rail track is one of the worst places you can put solar panels. pressure differentials, oil spills, hot metal, and you can’t angle them which means they can never produce their peak efficiency.
there is no reason to even consider ground-level solar until every rooftop and awning is covered.
but is that taking into calculation that avgas is not taxed while electricity is? is it taking into account the relative efficiency numbers of turbofans? is it taking into account the cumulative amount of time lost sitting at airports, which is usually not counted into travel time?
There are reasons to go by train. My point is that trains are not naturally more efficient. It takes cheap electricity and high volumes of passengers to make it profitable. Of course fair taxes help but prices weren’t part of my calculation. The energy used for tracks is already so big that many lines are better served by plane.
Can’t wait to send 400000 tons of pig iron by a plane. You are missing the cargo trains (that mostly use the same tracks and are rail company’s bread and butter) in your calculations.
rail track is one of the worst places you can put solar panels. pressure differentials, oil spills, hot metal, and you can’t angle them which means they can never produce their peak efficiency.
there is no reason to even consider ground-level solar until every rooftop and awning is covered.
what are you trying to say?
The idea is to put them there instead of tracks and let people fly instead. The numbers suggest that that would be a net benefit.
but is that taking into calculation that avgas is not taxed while electricity is? is it taking into account the relative efficiency numbers of turbofans? is it taking into account the cumulative amount of time lost sitting at airports, which is usually not counted into travel time?
There are reasons to go by train. My point is that trains are not naturally more efficient. It takes cheap electricity and high volumes of passengers to make it profitable. Of course fair taxes help but prices weren’t part of my calculation. The energy used for tracks is already so big that many lines are better served by plane.
Can’t wait to send 400000 tons of pig iron by a plane. You are missing the cargo trains (that mostly use the same tracks and are rail company’s bread and butter) in your calculations.
The comparison should use highspeed trains which have their own tracks.
“the energy used for tracks”?
You have to build and maintain them. That costs energy which is driving costs.
compared to airline infrastructure though?