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Solvency-Plan reduces automobile emissions
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- Competitiveness: HSR part of green effort
- Competitiveness: HSR key
Solvency-Plan reduces automobile emissionsThe plan halves automobile emissionsCCAP, environmental research group, 6—environmental think tank, in collaboration with the Center for Neighborhood Technology, a think tank dedicated to local sustainability (January, “High Speed Rail and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the U.S.”, The Center for Clean Air Policy, http://www.cnt.org/repository/HighSpeedRailEmissions.pdf, AL) Results We calculated a total emissions savings of 6 billion pounds of CO2 per year (2.7 MMTCO2)23 if all proposed high speed rail systems studied for this project are built (Table 2). Overall, high speed rail is estimated to generate approximately half of the gross emissions it saves by enabling passengers to switch from other modes. Savings from cancelled automobile and airplane trips are the primary sources of the emissions savings; together these two modes make up 80 percent of the estimated emissions savings from all modes. The total emissions savings vary greatly by corridor, however, as do the source of those savings, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. Figure 4 looks at the emissions for every corridor except California, because its large potential savings overshadows the other corridors studied when the corridors are considered together. Competitiveness: HSR part of green effortHSR key to competitivenessFurnas 2009 (,Ben, April 24, 2009,“Idea of the Day: Seize the Energy Opportunity or Slip Further Behind”,http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/ideas/2009/04/042409.html, Center for American Progress) China’s leaders are investing $12.6 million every hour to green their economy. Other countries are equally energetic in their embrace of alternative energy technologies; they are setting targets and investing billions of dollars to spur the development of entirely new markets in wind, solar, geothermal, biofuels, energy efficiency, high-speed rail, and other clean and innovative solutions to global warming. The United States, too, is poised to transform its economy to create millions of new jobs and help create a cleaner, safer planet by investing in a green, renewable-energy based economy. The Obama administration wants to unleash the ingenuity of our private sector to rein in pollution and put millions of Americans back to work. Yet China is spending twice as much as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act spends to lay the foundations for a green energy economy, despite the U.S. economy being 1.5 times as large as China’s. And across Europe and Asia, other governments have diversified their energy portfolios and encouraged entrepreneurs to start and expand clean and renewable energy companies. There is no reason why the United States shouldn’t lead the world in renewable energy. Start-up companies across our country should be developing the solar panels of the future for deployment in the Southwest and on rooftops with good exposure to the sun nationwide. Wind turbines should be sprouting across our Great Plains and our coastlines. Thermal energy captured beneath our mountains and beneath our homes should be part of our alternative energy mix. And as a nation we should be developing and deploying the battery technologies needed to power the hybrid cars built in auto factories in the Midwest and elsewhere—alongside a smart electric grid capable of helping all Americans save on energy costs and combat global warming. The rest of the world is seizing this opportunity. If we seize it with them, then together we can save the planet and develop China, the European Union, and the rest of the world as our customers. Competitiveness: HSR keyHSR key to economic growth and competitivenessThe Washington Post 2011 (Ashley Halsey, February 9, 2011 Wednesday, “More funds planned for trains”, SECTION: A-SECTION; Pg. A03, http://www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic/?) PHILADELPHIA - The Obama administration wants to invest $53 billion in high-speed and intercity rail service in the next six years, expanding a signature transportation initiative it already has targeted with $10.5 billion. The plan to spend billions more on a vast high-speed-rail network was cast by the administration as vital to keeping the United States competitive with world markets that already use the technology. "Public infrastructure investment raises private-sector productivity," Vice President Biden said Tuesday, continuing a theme struck by the president in his State of the Union speech last month. "They literally are the veins and arteries of commerce." Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the plan Tuesday in Philadelphia's majestic 30th Street Station. Obama's budget for fiscal 2012, which will be sent to Congress next week, includes $8 billion for the plan. There is bipartisan support for construction of high-speed rail but sharp disagreement on whether it should be funded with tax dollars or through private investment. The proposal drew immediate criticism from House Transportation Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-Fla.), who favors construction of high-speed rail largely with private funds. "This is like giving Bernie Madoff another chance at handling your investment portfolio," Mica said in a statement. "With the first $10.5 billion in administration rail grants, we found that . . . what the administration touted as high-speed rail ended up as embarrassing snail-speed trains to nowhere." Although Biden spoke in more modest terms, high-speed advocates envision a network of 17,000 miles of rail capable of handling trains traveling at 220 mph. The U.S. High Speed Rail Association has estimated the price tag at $600 billion over the next 20 years, a cost that critics say the nation cannot afford. The White House push for high-speed rail construction was launched with $8 billion in stimulus act funding. Later LaHood added $2.5 billion to boost the effort in 23 states. California has received the bulk of the awards - about $3 billion total. Virginia received $45.4 million in the last round of funding to help pay for studies and preliminary engineering to improve service between Richmond and Washington. But more than half that money went for trains that travel much slower than the 150 to 220 mph common in Europe and Japan. The proposal to allocate $8 billion in the next fiscal year spreads the money across three types of train travel: construction of high-speed corridors, creation of regional systems for trains capable of speeds from 90 to 125 mph and provisions for slower feeder lines into the high-speed network. Critics have argued that a car-loving nation will not be won over to train travel in sufficient numbers to justify the federal investment. Two recently elected GOP governors, Scott Walker of Wisconsin and John Kasich of Ohio, plan to forgo $1.3 billion in federal high-speed-rail funding and focus instead on highway improvement. According to the Associated Press, Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), the second-ranking House Republican, urged the administration to involve the business community in its high-speed-rail plans. "I'm not in favor of additional monies that we don't have to be spent on those projects and would certainly look for ways to leverage the private sector to get it involved," Cantor said. In announcing the plan Tuesday, Biden twice mentioned that he took more than 7,900 round trips on Amtrak trains between Washington and his home in Delaware during his years in the Senate. He said transforming rail service to match the high-speed lines proliferating in China and Europe is essential to continued prosperity. He said the United States "taught the world" about transportation in the 19th and 20th centuries. "If we don't get a grip, folks, they're going to be teaching us," he said. "They're going to own our kids." Biden said building rail lines would relieve highway congestion on the East and West coasts, where most Americans live, and put people back to work. "Right now, nobody makes these [trains] in America,”he said. "Our long-term commitment is going to give birth to a new industry." The American Public Transportation Association endorsed the administration's plan to invest more in high-speed rail. "Investing in our country's transportation infrastructure is vital for economic growth, competitiveness and quality of life," said William Millar, president of the public transportation association. "In addition, the formation of a high-speed-rail network that connects to public transportation will relieve both highway and aviation congestion." Mica urged the administration Tuesday to focus its spending on the crowded Northeast rail corridor and not to "squander limited taxpayer dollars on marginal projects." Last fall Amtrak announced a 30-year plan to invest $117 billion in developing high-speed rail in the Northeast corridor. Amtrak President Joseph Boardman has said the system would reduce the travel time between Washington and New York City from 162 minutes to 96 minutes and the New York-Boston time from 215 minutes to 84. However, Mica's disdain for Amtrak is as well established as Biden's love for it. "Amtrak's Soviet-style train system is not the way to provide modern and efficient passenger rail service," Mica said. Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. 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