8 billion dollars was announced for rail projects.
(Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress)
The Obama Administration’s
release of money for higher
speed rail ended up being less
than most states wanted. Lester
Graham reports on what this
will mean for passenger train
service:
Transcript
The Obama Administration’s
release of money for higher
speed rail ended up being less
than most states wanted. Lester
Graham reports on what this
will mean for passenger train
service:
Eight billion dollars apparently doesn’t go that far in rail projects. The pundits have noted California’s Sacramento to San Diego corridor got 2.3 billion and Florida’s Tampa to Orlando route got 1.25 billion, making those states the big winners.
But if you forget state boundaries and look at rail networks, the Midwest’s Chicago Hub network pulled in a whopping 2.6 billion to improve the rails.
Amtrak doesn’t get any of this money. It just runs the trains. It doesn’t own many of the tracks. But spokesman Steve Kulm says better tracks mean Amtrak trains can go faster.
“Train speeds are going to increase from say 79 to 90 or from 90 to 110. But wit this funding that was announced, there was the Florida project and the California project. If those projects do happen and get moving, those projects will be at the 150 or higher levels.”
That’s how fast the train from Washington to New York goes and it’s getting more passengers than the airlines.
This photo, taken in August 1947, shows a load of white pine logs being hauled in Idaho. (Photo courtesy of the US Forest Service)
Climate change means faster growing
trees. Kyle Norris looks at ongoing
research that’s looking at how that
plays out:
Transcript
Climate change means faster growing
trees. Kyle Norris looks at ongoing
research that’s looking at how that
plays out:
Maybe you remember this from grade-school science: trees take in carbon
dioxide—that’s a gas emitted from burning fossil fuels. Then trees convert that
CO2 into oxygen. So with more carbon dioxide, trees are really taking off.
Wendy Jones is a research associate. She’s with Michigan Technological
University and she’s been studying young trees for the past eleven years.
Not only does carbon dioxide make trees grow faster, but warmer temperatures
help prolong the growing season. Jones says that could be good for the timber
industry.
“We could cut the trees sooner because they’re growing faster.”
For example, fast-growing aspen trees are used in everything from paper to
matchsticks. Jones says climate change could mean aspens could be harvested in
25 years instead of 35 years.
A botanist has documented what he’s
calling the “fastest flight in nature.” Tana
Weingartner explains:
Transcript
A botanist has documented what he’s
calling the “fastest flight in nature.” Tana
Weingartner explains:
Imagine this: a You-Tube video showing tulip-shaped fungi recoiling and
launching spores like wet cannonballs.
(sound of music)
Nicholas Money is a botanist at Miami University. He and a team of
researchers have used high speed cameras to capture, for the first time, fungi
launching spores.
“Fleas accelerate at 200 g, but we’re clocking these fungi moving at close to 200,000
g in terms of their acceleration. These are astonishingly fast movements.”
Fungi cause billions of dollars in crop damage each year.
Money says knowing how these spores move around can help prevent these
losses. He also says it’ll help allergen and pharmaceutical researchers too.
motor heads
from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and as far as Virginia. They’ve
gathered at a state park to check out each other’s souped-
down vehicles.
(Photo by Julie Grant)
Lots of new hybrids and electric
cars are coming to the market. But some
say you don’t need an expensive new car to
get really good gas mileage. In the second
part of our series on saving gas, reporter
Julie Grant met one group of guys who says
you just need to take good care of your vehicle
and drive like your grandmother:
Transcript
Lots of new hybrids and electric
cars are coming to the market. But some
say you don’t need an expensive new car to
get really good gas mileage. In the second
part of our series on saving gas, reporter
Julie Grant met one group of guys who says
you just need to take good care of your vehicle
and drive like your grandmother:
John Stine – aka Johnny Mullet – has always been crazy
about fast cars and big trucks.
But in the past year, this self-described country boy put
aside the hot rods and four-wheel-drive pick-ups and bought
an old Chevy Metro with a tiny 3 cylinder engine. He made a
few changes to make it more aerodynamic such as taking off
the passenger side mirror and even the radio antennae.
And, Stine also started driving really slowly.
It took a while for Johnny Stine’s wife to come around to the
changes.
John Stine: “What did you think at first?”
Mrs. Stine: “At first?”
John Stine: “I’m a nerd. You’re crazy.”
Mrs. Stine: “I thought he was a big nerd. I thought ‘oh my
God.’”
John Stine: “What are you doing to my car?”
That all changed pretty quickly as prices at pump went up.
Her nerd went from geek to chic.
Mrs. Stine: “Anything to save gas. We have a big truck. It
was costing us over $160 a week in fuel. But when he got
57 miles to the gallon, I was just like, ‘wow, what a
difference.’”
(sound of car talk)
Stine is meeting up today with about 20 other motor heads
from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and as far as Virginia. They’ve
gathered at a state park to check out each other’s souped-
down vehicles.
