Dwindling crude oil reserves - What is the best way to cross the Atlantic in 2050?
I thought about a couple of options:
1) Fuel-efficient traditional aircrafts using biofuels
2) New generation of fast aircrafts using natural gas
3) New generation of fast aircrafts using hydrogen
4) New generation of slow aircrafts using solar panels and batteries
5) New generation of slow helium airships using solar panels and batteries
6) New generation of slow helium airships using the jet stream (flying east only)
7) Combination of hovercrafts and bullet trains
I actually like the last option. The shortest distance between Europe and North America is less than 2000 miles. So if you want to get from New York to London you could take a bullet train from New York to Charlottetown, Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada, take a hovercraft to Ullapool in Scotland (distance 3193 km or 1984 miles), then another bullet train from Ullapool to London.
Travel time? Bullet trains in the year 2050 could do 360 kph or 225 mph and hovercrafts could do 160 kph or 100 mph.
That’s about 5 hours from New York to Charlottetown plus 20 hours across the Atlantic plus 2 hours to get to London. Total: 27 hours. A lot faster than airships or the Queen Mary 2 and probably a lot cheaper than aircraft using alternative fuels. I’m not sure whether snow in winter might be a problem for bullet trains in Labrador. And what about icebergs and fast hovercrafts?
Are there any other good options?
How do you compare these options? How will we travel in the year 2050?
Paul Wylde, creative director for Teague’s Aviation Studio (a design consultant to Boeing) developed a concept called Flight 2.0, a radical approach to flying that involves government-subsidized airships, luxuriously slow travel, exorbitant fees for flying as fast as we do today, and less dependence on fossil fuel.
http://www.smartplanet.com/people/blog/pure-genius/flight-20-proposes-radical-change-in-air-travel/5347/
What do you think about his proposal?
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11 Answers
If man could ever learn how to control the magnetism of the earth, an automobile would get about 500 miles to the gallon of gasoline. can’t you just see some idiot tinkering with a magnet car and leaving the face of the earth to be gone forever into outer space?
@mattbrowne SR-71 Blackbird. I’ll keep one and a pilot in mothballs.
Not very fuel efficient though.
I’m going with multi-engined passenger jets that look not too different than what we have today. However, the engines will be fusion-fired, air breathers.
(They will be Chinese made Boeing 867s.)
Well, I just finished reading ‘The Brendan Voyage’ by Tim Severin. These guys replicated a medieval timber and oxhide boat and sailed from ireland to Newfoundland in 79.
Crazy. Im hoping we don’t go that far backwards by 2050.
I like the bullet trains idea best i think, its a significant infrastructure investment but probably the most efficient option once complete.
I think far fewer people will be crossing ‘the pond’ in 2050. The Atlantic gets pretty stormy and I don’t see hovercraft coping well with huge waves. The bullet train from Ullapool will never happen. There are too many mountains in the way. The West coast of Scotland doesn’t lend itself to fast transport. Relax and enjoy the scenery instead.
Reading that proposal made me more angry by the second. When the time comes, man’s resilience will force him to find new ways to get by. Nobody will ever accept those kind of regulations shoved down their throats.
Power still lies in numbers, as is seen everyday in France. Our Current Account Deficit gets worse by the day but the government is just winging it because those millions of people on social security will never accept not getting that monthly stipend. In the same way, the kind of clauses set up by ‘Flight 2.0’ [ironic name considering that when you think of 2.0 you think of change for the better] will never see the light as people wont accept it.
@flutherother – Are there alternatives to hovercrafts? E.g. 700 m long ships designed in a completely new way capable of handling large waves?
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