The purpose of this book is to enlighten the public of the tremendous potential of natural gas. America currently has an oversupply of cheap natural gas. And it has huge reserves, enough to take care of this country's energy needs for the rest of this century and more. Only a few other countries have more reserves than are found in the United states. There is a massive drilling campaign underway within the continental U.S. resulting from discovery of new shale oil fields or plays and the development of horizontal drilling techniques and fracturing. This has resulted in the production of more natural gas than the country can currently use. America is in position to be free of dependence on foreign oil, to be free of smog and pollution of air resulting from the exhaust of gasoline and diesel powered vehicles and relief from the high prices of gasoline and diesel at the pump. All the country needs to do is switch to natural gas to power its cars, buses, trucks and trains. But America needs to wake up to the fact of these new-found riches. Switching to natural gas can put millions of people to work, put extra dollars in every motorist's pocket and leave hundreds of billions of dollars in circulation in America instead of being sent overseas. The U.S. is way behind other countries in the number of natural gas vehicles on the road. Sixteen countries have more vehicles powered by natural gas than this country. There are two countries with 20 times as many natural gas vehicles on the road than this country, this despite the U.S. having nearly the most natural gas reserves and the most developed transportation system. Switching to natural gas on a wholesale basis in America is not happening. There are too many people in and out of Congress and too many entities preventing it from happening. This report seeks to answer whether and to what degree there are forces and entities that are maintaining the price of gasoline and diesel at artificially high levels, how fast can conversion to natural gas as a fuel for transportation be accomplished, what are the obstacles that must be overcome, are there people and entities standing in the way and what are the benefits of converting to natural gas as a fuel for transportation.

Several fiery rail accidents in 2013-2015 in the U.S. and Canada carrying crude oil produced from the Bakken region of North Dakota have raised questions at many levels on the safety of transporting this, and other types of crude oil, by rail. Sandia National Laboratories was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy to investigate the material properties of crude oils, and in particular the so-called "tight oils" like Bakken that comprise the majority of crude oil rail shipments in the U.S. at the current time. The book provides a literature survey of public sources of information on crude oil properties that have some bearing on the likelihood or severity of combustion events that may occur around spills associated with rail transport. The book also contains background information including a review of the notional "tight oil" field operating environment, as well a basic description of crude oils and potential combustion events in rail transport.

Policymakers at all levels of government are debating a wide range of options for addressing the nation's faltering economic conditions. One option that is once again receiving attention is accelerated investments in the nation's public infrastructure -- that is, highways, mass transit, airports, water supply and wastewater, and other facilities -- in order to create jobs while also promoting long-term economic growth. This book examines policy issues associated with using infrastructure as a mechanism to benefit economic recovery. Discussed are state-level driver data and the effect of look-back periods on recidivism prevalence; restraint use and minimum drinking age laws; electronic stability control; mobile device use while driving; the impact of fuel price increases on the aviation industry; aviation safety; and the assessment of potential mariner-training needs.

As the U.S. population ages, access to safe and reliable transportation alternatives is critical to helping older adults remain in their homes as long as possible. HHS, DOT, VA, and other federal agencies may provide funds to state and local entities to help older adults access transportation. This book examines the federal programs that provide funding for transportation services for older adults and the extent to which the programs that fund these services are coordinated; and how state and local transportation agencies and aging network organisations in selected states coordinate transportation for older adults and the challenges they face in coordinating or providing these services. The book also addresses the federal programs that provide funding for NEMT services; how federal agencies are coordinating NEMT services; and how NEMT services are coordinated at the state and local levels and the challenges to coordination.

