Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight Without Oil [Hardcover]

Richard Gilbert (Author), Anthony Perl (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 14, 2007

Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight without Oil sets out the challenges to our growing dependence on transport fuelled by low-priced oil. These challenges include an early peak in world oil production and profound climate change resulting in part from oil use. It proposes responses to ensure effective, secure movement of people and goods in ways that make the best use of renewable sources of energy while minimizing environmental impacts. Transport Revolutions synthesizes engineering, economics, environment, organization, policy and technology, and draws extensively on current data to present important conclusions. The authors argue that land transport in the first half of the 21st century will feature at least two revolutions. One will involve the use of electric drives rather than internal combustion engines. Another will involve powering many of these drives directly from the electric grid - as trains and trolley buses are powered today - rather than from on-board fuel. They go on to discuss marine transport, whose future is less clear, and aviation, which could see the most dramatic breaks from current practice. With its expert analysis of the politics and business of transport, Transport Revolutions is essential reading for professionals and students in transport, energy, town planning and public policy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'A must read.' Erick Villagomez, Re:Place Magazine 'A terrific book!' Elizabeth Deakin, Professor of City Planning and Director, Transportation Center, University of California 'Remarkably timely, optimistic, and practical.' Tony Hiss, author of The Experience of Place and visiting scholar at New York University 'An important book... Transport Revolutions needs to be considered by all of us if travel is to continue in the years ahead.' Sunday News, PA 'This book should be on the desk of every transport minister�s chief policy adviser.' John Adams, Emeritus Professor of Geography, University College London 'This is an exceptionally well thought-out book.' Colin Axon, Deputy Director, Institute for Carbon and Energy Reduction in Transport, University of Oxford. ' If policy makers ignore this book it is at our peril.' Dave Hughes, Senior Geoscientist and Energy Analyst, Geological Survey of Canada 'One of the most thought-provoking books to cross my desk in a long while.' Barbara Yaffe, Vancouver Sun 'Be prepared for a hard-nosed look at a future we all may face.' James Mars, Canadian Journal of Urban Research

About the Author

Richard Gilbert is a Toronto-based consultant who focuses on transport and energy issues, with recent public- and private-sector clients in North America, Europe and Asia. Anthony Perl is a Professor of Political Science and Urban Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, where he directs the Urban Studies Program.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (December 14, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1844072487
• ISBN-13: 978-1844072484
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,097,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #100 in Books > Professional & Technical > Transportation > Mass Transit

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Readable and On Target, April 15, 2008

By 

Richard H. Burkhart "Dick Burkhart" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight Without Oil (Hardcover)

This book is very readable and on target, also fully footnoted. Informed by Peak Oil in addition to global warming, the academic authors prescribe a tonic of electric rail to head off our coming woes.

This means high speed rail between cities to replace many road trips and most short haul air travel, plus urban rail systems to get around in metropolitan areas. But it also includes electric trolley buses and electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles, including trucks. Reason: electric vehicles are not only efficient, but the electricity may come from a variety of renewable sources.

However they seem to have gone overboard in regard to "grid connected vehicles" when they prescribe Personal Rapid Transit. The problem here is that PRT is mostly just a concept, backed by highly questionable simulations and cost estimates. Experts who look at the fundamentals see costs that vastly outweigh the benefits, except in very limited circumstances, such as at Heathrow. And with big declines in air travel projected, even the airport application of PRT needs to be questioned.

But Gilbert and Perl are right on target when they say that the first order of business, whether in the US or China, is to stop digging ourselves deeper in the the fossil fuel hole. An example now gaining currency in the US would be "no new general purpose freeway lanes". Another is to stop all airport expansions.

Given the vast waste and luxury in US society, the US could certainly afford the $1 trillion cost that they project for the high speed train network. But finding the political will is another matter, as the costs of food and fuel skyrocket and credit bubbles burst and wars drain resources, leaving economic decline in their wake.

Nevertheless, we need more academics joining activists to tell the world that is is what needs to be done.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars peak oil, January 31, 2008

By 

J. adams "John Adams" (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight Without Oil (Hardcover)

I declare an interest. On the back cover I am quoted: "Gilbert and Perle challenge the wishful thinking that underpins transport planning all around the world in a way that is impossible to ignore. This book should be on the desk of every transport minister's chief policy adviser." I have changed my mind. The book should be on the bedside table of every president and prime minister. It should be the last thing they read at night and the first thing in the morning. The implications of peak oil, explored in convincing detail in this book, should be their first priority. The book focuses on the challenges that the looming energy gap will pose for transport. But transport connects everything to everything else. If they are right all our lives are about to change dramatically. Read it and decide for yourself.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting, September 29, 2008

By 

Jonathan Davies (Ottawa, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Transport Revolutions: Moving People and Freight Without Oil (Hardcover)

The information in this book is very interesting! When I read this book, I was very interested to learn about the history of transportation developments, the reasons why transportation has developed the way it has over the centuries and years, the reasons why transportation has to change from the way it is now, and what the changes that need to be made are. I like books that talk about solutions to problems and better alternatives to the status quo.

It is also interesting to learn how the transportation scene in China compares with (and contrasts from) that in the U.S. As this book's authors say, China is the most populated of the world's less developed nations, and the U.S. is the most populated of the world's highly developed nations.