The comments on this rather unrelated blog entry of Charlie Stross make some interesting observations about the future of transport...
In particular, they point out that
- rail is an order of magnitude less energy-intensive than truck (see also wikipedia), and
- ocean-going ship is less energy-intensive still (not sure by how much, but BOTE calculation suggests another half to full order of magnitude). In addition, ship has obvious ways to improve efficiency, including slow-steaming (already in use about half the time), sail-assist (in prototype use), pure sail (with modern meteorology), or even nuclear power like naval vessels use.
So we may lose the individual motor car, but there will still be bicycle, railroad, trolley bus, canal, and the ocean-going freighter. Peak oil may have less effect on international trade than we might think.
The future will be steampunk, as someone on the thread put it. Or, at least, that possible future will be steampunk.
Edit: The discussion eventually got its own blog entry.
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