The parking lot is not lined with macho- muscle cars with 20-
inch rims. These guys drive refurbished Ford Festivas, Geo
and Chevy Metros on the skinniest tires possible.
Paul Keim says they’re just trying to save a few bucks on
gas. But his wife isn’t completely sold on this hobby.
“Ask her. The lady in the green shirt, she’ll tell you, my
name is ‘cheap bastard’.”
Keim says his wife does appreciate his gas saving tips.
She’s picked up 5 miles per gallon – just by keeping up the
tire pressure, changing the oil regularly, and, adjusting the
nut behind the wheel.
“You are the nut behind the wheel. Once you adjust your
attitude, and your driving style, you can get incredible
mileage.”
So, what do we need to change behind the wheel?
(sound of car doors)
John Stine is going to give us a few tips.
First, pay attention to your aerodynamics.
Julie Grant: “It’s pretty warm, am I allowed to have the
windows opened?”
John Stine: “The windows open when we’re sitting is fine.
As I’m driving, I like to keep them up unless it is very hot.”
Open windows are bad for aerodynamics. Air conditioning
wastes gas.
So, there are sacrifices. You might get a little sweaty – just
carry some extra deodorant.
Everyone here today drive cars with a stick shift because it
means better gas mileage.
Stine does whatever he can to keep momentum and not stop
at a traffic light. That can mean coasting very slowly up to
an intersection.
Some guys here say it’s been tough to adjust their driving
habits. To drive slowly – especially when the driver behind
them is bearing down on the bumper in a race to the office.
Ken Pietro of Detroit says he knows it irritates other drivers,
but that’s their problem.
“It’s just like, ‘hey, go around, go around,’ we’re in no hurry.”
Pietro says he doesn’t care, since he’s getting more than 52
miles per gallon. What’s your mileage? He didn’t even have
to buy a hybrid.
“People just can’t believe I’m getting that. You’ve got all the
newer Priuses and Honda Insights and all that. And these
people are shelling out 20 or 25 thousand dollars to get good
gas mileage with these hybrid vehicles. Which is fine, you
got the money to do it. That’s great, save the environment.
But I can do it in a $500 car and I’m getting better mileage
than them.”
And while you might complain about their slow driving, they
might just beat you home – they won’t have to make a pit
stop at the pump.
Reporter Rene Gutel gets tips from Mike Speck, a master eco-drive trainer at Pro-Formance Group of Phoenix (Photo courtesy of Rene Gutel)
We’ve all heard we can improve our
gas mileage by changing our driving habits.
And you might think you already know what
that means – coast more, for example, or check your tires’ air pressure. But according to Ford Motor Company, if you really want to get better mileage, you need a trained coach in the passenger’s seat teaching you how to do
it. In the final part of our series
on saving gas, we sent reporter Rene Gutel out to learn how to eco-drive:
Transcript
We’ve all heard we can improve our
gas mileage by changing our driving habits.
And you might think you already know what
that means – coast more, for example, or check
your tires’ air pressure. But according to
Ford Motor Company, if you really want to get
better mileage, you need a trained coach in
the passenger’s seat teaching you how to do
it. In the final part of our series
on saving gas, we sent reporter Rene Gutel
out to learn how to eco-drive:
(sound of car)
So I’m behind the wheel of my silver Mini Cooper and eco-driving instructor Mike Speck
is coaching me on how to get the best gas mileage I can, as safely as possible.
“Try to keep just a steady throttle input. You can see you are on and off the gas quite a
bit.”
We’re on suburban Phoenix roads at the beginning of rush hour. I drive a stick-shift and
one of the first lessons Speck teaches me is to shift gears a lot more quickly than I’m used
to.
Mike Speck: “And upshift.”
Rene Gutel: “Already?”
Speck: “And upshift.”
Gutel: “Oh! But we’re only going 30 miles an hour in fourth gear?”
Speck: “Yeah, it’s below 2000 RPM. The car is perfectly fine doing it.”
Speck is what they call a master eco-drive trainer at Pro-Formance Group of Phoenix.
Ford Motor Company recently teamed up with Pro-Formance to offer nearly 50 eco-
driving tests in Arizona. They studied the results which showed that by working with a
coach like Speck for just a few hours, drivers can improve their fuel economy by 24%.
The nuts and bolts of eco-driving are simple enough: Accelerate and break smoothly.
Slow down and watch your speed. Also, anticipate traffic signals as you’re going down
the road. But all this sounds way easier than it really is.
Speck: “Now we know there’s another slow left-hander coming up so off the gas.”
Gutel: “Okay, I’m off the gas.”
Speck: “And just let it coast around the corner.”
Gutel: Okay, I feel like you’re teaching me to drive my car all over again.
Speck: “I’m trying to do it as mellow as I can.”
That feeling – of going back to driver’s ed – is actually part of the experience of learning
to eco-drive.
