The future requires sustainable transportation
Traffic in Manila, the Philippines, 2009. (Photograph by Oscar W. Rasson, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0)
Imagine this: What if you could drive a car that is so intelligent that you never, when driving in a city, come across a red traffic light? But this is possible.”
At the ScienceWriters2014 conference in Columbus, Ohio, Giorgio Rizzoni of Ohio State University’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering entertained the idea of automative technologies in future transportation vehicles, while also discussing the importance of sustainable transportation in megacities around the world.
“From the model T onward, petroleum is really what has fueled the automotive industry. Sustainability in transportation is not just a good idea, it’s absolutely a must. So we have to be able to achieve some degree of sustainability in transportation.”
Not only are sustainable transportation technologies a critical factor in reducing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, but it’s also becoming an important component in the economies of rapidly industrializing nations.
“The need for transportation or the demand for transportation will continue to grow. And imagine that if we have a problem today what the problem will be in 2050. So we need to do something that changes the paradigms that we take for granted, try to make sure that the beautiful blue green planet remains blue and green for a lot longer.”
For the New Horizons in Science Newsroom, this has been Bethany Bella.
