在過(guò)去的這一周,美國(guó)兩黨參議員為了達(dá)成一項(xiàng)歷史性的、規(guī)模達(dá) 1 萬(wàn)億美元的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施協(xié)議忙得不可開(kāi)交——這項(xiàng)事務(wù)的棘手程度不亞于穿渡冥河。但即使沒(méi)有“擺渡人”的引導(dǎo),民主共和兩黨似乎也基本達(dá)成了一致。
在距離議員們數(shù)千英里之外的內(nèi)華達(dá)州,坐落著維珍超級(jí)高鐵的測(cè)試設(shè)施。維珍集團(tuán)的理查德?布蘭森爵士希望,這項(xiàng)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施協(xié)議中能包括一些對(duì)超級(jí)高鐵的激勵(lì)措施,該公司表示,“超級(jí)高鐵”的速度將是傳統(tǒng)火車(chē)的 10 倍,而且乘坐時(shí)能減少高達(dá)95%的碳排放量。
“超級(jí)高鐵”本質(zhì)上還是一列火車(chē),乘客將坐在最多可容納 28 人的吊艙中,理論上可以通過(guò)低壓管高速運(yùn)行。吊艙以近似飛機(jī)的速度滑翔,同時(shí)利用磁懸浮技術(shù)漂浮在地面上。
“這項(xiàng)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施將對(duì)社會(huì)大有裨益,”布蘭森告訴《財(cái)富》雜志?!八茉诰o急情況下挽救生命,以及加快機(jī)場(chǎng)、城市之間的人員流動(dòng)。它還是環(huán)保的——這種交通方式與該法案的理念最合拍?!?/p>
上個(gè)月,維珍超級(jí)高鐵的首席執(zhí)行官兼聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人喬什?吉格爾(Josh Giegel)在華盛頓參加了眾議院交通和基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施下屬委員會(huì)的聽(tīng)證會(huì)。他說(shuō),這項(xiàng)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施法案和正在華盛頓開(kāi)展的工作將為未來(lái) 100 年里的交通運(yùn)輸格局定下基調(diào)——而要圖繪出這片完整的藍(lán)圖,高鐵和超級(jí)高鐵將成為不可或缺的一部分。
“我們正處于超級(jí)高鐵十年計(jì)劃的起點(diǎn),”他說(shuō)?!笆暧?jì)劃”始于2020年12月,吉格爾和他的同事成為第一批親身體驗(yàn)超級(jí)高鐵的試乘客。試運(yùn)行的時(shí)速僅為107英里,比亞洲和歐洲的一些高鐵還慢。吉格爾表示,這項(xiàng)工作是漸進(jìn)式的,他相信超級(jí)高鐵最終能達(dá)到更快的速度,超過(guò)每小時(shí)700英里?!拔覀兿M奖臼兰o(jì)末,將有數(shù)億人通過(guò)這種方式出行?!?/p>
吉格爾說(shuō),自疫情大流行以來(lái),人們?cè)谶@一年半的時(shí)間里都處于相對(duì)隔離的狀態(tài),但也從中吸取了教訓(xùn),為開(kāi)發(fā)超級(jí)高鐵等交通替代方案增添了動(dòng)力。人們希望能夠建立面對(duì)面、物理上的聯(lián)系,并希望以一種污染更少、也沒(méi)那么擁堵的方式來(lái)實(shí)現(xiàn)。
吉格爾和布蘭森也看到了“超級(jí)高鐵”在貨運(yùn)上的潛力。在大流行期間,布蘭森公司里的很多航線都無(wú)法用作客運(yùn),他便將其中的許多改作貨運(yùn)用途。他希望維珍超級(jí)高鐵能夠以更節(jié)能的方式實(shí)現(xiàn)同樣的用途?!爸恍鑼⒖ㄜ?chē)停在路邊,將貨物放入吊艙,然后直接運(yùn)送到港口,這將是其中很重要的一部分用途。對(duì)現(xiàn)任政府,以及這項(xiàng)兩黨協(xié)議來(lái)說(shuō)——希望它能通過(guò),這樣的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施正是他們需要的,”他說(shuō)。
