Innovators
Introduction
The mobility in the Netherlands will change over 10 years time. The driving forces behind the change in mobility are factors like available fuel resources, speed, technology. The technology makes it possible to create a environment where traveling is less needed. There will always be jobs where people have to travel. That why a lot of companies are very innovative and thinking in how to do their business even better with the best mobility solutions. The mobility can be divided into three types:
- Transportation of goods
- Work
- Entertainment
With the oil supply lasting for another 50 years, companies have to look for a change in the use of fossil energy sources. Nowadays people become more and more aware of the importance of the environment. This change has a large impact on the mobility of people, in this scenario we will focus on the change of mobility in the Netherlands. Not only the type of transportation will change also the change of mind and new technologies will have his impact on mobility. In the next 10 years energy and environment aware living will get an important piece of our lives.
Road network expansion
The road network through the Netherlands is expanding and will become even bigger in the future. The speed of getting to your destination is getting faster every day. The road network will become more specialized and will use the technology in its advantage. It will be connected to a large highway computer system which can manage the traffic.
Traffic jams
Traffic jams will decrease by the use of technology. The technology driven cars will be under control by the highway system, which manages the speed the car drive at the given moment. So there will also be an decrease in traffic violations.
Cars
The future of the car industry is changing. Every car producer is innovating and trying to make the engine cleaner. The lack of oil is getting bigger and the need for alternative energy sources is becoming more important. In time the human factor of driving do your destination will be replaced completely by a computerized system. A technology driven car will connect to the highway system and will drive to its destination on its own. Because of the introduction of such a system the speed of the traffic will also increase and becomes a faster way of transportation.
Environmental issues
The world is facing climate changes and which are also affecting the Netherlands. The seasons are shifting throughout the year, the car manufacturers will have to develop new cars which are fit for all the weather conditions.
Public transportation
The availability of public transportation will become even bigger as the technology takes it to the next level. When fuel prices are going up or drying up it becomes necessary to use the public transportation network. People will have a comfortable, cheaper and faster way of traveling.
Train, Subway, Trams
Trains, subways and trams will become faster and will use magnets instead of electricity. This will save a lot fossil fuels and electricity which helps to create a cleaner environment.
Air traffic
Air traffic will become cheaper en will be used more often. Also for the small distances its easier and faster than any other transportation. Personalized flights will be something what the future could offer. The freedom of planning you own flight schedule.
Freedom of choice
The needs of people are changing, people want to travel less or want to get faster at their destination. The ways of transportation is being expanded very day. The freedom of choice of how to travel to your destination is very important. The availability of the new technology for everyone will take some years to finally be implemented.
Change towards new fuel technologies
The change towards new sources of energy is not a 1 day change, governmental, infrastructural changes have to be made in order to implement new technologies. The Netherlands is a relative small country with a high density especially in the "Randstad". Because a lot of people are living in and next to the Randstad it makes it ideal to change the infrastructure to change it towards the adoption of the new technology. The exhaustion of the fossil fuels is not a new problem, in the past years research is done to power vehicles on another way then gasoline or diesel. The following paragraphs show the technologies that are environment friendly, there is not one final solution they can be used in combination or for specific use.
Electronically Powered Engines
With the upcoming technologies in hybrid models, (small) cars change towards single powered electro engines. These single engined cars are perfect for small trips downtown. These cars are powered via an electronic motor powered via NiMH batteries (but also hydrogen cells could be used) This type of energy source could be effective in crowed cities for small downtown trips. With powerful techniques this could lead into a powerful vehicle. This type of energy has also an advantage on the air quality in crowded cities, the amount of smog during the summer will be radically decreased. At the time of writing Amsterdam prohibited the use of cars older than 10 years in the city center, when the electronic car is accepted into the daily life, cities like Amsterdam could be forced or force to use the electronic engine powered car. The disadvantage of these electronically powered cars is the action radius, batteries can't provide long distance endurance. But with the usage in small cars this technology is ideal for small downtown trips. When people are traveling in the city, they can use public transportation but a lot of these people like to use private transportation. Electronic cars can be used for small trips around the city, with new battery technologies this results into a very flexible vehicle. In order to implement the usage of the car into the daily life, cities have to supply their parking lots with connections to charge the cars, so when it is parked it will be recharged. Figure 1 shows a plot of electric vehicle counts data (red) with annual percentage increases (blue) since 1992.