The Modern Silk Route is offering a potential land-bridge between China and Europe through Central Asia and Russia that offers a complement to existing shipping routes, and is attracting growing interest by a selected number of multinational companies. However, the main role of the Silk Route is to support the development and integration of the region. Connectivity to the east and west, over exceptionally long distances, is critical to the development of the Central Asian countries, when trading globally and between themselves. Facilitating trade and transportation across many borders, remains a major challenge more than twenty years since the breakup of the former Soviet Union. The book revisits trade and transport connectivity through the Central Asia countries along the old Silk Route, based on knowledge from project implementation and field research. It takes the modern perspective of supply chain efficiency and logistics performance, which depends not only on infrastructure but also markets and policies. Since the breakup of the Former Soviet Union connectivity of Central Asia is a prominent agenda. The focus has been on physical improvements of specific transport corridors. But logistics performance remains very low, caused by inefficiencies, at national levels, of services and of trade and transport agencies, as well as lack of cross-border integration of trade and transit. The book suggests that the policy focus should not be just on physical trade routes. Rather, it stresses the focus on supply chain reliability, and proposes policy packages and enabling implementation practices, consistent across countries in the region in areas such as transportation, customs and border clearance, trade or transit. It also highlights the complementarity of the current initiatives, including the recent development of the Eurasian Customs Union, or the rising of trade and investment from China.

The increase in domestic supplies of natural gas has raised new interest in expanding its use in the transportation sector. This book considers issues related to wider use of natural gas as a fuel in passenger cars and commercial vehicles. This book is designed to help fleets understand the cost factors associated with fueling infrastructure for compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles. It provides estimated cost ranges for various sizes and types of CNG fueling stations and an overview of factors that contribute to the total cost of an installed station; and describes how the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) used the VICE model to establish guidance for fleets making decisions about using CNG.

AirInsight's 2013 Newsletter Compendium

Policymakers at all levels of government are debating a wide range of options for addressing the nation's faltering economic conditions. One option that is once again receiving attention is accelerated investments in the nation's public infrastructure - that is, highways, mass transit, airports, water supply and wastewater, and other facilities - in order to create jobs while also promoting long-term economic growth. This book examines policy issues associated with using infrastructure as a mechanism to benefit economic recovery. Discussed are federal traffic safety programs; the reasons why fuel-efficient vehicles are not sold domestically; infrastructure banks and debt finance; highway bridge conditions; emergency relief for disaster damaged roads and transit systems; harbor maintenance finance and funding; characteristics of Puerto Rico's Maritime trade and potential side effects of modifying the Jones Act.

Trade growth between the United States and China has increased U.S. interest in how the Chinese transportation system handles exports. The Federal Highway Administration, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and National Cooperative Highway Research Program sponsored a scanning study to identify how China provides intermodal access to its ports and uses investment strategies to foster freight mobility and intermodal connectivity. The scan team learned that China's national, provincial, and metropolitan transportation policy is closely coordinated with the country's economic policy and social harmony goals. The transportation system is expanding rapidly to meet global intermodal freight demands and promote expansion into underdeveloped regions of the country. This book discusses the freight mobility and intermodal connectivity in China as well as provides an overview of U.S.-China commercial relations, including major trade disputes.

Transportation is important. It is about people and how they live their lives, how they get to work, how they get their children to school, how they buy food, clothes, and other necessities, and how families visit one another around the country. It is also about business. Transportation is critical to how the supply chain functions, how raw materials get to factories, how goods get to market, how food gets from farmers to kitchen tables, and how energy products move from areas of production to areas of consumption. An efficient national transportation network allows business to lower transportation costs, which lowers production costs and enhances productivity and profits. It allows American business to be competitive in the global marketplace and for the Nation's economy to prosper and grow. One need only look at the Interstate Highway System to see how that investment in the transportation network has benefited the nation and encouraged tremendous economic growth over the past two generations. This book discusses findings and recommendations made by the Special Panel on 21st century freight transportation, as well as federal freight policies.

This review is biennially produced by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). It describes the environment within which the transport sector is developing and the principal challenges that this environment poses to governments, the transport industry and society at large. The publication also focuses on tracing the significant development of roads, railways, shipping, ports, inland waterways and air transport industries and infrastructure in the region. In addition, it considers the changing delivery mechanisms across all transport sectors and discusses urban transport issues. Finally, the review examines the process of globalization, trade agreements related to transport, regionalism, collocation of production transport facilities, as well as intermodal transport systems.

