Here are just a few of my favorite ideas for future infrastructure spending, but if you have some of your own, don't be afraid to say so in the comments below.
Good thing we voted that one in, or the only infrastructure we'd be building would be new oil drills and a bigger army in Iraq. I don't know where we'd be if Old Man/Flight Attendant08 had won. I am glad and thankful that I will never learn.
For some good ideas, and endless possibilities, go below the fold.
High-Speed Railways
The state Treasurer’s Office has issued $29.1 million in short-term loans to the California High-Speed Rail Authority to meet the remainder of the authority’s 2008-09 fiscal year funding authorization.
The state’s High-Speed Rail Finance Committee approved the loan request in January, but the loan was stalled when the state Pooled Money Investment Board decided to freeze disbursements until the successful sale of general obligation bonds on March 25. The board governs the state’s Pooled Money Investment Account, which is used to invest taxpayers’ money to manage the state’s cash flow.
bizjournal.com
Will the high-speed train system create new jobs and boost our economy?
Yes. The statewide high-speed train project will require us to draw upon and expand California’s skilled workforce, creating nearly 160,000 construction-related jobs to plan, design and build the system. An additional 450,000 permanent jobs are expected to be created by 2035 as a result of the economic growth the train system will bring to California.
cahighspeedrail.ca.gov
If we made high-speed railways a nationwide project, it would not only help bring jobs to the economy and keep them American, but it would spare the environment from a reliance on foreign fossil fuels. We can neither dictate our national policy and our foreign policy on our energy needs alone, nor should we ignore the failing and ignored infrastructure crumbling down around us. I say we kill to birds with one stone. The reasons why we should demand investment in this revolutionary technology are so many I could try to write a series of diaries. Japan and Europe have already done so. We should not be far behind, not anymore.
Innovative and Clean and Renewable Green Energy
Algae-to-Fuel Research Enjoys Resurgence at NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory)
At NREL, researchers are accelerating efforts to identify and characterize the most promising strains of algae for fuel production. The work has resumed more than a decade after its original algae fuels program was curtailed because the fuels were considered too costly to compete with petroleum.
Today, algae fuels still are not close to being economically competitive with petroleum, according to NREL scientists. So what's changed?
Record high crude oil prices, instability in the Middle East and other oil exporting regions and global warming concerns connected to increasing levels of carbon dioxide have made algae an appealing potential fuel source — again.
Solar Hot Water
When Zager Plumbing & Solar, of Deerfield Beach, Florida won the contract to install a 4000 gallon solar hot water system at the Westin Dawn Beach Resort & Spa, on the Caribbean isle of St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles, it chose to fabricate a hot water storage tank that could be easily shipped and on arrival fit through existing doorways.
The storage tank was crated, shipped and arrived at the hotel in a collapsible form. Dale Zager, President of Zager Plumbing & Solar explains, "So long as you have a place that is flat, level and can support the weight of the water in the tank, Zager Plumbing & Solar can design, crate, ship and roll this storage tank through a 19 inch doorway and have it set up in a matter of hours."
The company’s collapsible storage tank is available in any size and can be duplicated in any hotel/resort or commercial building, whether the project is in the beginning phases of construction or in an existing building.
greenenergynews.com
Electric Cars
Meet the Chevy Volt
GM on Thursday hosted a teleconference to discuss its community outreach efforts and work with electric utilities to establish an industry "ecosystem" to make electric vehicles attractive to buyers.
The Volt is scheduled for mass production starting in November 2010 in the U.S. and introduction in mid-2011 in Canada. About 80 prototypes will be built for fleet testing this summer, said vehicle line director for the Chevy VoltTony Posawatz, who revealed a few more details about the highly anticipated sedan.
Getting millions of plug-in vehicles on the road in the coming years will require new technologies and the installation of a car-charging infrastructure in communities, say automakers. One technology important to widespread plug-in use is so-called smart charging, where car batteries are charged at off-peak times in the middle of the night.
2010 Chevy Volt
The team behind the Segway has teamed up with General Motors to develop a two-seater electric car.
The Personal Urban Mobility & Accessibility (Puma) project uses Segway's computer expertise to produce a car that can drive on two wheels at a maximum speed of 35mph.
~snip~
The prototype vehicle can travel up to 40 miles between charges, and would cost around 60 cents to recharge at current prices.
vnunet.com
Levees, Bridges and City Projects
The 10 Pieces of U.S. Infrastructure We Must Fix Now
No one can predict what bridge, levee or water main will fail next. But some problems are widely known, and work is long overdue. As PM's new special report makes starkly clear, we need to begin rebuilding the nation's infrastructure somewhere. Here are 10 great places to start.
The authors, Erik Sofge and The Editors of Popular Mechanics, go on to point out locations in several states that require, IMHO, immediate attention. Stipulations in the spending bill should say that this work will be done by State Employees and not subcontracted. We can create good paying American jobs that profit American citizens and communities. They go on to name the Brooklyn Bridge in NY, Wolf Creek Dam in Kentucky and Sacramento River Levees, California. Georgia, Louisiana, Washington, Illinois, Florida and Idaho were detailed in the article as well.
There is a lot of work to do.
Although I am saddened at the state that our nation has declined to under the mis-government of the Republican party, I am happy to know that it is our side which is calling the shots on how to handle this. That is how we need to continue to frame this, as in "You fucked this up, we will fix it and make it better, you need a new idea or STFU GOP" The potential to build UP America is tremendous, instead of letting it all just continue to trickle down into nothing. We have an opportunity to build this country anew. This is exactly why the rich and powerful are drawing on the ignorance of the loyal mob and the Hessian mercenaries. (No offense to Hessians.)
Btw, the quote above being from PopularMechanics.com and all, I tend to give their word a hell of a lot more weight than the non-mechanic opinion. In this case, I will gladly give them their due, as I am a certainly not a mechanio myself.
It doesn't stop here. The possibilities to renew our nation and our economy are tremedous. The only thing standing in our way is the status quo of Big Business and Establishment politicians who prosper due to the campaign funding that encourages climate chnage denial and a dependance on the energy sources of the last century.
Despite these roadblocks, our nation is moving into an age of renewal, and we are the people with the ideas who want to move forward. That is pretty much my definition of what it is to consider yourself a Progressive, but I might be wrong, and every one is entitled to their own opinion.