Here’s the story. I’m starting a newsletter, and I want you to sign up for it. Some of you may know that a lot has changed for me over the last year. I left my role as Director of Transportation Policy at Uber and took up a fellowship at Harvard, using the time to ask one question:
Interesting situation you're trying to address. I'm afraid that the timelines you've given are wildly optimistic. If you've been watching the state of the Arctic Ice, you'll see that crucial tipping points will be crossed by/before 2030. Many intelligent people _know_ what needs to be changed. The deeper problem is how to mechanize the changes that are needed? What if you look at the situation as not de-carbonizing transportation, but de-transportationing an economy. Part of the message/lesson of COVID-19 is that transportation and travel are mostly un-necessary for live in the 21st century. Goods can be brought to people far cheaper than people can go pick them up. The tricky bit is setting up all the incentives to drive towards this state. f you can eliminate the vast majority of travel, there is no transportation to de-carbonize.
Hi Andrew, in this brief pandemic cycle I have realize that the maybe one of the most effective/basic options to decarbonize our transportation system in third world countries is to reorganize and optimize the chain of distribution of our basic (and not so basic) daily needs.
As we all know COVID-19 has established high personal mobility restrictions which pushed that most of the middle / high class families got used to on demand every day “fresh” goods.
Even most of the costumers try to achieve a free shipping purchase price the reality is that the “shipping of internet of things” is fulling our roads of semi-empty trucks.
With today technology is easy to:
- Set one daily week of delivery of one company to fulfill their company truck.
- Link different companies locate in 15-30 block radius to full one daily delivery truck and share shipping cost.
-Establish shipping free for just one daily week delivery
As most of human’s problems, good communication is the answer.
Not to brag but I have THE solution for a LARGE chunk of the transportation pie. Sounds like a ridiculous statement but you'll just have to take my word for it or don't. My research, critical thinking and idea generation skills are strong but my execution is sub par which is why I've done nothing with it other than validate the concept as best I can. If anyone has a background in engineering/coding/entrepreneurship and is interested please get in touch, bring a checkbook but don't worry the EU will pay you back my fee in sustainability grants!
Happy to see this conversation. In the US, given our use of personal vehicles, I would expect a focus on electrification as well as on funding transit to support decarbonization. Both are represented in Biden's climate plan. Long ways to go though to the election and beyond!
Excited to see how the newsletter develops! I'm unable to see the Lyft FT link, but this move seems more like a cost cutting maneuver than anything. They were spending a ton on carbon credits, but will no longer do so. Instead, they effectively push out / delay decarb efforts more in line with other regulatory guidelines (e.g., CA's mandating EVs for ridehails) and tech adoption (by 2030, EVs are expected to be cheaper than ICE). TLDR, seems like a step back from Lyft, using a big flashy headline to cover it up.
Nicely written. As someone who served at the tip of the “VW electrification” spear here in the USA, I agree. The challenge is “policy radicalism” and frankly inefficient COTS development in connecting device to node. Until real time transference, ala piezoelectric design or similar occurs, infrastructure rebuild to accommodate, we’re simply kicking the proverbial oil can down the same outdated road and in turn frid.
Interesting situation you're trying to address. I'm afraid that the timelines you've given are wildly optimistic. If you've been watching the state of the Arctic Ice, you'll see that crucial tipping points will be crossed by/before 2030. Many intelligent people _know_ what needs to be changed. The deeper problem is how to mechanize the changes that are needed? What if you look at the situation as not de-carbonizing transportation, but de-transportationing an economy. Part of the message/lesson of COVID-19 is that transportation and travel are mostly un-necessary for live in the 21st century. Goods can be brought to people far cheaper than people can go pick them up. The tricky bit is setting up all the incentives to drive towards this state. f you can eliminate the vast majority of travel, there is no transportation to de-carbonize.
Hi Andrew, in this brief pandemic cycle I have realize that the maybe one of the most effective/basic options to decarbonize our transportation system in third world countries is to reorganize and optimize the chain of distribution of our basic (and not so basic) daily needs.
As we all know COVID-19 has established high personal mobility restrictions which pushed that most of the middle / high class families got used to on demand every day “fresh” goods.
Even most of the costumers try to achieve a free shipping purchase price the reality is that the “shipping of internet of things” is fulling our roads of semi-empty trucks.
With today technology is easy to:
- Set one daily week of delivery of one company to fulfill their company truck.
- Link different companies locate in 15-30 block radius to full one daily delivery truck and share shipping cost.
-Establish shipping free for just one daily week delivery
As most of human’s problems, good communication is the answer.
Not to brag but I have THE solution for a LARGE chunk of the transportation pie. Sounds like a ridiculous statement but you'll just have to take my word for it or don't. My research, critical thinking and idea generation skills are strong but my execution is sub par which is why I've done nothing with it other than validate the concept as best I can. If anyone has a background in engineering/coding/entrepreneurship and is interested please get in touch, bring a checkbook but don't worry the EU will pay you back my fee in sustainability grants!
Happy to see this conversation. In the US, given our use of personal vehicles, I would expect a focus on electrification as well as on funding transit to support decarbonization. Both are represented in Biden's climate plan. Long ways to go though to the election and beyond!
Here for this Salz. Pumped to see where I can help.
Excited to see how the newsletter develops! I'm unable to see the Lyft FT link, but this move seems more like a cost cutting maneuver than anything. They were spending a ton on carbon credits, but will no longer do so. Instead, they effectively push out / delay decarb efforts more in line with other regulatory guidelines (e.g., CA's mandating EVs for ridehails) and tech adoption (by 2030, EVs are expected to be cheaper than ICE). TLDR, seems like a step back from Lyft, using a big flashy headline to cover it up.
Nicely written. As someone who served at the tip of the “VW electrification” spear here in the USA, I agree. The challenge is “policy radicalism” and frankly inefficient COTS development in connecting device to node. Until real time transference, ala piezoelectric design or similar occurs, infrastructure rebuild to accommodate, we’re simply kicking the proverbial oil can down the same outdated road and in turn frid.