of the loading/unloading issues that might rise at busy stations, the main problem I see is a very high acceleration/deceleration happening in the little cars. Have you seen how fast they have to start/stop to keep up with the train ? It’s some serious G in your face here, and you better be sat when starts/stops, which make the loading/unloading capacity even worst here, not mentioning timing…
This works best if the longer train runs in a loop, but a lot don’t. That’s why switch houses exist. Otherwise, at either the end of the line, there’s a huge loss of kinetic energy.
As for acceleration, yes, there’d be some, but I doubt the commuter train would run much above 80km/hr. The animation probably exaggerates the acceleration for effect.
The loading and unloading are different cars. People who are boarding get in one little car which starts taking off, before the little car that unloads people ever gets there. So it has room to catch up to the main train at its leisure, not at some crazy speed.
Clearly these comments show that such a system would be beyond the comprehension of lots of passengers though, and probably lead to clusterfucks of people trying to get on the arriving car or something.
Oriental is a type of rug – Asians are people. Hmmm, I wonder why the world thinks Americans are arrogant and ignorant.
1: The difference between Oriental and Asian in the (American) English language is a recent distinction and has only come in to vogue in the politically correct error. Many older movies show that in common usage the word were interchangeable.
2: Usage determines word definitions, dictionaries simply record the definitions they do not define words. If the vast majority of (American) English speaking people use the word oriental to mean people from the orient, that is what the word means.
3: Saying the world thinks “Americans are arrogant and ignorant” is saying the world is bigoted. I am an American and I have traveled extensively. I seem to be able to get along with people of just about any nationality. I never got the feeling people thought I was arrogant and ignorant, just becuase I was an American.
4: FYI – from Websters – Oriental
1.(usually initial capital letter) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Orient, or East; Eastern.
2.of the orient or east; eastern.
Seems like this applies to people as well as objects.
So in summary, you can take your arrogant and ignorant view of the word “oriental” and stuff it.
DUMB CHIN DIDN’T THINK OF THE POSSIBILITY THAT A PASSENGER WOULD HOLD THE SMALL CAR’S DOOR OPEN SO THAT OTHER PASSENGERS CAN MAKE IT ON THE TRAIN.THEREFORE THE SMALL CAR WILL MISS THE FAST MOVING TRAIN.
Modify existing trains: passengers who want to get off at the next stop get into the caboose. The caboose is detached and slows down. From a sidetrack a new caboose (with its own engine) races to catch up to the train after it speeds past the station. Nothing fancy here.
a bit about the concept and the designer:
[url]http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=79655&CtNode=39[/url]
@Ming Lee & Simon
You can both sucky sucky my BIG BLACK mandarin.
You’ll be speaking ching chong when I get through accelerating/decelerating my train through your stations.
@Chinglish
All orientals don’t speak Chinese – they speak Asian!
@Whiteys
Why don’t you go back to your own country – Caucasia?
My red brothers are the true Americans.
______________________________________________
One world…many people.
Can’t we just all get along?
Peace out!
Stupide….and not energy saving!!! how much energy will be wasted to maintain a huge empty train at full speed
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