法國(guó)最近投票禁止了短途國(guó)內(nèi)航班——為的是減少碳排放,這是一項(xiàng)前所未有的舉措。氣候活動(dòng)家在美國(guó)也提出了這個(gè)想法,但迄今為止,這主要還只是??怂剐侣剬<覀兩⒉伎謶值乃夭?。然而,布蘭森和吉格爾覺(jué)得,美國(guó)公眾接受該法案的時(shí)間并沒(méi)有想象中那么遙遠(yuǎn)。
“我們選擇投資新技術(shù),”吉格爾說(shuō)?!暗f技術(shù)并不會(huì)消失。仍然會(huì)有火車(chē),仍然會(huì)有飛機(jī)。我們想要不斷完善它們,并且正在謀求發(fā)展新功能,使之更可持續(xù)并速度更快?!彼f(shuō)。
目前,全球航空業(yè)占碳排放量的2.5%。自 1980 年代中期以來(lái),飛機(jī)的碳排放量翻了一番。
一批新的億萬(wàn)富翁,包括布蘭森、埃隆?馬斯克和杰夫?貝索斯,一直競(jìng)相在地球上乃至太空中進(jìn)行創(chuàng)新,建造新的大型運(yùn)輸和基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施項(xiàng)目。布蘭森說(shuō),眼下是一個(gè)大變革的時(shí)期,但如果沒(méi)有政府的幫助,就很難有持續(xù)性的創(chuàng)新。
“這些項(xiàng)目歷來(lái)都是由政府運(yùn)營(yíng)的,要花費(fèi)數(shù)十億美元才能實(shí)現(xiàn),而且耗時(shí)長(zhǎng)達(dá)二三十年,”他說(shuō)?!拔覀冞@都是些私人公司,拿不出數(shù)十億美元[在無(wú)法保證利潤(rùn)的情況下投資],所以,我們必須在非常緊張的預(yù)算下建設(shè)這些,還要有創(chuàng)新。這確實(shí)很考驗(yàn)?zāi)托??!?/p>
他說(shuō),美國(guó)人還要等上很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間才能看到超級(jí)高鐵成為現(xiàn)實(shí),這會(huì)讓人們很難對(duì)該項(xiàng)目保持興趣并一直給予支持?!八鼈兌际情L(zhǎng)期的項(xiàng)目,”布蘭森說(shuō),“但非常值得等待?!?/p>
上周,參議院多數(shù)黨領(lǐng)袖查克?舒默表示,他希望兩黨對(duì)這項(xiàng)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施法案的投票能在7 月底、8 月休會(huì)之前完成?,F(xiàn)在,至少有 11 名共和黨參議員和 21 名民主黨參議員支持這項(xiàng)1 萬(wàn)億美元的兩黨提案。該提案不會(huì)提高公司稅,但也面臨著一些挑戰(zhàn):拜登政府表示他們尚未看過(guò)該計(jì)劃,一些激進(jìn)派的參議員表示,他們認(rèn)為該提案不足以解決氣候變化和收入不平等問(wèn)題,暗示他們可能不會(huì)簽署通過(guò)。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
編譯:陳聰聰
在過(guò)去的這一周,美國(guó)兩黨參議員為了達(dá)成一項(xiàng)歷史性的、規(guī)模達(dá) 1 萬(wàn)億美元的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施協(xié)議忙得不可開(kāi)交——這項(xiàng)事務(wù)的棘手程度不亞于穿渡冥河。但即使沒(méi)有“擺渡人”的引導(dǎo),民主共和兩黨似乎也基本達(dá)成了一致。
