Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
have become a major source of greenhouse gases. Passenger ships are far
less abundant than cargo ships, but they are also polluters. The
Queen
Mary II
burns 13,000 gallons of diesel fuel per hour. In comparison, a
car burns about 2 gallons of gasoline per hour.
One form of public transportation that has been neglected until
recently is streetcars, which were common in many cities in the fi rst half
of the twentieth century but have since almost disappeared. San Fran-
cisco is one of the few cities that never got rid of its streetcar system.
Most Americans, in fact, have probably never seen a streetcar. They run
on an overhead electrical wire and carry up to 130 passengers per car
on rails that are fl ush with the pavement. Because they can pick up pas-
sengers on either side, they can make shorter stops than buses do. Port-
land, Oregon built the fi rst major modern streetcar system in 2001 and
has since added new lines interlaced with a growing light rail system.
Residential building has boomed within two blocks of the streetcar line.
Other modern streetcar systems have been built in Seattle and Tacoma,
Washington, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Other cities are considering
constructing them as well.
The United States may be at the start of a change in intracity trans-
portation that was almost inconceivable only a few years ago, with the
possibility that public transport may make a real dent in the use of per-
sonal automobiles.
Setting an Example: Leadership Is Needed
The federal and state governments in the United States should lead the
way to alternative energy by adopting it themselves. All incandescent and
fl uorescent light bulbs should be removed in government buildings and
replaced with compact fl uorescent bulbs. Their buildings should be ret-
rofi tted with appropriate insulation, weather-stripping, and double-pane
windows. Contractual arrangements for heating and cooling should be
made only with utilities that use alternative energy sources to the extent
possible. Solar panels should be mandatory on building roofs. All grassy
lawns should be eliminated and planted with trees and perhaps organic
gardens, as has been done with a small plot of land around the White
House. All government vehicles should be hybrids or all-electric.
Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and President Obama have announced
that photovoltaic solar panels and solar thermal apparatus will be
installed on the White House roof by spring 2011.
