China has the world's best train running from Shanghai to the airport. It can be scaled up or down and the trains extended from Shanghai to Europe, down to Kerala, across to South Africa, under the Bering straits to USA and down to Brazil.
It could be powered by photovoltaics spread across the Sahara, Australia, Mojave desert, on the roof of the tube containing the line, with superconductor linear motors, photo-electronic controls, CDMA/OFDM and optical fibre to provide cyberspace to the vehicles, control systems, and surrounding areas.
Speed in a vacuum tube could be 1000 kph without risk of hundreds of people falling 10 km in the event of AlQ blowing up their own little 4 or 8 person vehicle. Around town, tubes wouldn't be needed but might make sense for subterranean ease of installation = just send motorized moles burrowing around under cities making 1.8 metre diameter tubes.
CO2? What CO2? If coal fired power stations are needed [which they would be for some time], the CO2 could be liquefied and piped 500 metres under the ocean to stay in liquid form until gradually dissolved at depth. That's assuming there really is a CO2 problem in the atmosphere.
<China's ambition to grow quickly but cleanly soon may vault it to "front-runner" status — far ahead of the United States — in taking on global warming, the U.N. climate chief said Monday. >
Perhaps tubes would be too expensive and 200 person vehicles would be good enough for long distance travel. 500 kph is not bad.
Mqurice |
