I've been reading the Greens' transport ideas and many of them make sense but

"Aims
The Greens NSW work to:
Greenhouse gas reduction and energy efficiency....

24. Phase out the use of semi-trailers and B-doubles as the major form of freight transport and replace them with a combination of rail, maritime transport and non-articulated trucks running on renewable energy"

has me a bit bemused as, from my experience, semi-trailers are more fuel efficient than rigid trucks, are more practical and do less damage to roads, addedto which the trailer part of the combination can be sent by rail and then coupled to and delivered by the prime mover which returning can then deliver another trailer etc.

You're wasting your time here Is Mise.

There wouldn't be a single green supporter with enough engineering savvy to understand what you're talking about.

I wonder what renewable energy they are talking about for a heavy transport fuel. Surely not ethanol, which takes more petroleum energy to produce than it supplies, & produces more greenhouse gas than it saves.

Hasbeen,

One can but hope!!

Is Mise and Hasbeen,

Obviously you pair don't live in the vicinity of Port Botany, Australia's busiest container port, nor are you subjected to the road traffic congestion associated with that facility, and the lack of freight rail, due to the use of the single Cooks River line, which was built to service Bunnerong Power House (long gone) in the 1930's. A fright line that is only single and incapable of moving double stacked containers.

Hasbeen, as an Engineer I'll put my qualification up against yours anyday. Dr John Kaye a Greens member of the NSW Parliament is also a qualified engineer. You must be trapped in some kind of 'time warp' as you can't envisage progress of any kind. With all that 19th century thinking. No offence but I'm sure you guys must be around 80 years of age, if not, your thinking certainly is.

Is Mise, Since you were bemused, I take it you favor an increase in greenhouse gas emissions and a reduction in energy efficiency.

http://www.busaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=28349

Is that Is Mise and Hasbeen I see at the controls of that steam locomotive?

Paul,

I'm 81 and a fierce advocate of steam for locomotive purposes and I'm sure Hasbeen would make a good mate on the footplate, however we digress.

What has me intrigued is the Greens' preference for rigid trucks over semi-trailers.
I just can't see it.

Another thing that I'd like to know is how many acres of land would need to be under cultivation to supply the needs of the Greens envisaged fuel requirements; perhaps you could tell us, Paul, as you've said that the Greens have fully funded their policies.

Is Mise, I was out by a year. We changed from acres to hectares, 14th February 1966, 50 years ago next year, do you think you could get with the times? Ah, in favor of old stem locos, 4% energy efficiency at the wheels, hummm possibly not. Do you think possible one day Australia will be capable of building a hydroelectric scheme in the Snowy Mountains? Possibly not.