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I don't know why you are being downvoted, because it's true... See page 92 of Da... | Hacker News

news.ycombinator.com · 134 words · saved by 1 readers

See page 92 of David MacKay's wonderful "Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air" [1]. Figure 15.8 compares the energy intensity of different transport methods in kilo Watt hours per net ton kilometer. Shipping and rail are basically 1/10 to 1/20 of roadfreight. His conclusion is "Transporting freight by ship is surprisingly energy efficient". [1] https://www.withouthotair.com/c15/page_92.shtml Anyone with rational concerns about transportation costs for materiel should be advocating to dismantle and depopulate Denver. Moving mass a short distance up by truck costs more than moving it half way around the planet by ship. Inland navigation is similarly negligible, which is why the whole Minnesota-Ohio-Pennsylvania steel complex works so well. reply Ok, done!

The innumerate are numerous. Anyone with rational concerns about transportation costs for materiel should be advocating to dismantle and depopulate Denver. Moving mass a short distance up by truck costs more than moving it half way around the planet by ship. Inland navigation is similarly negligible, which is why the whole Minnesota-Ohio-Pennsylvania steel complex works so well. Because shipping enables us to source products from much more distant locations; this can cancel out a chunk of that per-KM advantage. It might still be true that in many instances shipping is better for the…

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