Curt Magleby is the Director of Government Relations at Ford and he says to learn how
to do it right, you do need a coach.
“It’s not about tips and that’s what you’ll see on many websites throughout the US: tips
on how to be a better eco-driver. It’s got to be the hands-on coaching experience that
changes behavior.”
Ford is part of a new nationwide effort to encourage eco-driving. Magleby says there’s
talk of putting trained coaches at Ford dealerships.
“So when a person comes into a dealership and they’re considering the purchase of a
vehicle and we can talk to them about not only, here is the technology vehicle, here’s
what you can do, but you are a part of that equation.”
And down the line, Magleby says Ford might be pushing to have these techniques
become a part driver’s ed classes.
(sound of driving)
Speck: “You are accelerating very smoothly… very linearly. It’s very good!”
Gutel: “This is a different feel to driving. I feel like I’m coasting everywhere.”
Speck: “You are, and most people freak out about how much time they’re going to take.
When we validated the study, the average time increase was only 10%.”
Speck and I drive the same route three times during my eco-driving lessons. The first run
was the control, no tips from him at all, and I averaged 27 miles a gallon. But by the end
of the third run, we boosted that to 36 miles a gallon. Not bad, huh? Now if I can only do
that well on my own.
For The Environment Report, I’m Rene Gutel.
“Now try second. Well done! Go to third and just let it coast. Very well done.”
The new hybrid speedboat from Frauscher (Photo courtesy of California Chris Craft)
A green technology popular on highways
is now ready for the waterways – just in time for
summer. Only one catch – the world’s first hybrid
recreational boat could put a hole in your wallet.
Tamara Keith reports:
Transcript
A green technology popular on highways
is now ready for the waterways – just in time for
summer. Only one catch – the world’s first hybrid
recreational boat could put a hole in your wallet.
Tamara Keith reports:
The Frauscher hybrid speedboat comes from Austria with a price tag of more
than $100,000.
Ralph Silverman, president of California Chris-Craft, the US importer, admits
it’s the ultimate niche item. But he says he already has several buyers interested
in this green alternative to wasting fuel idling at the dock.
“At low speeds you run the motor completely on electric power so there’s no
fuel burn, no pollution and no noise. And once you get outside your
restricted speed zone, you click over to diesel and run it like a typical boat.”
(boat sounds)
Silverman believes this technology will eventually be applied to lower cost
boats too.
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to change the way it calculates fuel economy estimates on the window stickers of new cars and trucks. Consumer and environmental groups have been arguing that the estimates don’t match up to real world driving. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams reports:
Transcript
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to change the way it
calculates fuel economy estimates on the window stickers of new cars
and trucks. Consumer and environmental groups have been arguing that
the estimates don’t match up to real world driving. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Rebecca Williams reports:
The current EPA tests assume cars and driving conditions are the way
they were in 1985. The tests don’t factor in air conditioning, driving in
cold weather or driving any faster than 60 miles an hour.
The EPA says the new methods will lower the miles per gallon estimates
on most vehicles. The city estimates for conventional cars and trucks
could drop 10 to 20 percent. For hybrids, the city estimates could drop
up to 30 percent. A hybrid’s fuel economy is more sensitive to cold
weather and air conditioning.
Consumer groups say the new tests will give buyers a more accurate
picture of the car they take home.
Susan Pikrillidas is with AAA.
“We do honestly and truly believe that accurate labels will cause people
to buy more fuel efficient vehicles particularly in light of the high
gasoline prices.”
Under the proposal, the new test methods will begin with 2008 models…
so you could see the new stickers on cars as soon as fall 2007.
Ferries on the Great Lakes are getting faster; but some ferries are not experiencing the same speed in their ticket sales. (Photo by Anne-Marie Labbate)
Two high speed ferries that began operation on the Great
Lakes this year have shut down for the winter. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports that for each of the boats, the first season did not go according to plan:
Transcript
Two high speed ferries that began operation on the Great Lakes this year have shut down for the winter. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports that for each of the boats, the first season did not go according to plan:
The Lake Express Ferry that crossed Lake Michigan between Milwaukee and Muskegon exceeded predictions and carried more than 120-thousand passengers. But the boat cancelled its November and December schedule because of a low number of bookings. Lake Express President Kenneth Szallai insists the problem is not people being reluctant to cruise the lake in cold weather. He says the company just didn’t do enough to market the late-season service.
“People are used to the traditional ferries ending up in October… and because we didn’t do our part of it… they didn’t realize we’d be operating and so our sales were kind of flat for those two months.”
Szallai says the Lake Express will again carry passengers next spring. Another high speed ferry between Toronto and Rochester, New York abruptly shut down in early September. A Rochester newspaper reports problems include, quote, questionable business decisions, bad luck and lack of cash. It’s unclear when the boat will resume service.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.
8 billion dollars was announced for rail projects. (Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress)
