Carbon Neutral Freight Transport by Rail

Trains Magazine General Discussion
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German rail begins carbon-neutral freight transport

From: Deutsche Welle 16.8.2010 Linked here:
By: Author: Gerhard Schneibel http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5909284,00.html
Editor: Sam Edmonds

FTA: " …DB operates its own closed grid, which carries electricity at a different frequency than the normal consumer electric grid. The rail operator’s system is supplied by 18.5 percent renewable energy, 13.1 percent lignite, 32.1 percent coal, 25.2 percent nuclear power and 9.1 percent natural gas.

The company’s carbon-free concept continues to use electricity from many sources. But when a customer chooses to go green, they pay a premium price to ensure the energy they consume is replaced with electricity from renewable sources.

Environmentalists critical of scheme

Juergen Resch of the environmental group Deutsche Umwelthilfe (German Environment Aid), criticized DB’s latest announcement as a simple attempt to win public favor without fully committing to alternative energy sources.

“DB uses coal-fired power plants; DB has a disproportionately high portion of nuclear-generated electricity in its electricity grid,” Resch told Deutsche Welle. "To then offer customers CO2-free transportation for an additional cost… it leaves a bit of a stale afte

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Good for DB…as for the environmental critic…maybe he can propose an alternative instead of just criticizing DB. They’re going in the right direction.

About “green initiatives” on this side of the ocean…all you really need to do is look at the modern diesel locomotive. Refining current technology has a alot of merit and is far more cost effective than changing the entire infrastructure in favor of electric traction or some as yet un proven technology.

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I wonder what the environmentalists will think of the effort to develop diesel fuel directly from salt water algae that can be used in conventional diesel engines. The trouble is the environmentalists have been taught what to think not how to think so they’ll ignore the facts.