Energy Eden

Ever since Henry Ford created the assembly line for mass production of personal automobiles, Americans have had a love affair with cars. For most 16-year-olds, it is a rite of passage to get your very own car to drive anywhere you want to go. In the last few decades, starting with the oil crisis of the ’70s, we’ve come to understand that this frivolous driving and use of oil is not a sustainable habit long term. Rising oil prices, unstable foreign oil sources, and the damage being done to the environment by this excessive use of fossil fuels has forced us to rethink our methods of transportation.According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in 2007, transportation accounted for 68.9 of all petroleum uses in the United States. Passenger cars make up 34 of all transportation petroleum uses. In 2006, passenger cars travelled 4,684 million miles, compared to the 599 million miles traveled by rail. Many cities are starting to recognize the need for better access to public transportation. When public transportation is used to get around, more people are traveling together in one vehicle which requires less fuel then everyone consuming fuel for their individual cars. On top of the obvious energy savings from traveling in groups, many new transportation systems are using more energy efficient fuel sources. Many large cities have highly-used, heavy rail transit that carries more people, at higher speeds with greater fuel efficiency than cars. Even better than heavy rail, is the recent popularization of the light rail. These systems operate at slower speeds than heavy rail, but run on electricity which burns cleaner than the petroleum used in heavy rail. Coal-generated electricity is not very eco-friendly, but the new advancements in technology that allow electricity to be produced using wind, solar, hydro, and nuclear power make this a much more viable option.