Go Steam for Green Transportation

Railroads are very fuel-efficient in moving freight by land. The history of rail begins with steam power, moving to eventual dieselization. Some components, advantages and disadvantages of internal combustion engines (gasoline, diesel) and external combustion engines (steam) are explored. Interesting developments with steam turbines and even gas turbine propulsion are recounted in this paper. Improvements to steam using computerization and other techniques are proposed. The use of biocoal as an experimental, environmentally-friendly fuel source in a piston-driven steam locomotive is described. The steam engine is seen to have a large environmental benefit over diesels when these enhancements and the complete system life cycle are taken into account.