Union Pacific Offers Rail Transportation Solutions to Emerging Wind Energy Industry

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.pr-inside.com/union-pacific-offers-rail-transportation-solutions-r336178.htm

Union Pacific Offers Rail Transportation Solutions to Emerging Wind Energy Industry

In anticipation of increasing growth of wind power as a viable renewable energy source, Union Pacific today announced that it is the first railroad to join the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and first to offer door-to-door rail transportation solutions for the movement of wind turbine components.

...

Currently, the majority of wind power shippers use trucks to transport equipment. Today, fuel costs are a major consideration in all modes of transportation and freight trains are the most efficient and environmentally friendly. Since 1980, railroad fuel efficiency has increased by 72 percent and at that time, a gallon of diesel fuel moved one ton of freight an average of 235 miles. In 2001, the same amount of fuel moved one ton of freight an average of 406 miles. In 2006, we moved one ton of freight an average of 780 miles on one gallon of fuel through better locomotive technology, engineer training and employee involvement.

...

[Kolesar]

1. A road truck would have to achieve 20 mpg just to meet that

I wonder what the river and ocean-going-ship frieght rates are.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Here's a nice graphic

Efficiency Comparison (Number of Ton Miles per Gallon of Fuel)


Notice that the figure listed for river barge is actually lower than the one given for rail traffic in the press release.

[tech3149]

3. Most of those transport economies come from hybrid tech

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_locomotive

The diesel-electric hybrid trains are expected to cut emissions by up to 90-percent and decrease fuel consumption by up to 60-percent as compared to conventional diesel-powered locomotives. The Green Goats will be used in rail yards for marshalling trains.

[frogcycle]

7. the "conventional diesel-powerd locomotives"

you refer to actually are diesel/electric

since the introduction of diesel locomotives in the late 40's, they have been "hybrids"

the wheels are driven by electric motors; the diesel drives a generator that drives the motors

they have used "dynamic braking" - basically turning the motors into generators, for decades as well. They have big radiator grids on top to dispose of the the waste heat from dynamic braking. Finding ways to capture that energy gained going downhill and store it for use going up the next hill has long been thought about, but the low cost of diesel didn't make it practical. You'd probably need several cars worth of batteries. Large flywheels have been considered - that is actually a possibility. The "green goats" are using batteries or capacitors. In yard work, with lots of stop-and-go, this makes sense. But the long-haul trains have long, sustained pulls, whether to start up or to climb hills, that would exhaust these storage systems pretty quickly. While they will definitely pay off, they don't touch the bigger issue of the long-haul trains

the best way is to electrify the line - then the trains going downhill will basically be pulling others up hills by sending electricity through the wires to them. This would turn the entire railroad into one big hybrid. The grid could be fed from a stationary power plant, the onboard diesels would supplement when needed. The energy consumption to start a train from a standstill is enormous. Keeping it rolling on level ground - not so much. By capturing most of the energy that would otherwise be lost in braking either going downhill or stopping and feeding it to those starting up or going uphill, you end up just burning oil to overcome rolling resistance and wind resistance, not gravity

[frogcycle]

4. The rail industry has always been a better transp solution

and continually gets outflanked by the oil, auto, and barge industries.

We need a grass roots movement to promote rail. The ton-mile/BTU advantage to moving commodities and people by rail vs. truck or car is staggering. And yet where is the focus on adding intermodal yards, replacing double- and triple-track lines removed in the past due to lack of traffic and computerized traffic control?

There is no new technology needed - no big breakthroughs required - to get many, many 18-wheelers off the highways and many, many daily commuters off the roads. All it takes is investment in physical plant - which the railroads have had to do 100% themselves for decades, while the Army Corps of Engineers builds the waterways for barges and the taxpayers build the highways.

The rights-of way are there, in most cases. Additional rolling stock, in some cases additional track, and additional terminals for interchange with the local delivery by truck can have a huge payback to the nation's overall energy usage, and thus balance of payments, while reducing carbon emissions in the bargain.

Add to that that the adoption of future technological advances like even more efficient power plants and methods can better be adopted when there are fewer to upgrade and there just is no argument against this.

[phantom power]

5. I don't get it.

Wind turbine vendors are free to use rail at any time they choose, aren't they? I didn't catch what UP is offering, that they weren't offering before.

[frogcycle]

6. Only a guess, but they may

have outfitted some cars specially to carry the components.

Also, it stresses "door-to-door rail" - could be they are getting mileage out of the fact they happen to have a track where the stuff is going... if that's it, then its lame