"The new German Coalition Government may be more willing to invest in infrastructure," suggests Liberal Democrat Councillor for Tring West, Nick Hollinghurst. "If targeted towards rail and transport modernisation this could be a green boost, not only for Germany but also for neighbouring countries."
A local Liberal Democrat Councillor has called for a new way of looking at Basic Public Transport - we should view it as a Public Service, not as a cash cow for private industry.
Out of sight, over the horizon, possibly out of mind as well - but still pumping out pollutants! There's one massive transport network that needs cleaning up, but which we might have forgotten - shipping. There are 110,700 ships of over 100 gross tonnes ploughing through the world's oceans. Although mile for mile and ton for ton ocean shipping is be far the cheapest way to transport goods, a great deal of energy is needed to push them through the water. Though fitted with enormous, relatively efficient, diesel engines, the "bunker fuel" that most large ships use for fuel is basically the unrefinable junk that the petroleum discards - something like the tar that is used on roads. Not only is it black, sticky and unheathily dangerous, but it is rich in pollutants such as sulphur and produces clouds of black poisonous smoke full of dangerous micro-particles.
Result thanks to @BritainElects
Shropshire N Lib Dem HQ ...
Several European energy companies are currently exploring the feasibility of producing hydrogen out at sea. Although not particularly efficient, electroysis of water to produce hydrogen is a useful way to capture wind energy that might otherwise be in surplus. Batteries could of course be used shorterm energy storage and release, but future projections indicate hydrogen could handle greater quantities of energy over greater timescales and could also be an efficient way to transfer it to the mainland - with one hydrogen pipeline handling the same energy transmission as 5 DC interconnector cables.