Technical Difficulties

Last night I wasn't able to post.  I tried two computers, and three browsers to no avail.  Perhaps the site got blogged down.

So Popular Mechanics ran their 2011 issue with flying cars on the front again.  The article was well written and the author seemed surprised as I was that anyone would actually still be investing in these ridiculous schemes.  They go into detail about all the difficulties engineering a dual purpose vehicle like this, but they never really mention the big picture.  Efficiency.

All forms of transportation have flaws.  A study from a year ago shows even light rail can be as inefficient as an airliner, once considerations for infrastructure are calculated.  This is mostly because of concrete's contribution to CO2, though, we're working on that.  The worst tested transportation mode was light aircraft, for obvious reasons.  Small capacity combined with a need for massive energy to do battle with gravity.

I'm sorry, but the Jetsons were wrong.  (Until we find some unlimited power source anyway.  Which, really doesn't look all that good because of those darned laws of thermodynamics.)  The idea what we need 2-ton vehicles to transport one person from the suburbs 60 miles a day round trip is already seeming wasteful beyond reason (you don't think so?  Remember 2008.)  One gallon of gas will cost 5 dollars as we start moving to less efficient oil extraction methods (sands, offshore, shale, etc.), and it won't be long until it surpasses minimum wage, and not just for reasons like a weak dollar artificially inflating the cost as it is right now, it will literally cost that much to get it out of the ground, process it, and get it to your gas tank.

So, let's put it this way, commuting via flight is like one person driving 5 semis to work and back.  We don't have anything available that wasteful except maybe spaceflight, but that doesn't serve someone's daydreaming ego to get out of traffic because the nice house in the country and the job downtown can't be reconciled.  There are only a few reasons for something like this to exist, and that's when people's lives are on the line.  So, rescue vehicles, yeah, fire it up if it's better than something currently available, and, well, that's it.   The idea that the sky will be filled with commuters to get around infrastructure clogging problems is not the way to attack the issue.

Economics will prove me, as gas prices rise, SUVs decline, bicycles increase, people rethink their living situations, and cities will rethink their infrastructure priorities.  One day, the idea that some company exec would show up to work on a jet pack, will be looked at with such disgust it will be as if CEOs of a company that produces cars would come to Washington to beg for the peoples' money on Leer jets.  Hrmm.

GeorgeP