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Producing fuels from 1,500 degrees of solar heat: world’s first plant opens in Germany
(www.thechemicalengineer.com)
this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2024
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I’d really be interested to see a comparison between the costs of electrifying the rail network vs using synthetic diesel for freight throughout the US.
Unlike cars or semi trucks, diesel-electric locomotives are extremely efficient. On the other hand, electrifying the many thousands of miles of track that run through large, unpopulated areas of the US seems like a monumental challenge that would yield far fewer benefits over electrifying cars.
It worked on every other continent. Of course it would be harder to do in the US because they've neglected building out their railways for so long. But the Chinese built a high speed rail network in a few years. There's no practical reason why the US wouldn't be able to do it.
The U.S. can’t build like China does. Too many stakeholders to satisfy. Labour too expensive. Too many regulations. The high-speed rail line from San Francisco to LA is going to cost more than all of China’s high-speed rail projects combined!
trains are actually one of the examples where you can get away with lower energy dense fuels, like methanol, ammonia or even compressed hydrogen. sure the range will go down, but for many connections this will not matter that much because it will still be possible to go 1000km with one tank if needed.