Asphalt used on road surfaces are byproducts from fossil fuel. With the ultimate goal of eliminating the use of fossil fuel to combat climate change, are there any good alternatives for road surfaces? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a viable replacement of asphalt in the works, or even a plan to replace it in any environmental discussions before. At least, not enough for me to notice.
Extented question would be: what are some products derived from fossil fuel that are used in everyday life, but still lack viable alternatives you don’t see enough discussions about?
Bumpier = slower = safer.
Slower = driving less distance = less wear and tear.
how is slower less distance
Time is a limited resource
Consider the fact that you’re unlikely to make a trip to the other side of the world if it weren’t for the fact that airplanes exist and they cover the distance very fast.
Higher speeds enable different trips to happen - the speed changes the types and distances of transportation that happen.
Slower = less transportation happening
Cars are the least efficient means of transporting people and make all other means of transporting less efficient. Less cars = more transportation happening.
Not if people need to go to every point on the map, throughout the whole road grid.
But I think we can consolidate vehicles a bit.
Something like electric bikes or segways or scooters for the last mile helps cover the entire grid.
And we could have double the number of buses, maybe with demand-based scaling of bus lines (no doubt they already do this but I bet it’s on the scale of months instead of hours).
But those other forms of transport don’t provide privacy, and we really like the privacy of a car.
The turbo lift from star trek is a cool idea. Just a room you stand in that takes you wherever. That provides some privacy.
I think more fundamental than the logistical aspects of it, the main hurdle is that sense of owning the space you’re traveling in. In my car I’ve got a thousand little tweaks I’ve made.
Maybe each person could have a vehicle configuration that gets loaded up into the generic shared vehicles, so when they get in it feels like theirs, has all the same things ready.