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220MPH Solar-Powered Bullet Train on Arizona Horizon

by Jorge Chapa, 05/12/09

sustainable design, solar bullet train, green design, alternative transportation, renewable energy, solar powered train, high speed rail

Travelers going from Tucson to Phoenix may soon be blazing across the desert in speeding solar bullet trains propelled by the sun’s rays. Hot on the heels of President Obama’s plan for High Speed Rail in the US comes the news that Arizona-based Solar Bullet LLC is proposing a new 220mph bullet train that will be entirely powered by the sun and will make the trip in 30 minutes flat.

sustainable design, solar bullet train, green design, alternative transportation, renewable energy, solar powered train, high speed rail

The adoption of high speed rail in the states stands to greatly curb greenhouse emissions while cutting down on our reliance on carbon-spewing cars and airplanes. Needless to say it’s one of our favorite transportation topics here at Inhabitat, so to say that this one caught our eye would be an understatement.

The system is being proposed by Solar Bullet LLC, founded by Bill Gaither and Raymond Wright. Their plan is to create a series of tracks that would serve stations including Chandler, Maricopa, Casa Grande, Eloy, Red Rock and Marana, and may one day stretch as far as Mexico City. The train would require 110 megawatts of electricity, which would be generated by solar panels mounted above the tracks.

Although the project is still in its early stages of development and the estimated cost is a whopping 28 billion dollars, the idea that someday in the future we could all be riding on solar powered bullet trains is simply too cool to resist.

+ Solar Bullet

Via Azstarnet

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13 Responses to “220MPH Solar-Powered Bullet Train on Arizona Horizon”

akrenits
akrenits Says:

what a terrible rendering..

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Walter Says:

HAS ANYONE DONE THE MATH on this proposal? The article seemed to indicate that this is not a maglev, so you have to account for the rolling and air resistance on the one hand and the output of the solar collectors on the other (I am assuming regenetive braking will recover a good deal of the energy required to accelerate the train.)

SECONDLY, I can see why a solar based train would be more attractive in sunny Arizona, but what exactly is the advantage of building your solar panels along the railline as opposed to be in a cluster behind a fence where you could protect it?

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A nice thought, but how would one maintain 700 miles of panels? There would have to be some serious consideration for the long term impact that the environment would have on this system. The projected cost is probably far too low, and the amount of water and cleaning solution that it would require to have these panels operating at a nominal capacity would be ridiculous. I hope that the maintenance and potential for failure are seriously considered before anyone invests more time in this project.

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Wow, now that looks WAY cool!

RT

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4udiary Says:

Wow.. I khew this day will come.. use natural power..

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Milieunet Says:

Wow, that looks really cool and solar powerd is the future. Great development. Remembers me to another amazing project in the USA, The Interstate Hydrogen Superhighway in Michigan.

http://www.stichtingmilieunet.nl/andersbekekenblog/?p=2419

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appleman Says:

@walter:
putting the panels above the train is a great idea since it significantly reduces the amount of AC required to cool the inside of the train.

If you haven\\\’t walked in the Arizona desert, try it sometime. You\\\’ll wish you had that panel over your head.

chrisp68
chrisp68 Says:

Stupid idea but, if you must use solar panels make them part of the track so you don’t have to another sturcture to construct with this proposal. The only chace for this to work would be the mag lev idea which supports placing the panels in the track anyway.

Any yes, terrible rendering. Looks like color by numbers.

davidwayneosedach

Don’t forget the Los Angeles – Las Vegas connection!

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jireh Says:

wow!fantastic….

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Living in Tucson this could be a great idea. The panels would be better located in the tracks as the train would only shade them for a moment as it passes by and there would not be added cost for the structure to support the panels. It would not need to be a 220mph train to be more cost effective. There are few options in public transportation between the cities now so even a 90mph version would reduce the travel time by 50%.

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Kai Says:

Umm, this is $14,500 per resident of Tucson and Phoenix… It\’s sort of a nice idea, but if you want a cheaper idea you could wait until 2012 when the prices come down and buy a $30,000 all-electric plugin hybrid car for each household in either city… only $24 billion! That plan will be complete six years earlier, and cost $3b less — win-win.

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topcatrw Says:

Actually it will work just fine. The price quote in the paper was incorrect. The target cost is about $20 – $40 Million a mile. The technology is sound. Have you driven a hybrid car? Now consider the fact that with a fixed known path, the weight of the hybrid energy storage system (Supercap/Battery mix) can be moved from inside the vehicle to outside. Now add modern aerospace fuselage technology to reduce the weight and then consider removing power conversions and transmission losses by using High Voltage VDC instead of non green friendly AC, see Joint Strike Fighter and Space Station, then you easily start to close the technology gap. Also by having the “Linear powerplant approach” robotic cleaning of the panels can be achieved. Not a far stretch at all. RW

 

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