2012-11-12 – David Levinson, Transportist

NYT reports on this reversal of trends: Report Sees U.S. as Top Oil Producer, Overtaking Saudi Arabia, in 5 Years – :

“The United States will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading oil producer by about 2017 and will become a net oil exporter by 2030, according to a new report released on Monday by the International Energy Agency.”

So combine Peak Travel with not quite-Peak Oil, and we become an oil exporter. (Or in other words, we have reached “Peak Import”. I have low confidence in forecasts like this in general, based on past experience evaluating forecasts, but the trends are interesting.

Some Sandy links:
(1) Subway Recovery:
In general I am really impressed with the speed of the subway recovery. If periodic flooding does not destroy the network, maybe New York does not need to relocate or build really expensive defenses, just take a 1 or 2 week vacation every hurricane.
From WNYC: Subway Network Recovery animation

From NYT: New York Subways Find Magic in Speedy Hurricane Recovery
(2) Gas Rationing:

From NYT: In New York Gas Shortage, Missed Opportunities and Miscalculations

From NYT: Odd-Even License Plate Rules Have a History

We really need to invent/deploy gasoline-powered gas stations and refineries. It seems many stations had gas they could not pump for lack of electricity. Obviously lots of other problems as well, and I am sure there are risks of sparking near lots of gasoline, but this should be a solvable problem.