Solar + Hydrogen Power Interstate Rail coming to MI

[Rog]

What do you get when you combine the innovation of MagLev technology with solar power, hydrogen fuel, and a futuristic aesthetic? The Interstate Traveler Hydrogen Super Highway, or the Traveler- a ground-breaking solar powered, hydrogen-fueled, zero emission mass transit system that would carry everything from people to cars in sustainable style.

http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/02/13/...d-rail-system/

[LMagic007]

Quite futuristic.

The entire conduit cluster operations would be managed by TCP/IP technology. The Traveler Stations would be built to provide easy access to the Interstate Highway, solutions to overcrowding, urban sprawl, public utility failures, traffic jams, car accidents, etc.

The Interstate Traveler Project is the brainchild of NEWTY Award recipient Justin Eric Sutton. The construction for the first phase would start in Michigan in 2008, and would link the cities of Ann Arbor and Detroit.
+ International Traveler

I'm impressed to see someone in the US acknowledging that public transport might be a way to help cope with traffic.

[sparky]

That does sound pretty cool. Speaking of solar/hydrogen, I found this today.

Plants trees and algae do it. Even some bacteria and moss do it, but scientists have had a difficult time developing methods to turn sunlight into useful fuel. Now, Penn State researchers have a proof-of-concept device that can split water and produce recoverable hydrogen.

Solar cell directly splits water for hydrogen

[brianidaho]

I want what they are smoking! Sounds like a pipe dream to scam the taxpayer...again.

[LMagic007]

Originally Posted by brianidaho

I want what they are smoking! Sounds like a pipe dream to scam the taxpayer...again.

Technically it might be achievable, but cost is one thing that one might question. Mag Lev is not a new technology though and cost savings could be made by combining other services with the infrastructure. i.e. electricity, water, fuels etc...

If they are using fixed magnets Magnetodynamic ( MDS ) it might be more affordable. Not sure though. I have sometimes wondered if one could reduce the power consumed by MagLev trains, by adding winglets on the train to help create lift, thus helping reduce the power required to create an electromagnetic field to lift the weight of the train.

Actually after some Googling: maglev train power consumption

The New Mode of Transport for the 21st Century

MAGLEV New Mode of Transport

At 300 miles per hour in the open atmosphere, Maglev consumes only 0.4 megajoules per passenger mile, compared to 4 megajoules per passenger mile of oil fuel for a 20-miles-per-gallon auto that carries 1.8 people (the national average) at 60 miles per hour (mph). At 150 mph in the atmosphere, Maglev consumes only 0.1 of a megajoule per passenger mile, which is just 2 percent of the energy consumption of a typical 60-mph auto. In low-pressure tunnels or tubes, like those proposed for Switzerland’s Metro system, energy consumption per passenger mile will shrink to the equivalent of 10,000 miles per gallon.

If this info is realistic, then the notion of MagLev powered by solar and wind and hydrogen becomes more feasible than we might have expected.

[CaptWelchsGrape]

If they could change the commuter trains around New York City to these and add the surplus solar energy (that it sounds like it produces) to the NYC grid that would be amazing.