10-29-2007, 04:43 AM
Wow, Hotcatz, I really admire your independence and sustainability! Bear and I also do vegetable gardening with open pollination replanting and are now on our fourth generation of some veggie varieties. Photovoltaic power is something we should consider, but so far the cost and the number of cloudy days at our location have kept us from it. Maybe we will do it someday, especially if the cost of oil goes way up (a certainty,) and the cost of solar panels goes down (a possibility with new technology coming into the market.)
Your idea about light rail on the Big Island appeals to a lot of us, but unfortunately the cost, even with the Feds helping, would be beyond a rural region like ours. There was another thread on rail transit recently, and I did some research. The MINIMUM cost per mile for light rail is $10M to $12M. That quote was for areas with low construction costs (not us) and optimum geologic conditions (also not us.) The math is not promising for our already constrained County budget. A more feasible transit solution might be a bigger fleet of buses powered by either ethanol or biodiesel, both of which could be produced here. Buses can go anywhere there are roads and come in lots of different sizes, making service to lightly populated areas possible.
It's time to think outside the usual energy box, and Hotcatz is a great example for us all in that regard. Bravo!
Cheers,
Jerry
Your idea about light rail on the Big Island appeals to a lot of us, but unfortunately the cost, even with the Feds helping, would be beyond a rural region like ours. There was another thread on rail transit recently, and I did some research. The MINIMUM cost per mile for light rail is $10M to $12M. That quote was for areas with low construction costs (not us) and optimum geologic conditions (also not us.) The math is not promising for our already constrained County budget. A more feasible transit solution might be a bigger fleet of buses powered by either ethanol or biodiesel, both of which could be produced here. Buses can go anywhere there are roads and come in lots of different sizes, making service to lightly populated areas possible.
It's time to think outside the usual energy box, and Hotcatz is a great example for us all in that regard. Bravo!
Cheers,
Jerry