Hydrogen Powered Engines
With the use of hydrogen a fuel for cars and freighters H2 will be converted in the process into water H2O resulting in one of the most environment friendly types of fuel,the output is just water. Nevertheless these technologies have to be researched in order to implement this technology. With the usage of H2 as fuel for cars and busses, stations have to be build in order to tank hydrogen. Hydrogen can be used in two ways, in the form of fuel cells and directly into the motor. In a fuel cell hydrogen and oxygen is converted into ions (charged particles), to be exact H + and OH-ions. These ions come through electrodes closer together where the + and - ions react with one another while electricity is produced. The OH- and H+ ions then form together as a H2O molecule. The only emissions from the fuel cell is water vapor and therefore no harmful gases like carbon dioxide. The electricity can power electric motors from for instance an electric car. (See Figure 2)
Hydrogen can also be used in a similar way such as LPG. Hydrogen is injected into the car's cylinder. On the basis of the energy generated by the reaction, the motor is driven. In order to successfully implement the hydrogen technique science has to deal with the storage of hydrogen. Also the hydrogen must be accepted by the public. The H2 molecules require a large tank to store enough hydrogen. There are techniques that make it possible to store the molecules under high pressure in solid metal. Another problem is the infrastructure, the current infrastructure the fuel station across the Netherlands are build to supply cars with gasoline, with the space problem in the car the problem is 10 times bigger at the station. The fact is that new stations have to be build to supply the changing demand of fuel.
Biofuel Powered Engines
Biofuel is an liquid or gaseous fuel obtained from biological materials, and is different from fossil fuels which derive from long dead biological material. Biological fuel is obtain from various plants and biological materials. There are two common strategies of producing liquid and gaseous agrofuels. One is to grow crops high in sugar (sugar cane, sugarbeet, and sweet sorghum) or starch (corn/maize), and then use yeast fermentation to produce ethyl alcohol (ethanol). The second is to grow plants that contain high amounts of vegetable oil, such as oil palm, soybean, algae, jatropha, or pongamia pinnata. When these oils are heated, their viscosity is reduced, and they can be burned directly in a diesel engine, or they can be chemically processed to produce fuels such as biodiesel.
Acceptation of new fuel technologies
As said before the change towards an new fuel technology is not a day to day change. People have to prepare themselves on new types of refueling and cars have to be altered of replaced to work on the new technology. As in most projects according change, people are more inclined towards the safe world they now. So this change has to be carried out in phases. In order to roll-out these new technologies an complete new infrastructure of stations and recharge points has to be build in order to ensure a well supply of hydrogen or biofuel. These two technologies have both their pros and cons towards the environment and society, the most applicable type of fuel is the hydrogen powered engine because several reasons. The use of biofuel requires biological material. Waste or not, it has to be produced, and with the growth of the world population this results into a food problem because of the change towards production for fuel, because of the high demand. With new technologies on the storage and production of the hydrogen. Cars could run cleaner to support the environment which makes it ideal on the long run. But in order to supply the Netherlands with hydrogen, a network of stations has to be build, because of the changed requirements of the stations the gasoline based stations can be phased out to overcome the gasoline to hydrogen period. The government can speed up this transformation by giving away bonuses onto new hydrogen cars. Not only hydrogen fuel will become interesting but also the use of electronic engines for city use, these cars can be easily accepted into the daily life because when a city supplies the citizens with connection points. It has also some practical advantages, with the car charged everywhere there is no need to refuel during the trip.
Conclusion
The mobility in the Netherlands will follow the latest technological features in the market. It will take years to fully implement a technological road network through the Netherlands. With lacking fossil fuels alternatives have to be found to ensure the transportation and mobility and people. With the use of new technologies like electronic engines and hydrogen, a cleaner type of transportation is realized which doesn't effect the environment like fossil fuels. Biofuels are effective on the short term but are no solution on the long run, pollution stays the same because of the exhaust gasses and result into the overproduction of for example corn and maize. Which creates a shortage in the production of food. So the biofuels could be used to support the demand on fossil fuels with a lacking oil supply, but on the long term a change towards clean, climate neutral technologies like hydrogen which don't exhaust other sources like food or land will become inextricable.