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To: Wharf Rat who wrote (190873)	7/4/2006 1:10:00 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

By tallying the amount of primary energy used to generate electric power we find that electricity wins hands down as our most important end-use energy. To wit: I estimate that 7% of the worlds oil is consumed by the electric power sector, 20% of the worlds natural gas, 88% of the coal, and 100% each for nuclear and hydroelectric power. The result is that electric power accounts for 43% of the worlds enduse energy compared to oils 35%. The critical role that electricity plays in the United States is likewise telling. Out of the total enduse energy consumed in each of the social sectors in 2003: 1) 0.2% was electricity in the Transportation sector, 33.3% in the Industrial sector, 65.9% in the Residential sector, and 76.2% in the Commercial sector (EIA, 2004). theoildrum.com And a comment from the electric train expert... AlanfromBigEasy on Tuesday July 04, 2006 at 8:42 AM EST The figure that I have seen is 0.19% of US electricity is used for transportation. That includes the 8,000 subway cars in NYC, Amtrak's Northeast Corridor (Boston-Washington), The Long Island Railroad (massive commuter + freight traffic), SF BART, DC Metro, Philly, Chicago, Boston, Miami Metro, Atlanta MARTA, LA Red, Blue, Green & Gold lines, Light Rail in San Diego, Portland, Sacremento, San Jose, Salt Lake City, Dallas, Houston, St. Louis, Minneapolis and the streetcars of New Orleans :-) Sure I missed some. Why so much transportation with less than 1/500th of our electricity ? Because of the inherent efficiency of electrified rail ! High efficiency motors (>90%) that generate electricity while braking combined with low rolling resistance steel on steel. =============== more from Alan... I took your analysis a step further, in part as a response to GW and in part as a response to a likely decline in a major economic input. Couple electrification with MUCH higher efficiency, Diesel 18 wheelers take 8 times as much fuel as diesel railroads to move a ton-mile (gross #s from 2002). An electric RR (with regenerative braking) uses about 1/3 the non-oil energy of a diesel RR. Shifting half the freight ton-miles from 18 wheelers to electric RR in a decade seems like a workable goal. Growing RR freight by 9%-11% per year is doable. Russian rates of electrification of existing RRs are doable and probably twice as fast. Message 22485574