Public transportation:

Last week in our sustainability class we read MacKay’s book, Sustainable Energy- Without the Hot Air. The reading we did last week was focused on sustainable heating and how much energy we used in our homes has an impact in our lives. In MacKay’s book, he talks about how different public transportations like, buses, trains, roller-coasters, and some other ones use energy.

He compared public transportation to individual car. He said that public transportation is far much more energy efficient that individual car driving (MacKay, p.120). I really did not know there was that much difference when driving a car or riding a bus or a train. But MacKay goes on and gives an example by saying that, “London underground trains, at peak times, use 4.4 kWh per 100 p-km – 18 times better than individual cars and even high-speed trains, which violate two of our energy-saving principles by going twice as fast as the car and weighing a lot, are much more energy efficient: if the electric high-speed train is full, its energy cost is 3 kWh per 100 p-km – that’s 27 times smaller than the car’s” (120-121).

I think people were lazier to think more about their life style. They know what they do have a huge impact on the environment. They always talk about global warming, but no signs of change occurred or are occurring. As I talked about driving a car is a waste of gas and it pollutes the environment, so do the trains and buses, but they use less energy. Thinking big is important.

Why do we need to drive a car all the time? Do we not have something else to ride or drive? Why do we have bikes in stores and in our homes and not use them?  Bikes are good for our health and riding a bike saves energy. More bikes mean less driving cars. So people should always go for the better option.

I was so impressed how Mackay delivered such information about public transportation. I drive more than I ride trains, bikes, or buses. This was a good massage for me. I will try to be the person who learns from the mistakes he did. I hope others to feel like the same since it saves our world.