Federal agencies (excluding the U.S. Postal Service) spend about $3 billion annually to acquire, operate, and maintain about 450,000 civilian and non-tactical military vehicles. Agencies may lease or buy vehicles from GSA, which also issues requirements and guidance on fleet management. In recent years, Congress and the President have raised concerns about the size and cost of federal agencies' fleets. In 2011, the President directed agencies to determine their optimal fleet inventories and set targets for achieving these inventories by 2015 with the goal of a more cost-effective fleet. This book discusses the notion of adopting leading practices and how they could improve management of federal vehicle fleets; overall increase in number of vehicle masts that some agencies decreased their fleets; and strategies needed to address aging delivery fleet.

For some time, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the U.S. transit industry having been working to improve the understanding and practice of transit asset management. There is considerable evidence that this is a critical area of focus. Improving transit asset management is now a national policy. To advance transit asset management, this book provides a transit-specific asset management framework for managing assets individually and as a portfolio of assets that comprise an integrated system. The book provides flexible, yet targeted guidance to advance the practice and implementation of transit asset management. This book also examines the extent to which selected transit agencies follow leading asset management practices to prioritise capital investments, and challenges in using these practices, the extent to which these agencies measure the effects of capital investments, and FTA initiatives to support transit agencies' use of leading practices.

A small federal agency, NMB facilitates labour relations in two key transportation sectors -- railroads and airlines -- through mediation and arbitration of labour disputes and overseeing union elections. Established under the Railway Labor Act, NMB's primary responsibility is to prevent work stoppages in these critical industries. This book discusses the national mediation board's strengthening plan and control to better facilitate rail and air labour relations.

The "Top 25 Airports KPIs of 2011-2012" report provides insights into the state of airports performance measurement today by listing and analyzing the most visited KPIs for this functional area on smartKPIs.com in 2011. In addition to KPI names, it contains a detailed description of each KPI, in the standard smartKPIs.com KPI documentation format, that includes fields such as: definition, purpose, calculation, limitation, overall notes and additional resources. While dominated by KPIs reflecting cost performance and material handling, other popular KPIs come from categories such as transportation, time performance, delivery quality and warehousing. This product is part of the "Top KPIs of 2011-2012" series of reports and a result of the research program conducted by the analysts of smartKPIs.com in the area of integrated performance management and measurement. SmartKPIs.com hosts the largest catalogue of thoroughly documented KPI examples, representing an excellent platform for research and dissemination of insights on KPIs and related topics. The hundreds of thousands of visits to smartKPIs.com and the thousands of KPIs visited, bookmarked and rated by members of this online community in 2011 provided a rich data set, which combined with further analysis from the editorial team, formed the basis of these research reports.

Increasing concerns over the effects of climate change have heightened the importance of accelerating investments in green growth. The International Energy Agency, for example, estimates that to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent by 2050, global investments in the energy sector alone will need to total US$750 billion a year by 2030 and over US$1.6 trillion a year from 2030-2050. Despite global efforts to mobilize required capital flows, the investments still fall far short. Bloomberg New Energy Finance argues that by 2020 investments will be US$150 billion short from the levels required simply to stabilize CO2 emissions. For the East Asia and Pacific region alone, the World Bank study Winds of Change suggests that additional investments of US$80 billion a year over the next two decades are required. Multiple factors affect green investments, often rendering them financially not attractive. Private investment flows, therefore, depend on public sectors interventions and support. As in many countries public sector resources are scarce and spread across many competing commitments, they need to be used judiciously and strategically to leverage sufficient private flows. Many governments, however, still lack a clear comprehensive framework for assessing green investment climate and formulating an efficient mix of measures to accelerate green investments and are unfamiliar with international funding sources that can be tapped. To address this challenge, the World Bank, with support from AusAID, conducts the work on improving the financing opportunities for green infrastructure investments among its client countries. This activity attempts to identify practical ways to value and monetize environmental externalities of investments and improve the promotion and bankability of green projects. This research report, as a key step in this activity, provides a structured compendium of ongoing leading initiatives and activities designed to accelerate private investment flows in green growth. It summarizes current investment challenges of green projects as well as proposed solutions, financing schemes and instruments, and initiatives that have set the stage for promoting green growth. The results of this work are intended to benefit the international community and policymakers who are seeking to deepen their knowledge of green investment environment. In addition, it is hoped that this work will be useful to practitioners, including fund managers and investors, seeking to have a better understanding of current trends, global initiatives, and available funding sources and mechanisms for financing green projects.

Publisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product. The Latest Tools and Techniques for Managing Infrastructure AssetsFully updated throughout, this practical resource provides a proven, cost-effective infrastructureasset management framework that integrates planning, design, construction, maintenance, rehabilitation, and renovation. Public Infrastructure Asset Management,Second Edition, describes the most current methodologies for effectively managing roads, bridges, airports, utility services, water and waste facilities, parks, public buildings, and sports complexes. This comprehensive guide covers information management and decision support systems, including proprietary solutions and new technological developments such ascloud storage. The book discusses total quality management, economics, life-cycle analysis, and maintenance, rehabilitation, and reconstruction programming. Up-to-date examples and real-world case studies illustrate the practical applications of the concepts presented in this thoroughly revised reference. This new edition features: Planning, needs assessment, and performance indicators Database management, data needs, and analysis Inventory, historical, and environmental data In-service monitoring and evaluation data Performance modeling and failure analysis Design for infrastructure service life Construction Maintenance, rehabilitation, and reconstruction strategies, policies, and treatment alternatives Dealing with new or alternate concepts Prioritization, optimization, and work programs Integrated infrastructure asset management systems Visual IMS: an illustrative infrastructure management system and applications Available asset management system and commercial off-the-shelf providers Benefits of implementing an asset management system Sustainability, environmental stewardship, and asset management Future directions for infrastructure asset management

We're all familiar with the TSA by now - from the daunting lines to the X-ray machines to the curious three ounce rule governing liquids. But many question whether this strange assortment of regulations, meant to protect the two million people a day travelling through US airports, actually works. In this riveting expose, former TSA administrator Kip Hawley unveils the agency's ongoing battle to outthink and outmaneuver terrorists, navigating bureaucratic limitations and public disdain to stay one step ahead of catastrophe. Citing foiled terrorist plots and near misses that have never been publicly revealed, Hawley suggests that the fundamental flaw in America's approach to national security is the belief that we can plan for every contingency. Instead, he argues, we must learn to manage reasonable levels of risk so we can focus our near-term energy on stopping truly catastrophic events while, in the long-term, engaging passengers to support a less rigid and more sustainable security strategy. This is a fascinating glimpse inside one of the country's most maligned agencies and the complex business of keeping Americans safe every day.

Greening Growth in Pakistan through Transport Sector Reforms: A Strategic Environmental, Poverty, and Social Assessment identifies reforms that can help Pakistan manage its environmental priorities given transport s impacts on air quality, noise pollution, road safety, hazardous-materials transport, climate change, and urban sprawl. The policy options are contextualized in light of the government of Pakistan s 2011 Framework for Economic Growth and its strategic objectives. This analytical work examines the poverty, social, and environmental aspects associated with reforms that would increase the freight transport sector s productivity to meet the Framework s goals. It focuses on the following areas: Analyzing the policy and institutional adjustments required to address the environmental, social, and poverty aspects of increased transportation efficiency in Pakistan Identifying policy options for the government of Pakistan to better serve the population, to enhance social cohesion, and to foster equitable benefit sharing with low-income or other vulnerable groups Developing a broad participatory process to give a voice to stakeholders who could be affected by enhancements of freight transport productivity Making robust recommendations to strengthen governance and the institutional capacity of agencies to manage the environmental, social, and poverty consequences of freight transportation infrastructure The book also presents information on the economic and institutional analyses undergirding this report and details its methodology. Greening Growth in Pakistan through Transport Sector Reforms is intended for policy makers, civil society, the private sector, and academics who wish to participate in dialogues on Pakistan s trade and transport sectors priorities. It is hoped that this report will stimulate debate that steers these sectors and their participants in the direction of greening economic growth."