在距離議員們數(shù)千英里之外的內(nèi)華達(dá)州,坐落著維珍超級(jí)高鐵的測(cè)試設(shè)施。維珍集團(tuán)的理查德?布蘭森爵士希望,這項(xiàng)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施協(xié)議中能包括一些對(duì)超級(jí)高鐵的激勵(lì)措施,該公司表示,“超級(jí)高鐵”的速度將是傳統(tǒng)火車(chē)的 10 倍,而且乘坐時(shí)能減少高達(dá)95%的碳排放量。
“超級(jí)高鐵”本質(zhì)上還是一列火車(chē),乘客將坐在最多可容納 28 人的吊艙中,理論上可以通過(guò)低壓管高速運(yùn)行。吊艙以近似飛機(jī)的速度滑翔,同時(shí)利用磁懸浮技術(shù)漂浮在地面上。
“這項(xiàng)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施將對(duì)社會(huì)大有裨益,”布蘭森告訴《財(cái)富》雜志?!八茉诰o急情況下挽救生命,以及加快機(jī)場(chǎng)、城市之間的人員流動(dòng)。它還是環(huán)保的——這種交通方式與該法案的理念最合拍?!?/p>
上個(gè)月,維珍超級(jí)高鐵的首席執(zhí)行官兼聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人喬什?吉格爾(Josh Giegel)在華盛頓參加了眾議院交通和基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施下屬委員會(huì)的聽(tīng)證會(huì)。他說(shuō),這項(xiàng)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施法案和正在華盛頓開(kāi)展的工作將為未來(lái) 100 年里的交通運(yùn)輸格局定下基調(diào)——而要圖繪出這片完整的藍(lán)圖,高鐵和超級(jí)高鐵將成為不可或缺的一部分。
“我們正處于超級(jí)高鐵十年計(jì)劃的起點(diǎn),”他說(shuō)。“十年計(jì)劃”始于2020年12月,吉格爾和他的同事成為第一批親身體驗(yàn)超級(jí)高鐵的試乘客。試運(yùn)行的時(shí)速僅為107英里,比亞洲和歐洲的一些高鐵還慢。吉格爾表示,這項(xiàng)工作是漸進(jìn)式的,他相信超級(jí)高鐵最終能達(dá)到更快的速度,超過(guò)每小時(shí)700英里?!拔覀兿M奖臼兰o(jì)末,將有數(shù)億人通過(guò)這種方式出行?!?/p>
吉格爾說(shuō),自疫情大流行以來(lái),人們?cè)谶@一年半的時(shí)間里都處于相對(duì)隔離的狀態(tài),但也從中吸取了教訓(xùn),為開(kāi)發(fā)超級(jí)高鐵等交通替代方案增添了動(dòng)力。人們希望能夠建立面對(duì)面、物理上的聯(lián)系,并希望以一種污染更少、也沒(méi)那么擁堵的方式來(lái)實(shí)現(xiàn)。
吉格爾和布蘭森也看到了“超級(jí)高鐵”在貨運(yùn)上的潛力。在大流行期間,布蘭森公司里的很多航線都無(wú)法用作客運(yùn),他便將其中的許多改作貨運(yùn)用途。他希望維珍超級(jí)高鐵能夠以更節(jié)能的方式實(shí)現(xiàn)同樣的用途?!爸恍鑼⒖ㄜ?chē)停在路邊,將貨物放入吊艙,然后直接運(yùn)送到港口,這將是其中很重要的一部分用途。對(duì)現(xiàn)任政府,以及這項(xiàng)兩黨協(xié)議來(lái)說(shuō)——希望它能通過(guò),這樣的基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施正是他們需要的,”他說(shuō)。
法國(guó)最近投票禁止了短途國(guó)內(nèi)航班——為的是減少碳排放,這是一項(xiàng)前所未有的舉措。氣候活動(dòng)家在美國(guó)也提出了這個(gè)想法,但迄今為止,這主要還只是福克斯新聞專家們散布恐懼的素材。然而,布蘭森和吉格爾覺(jué)得,美國(guó)公眾接受該法案的時(shí)間并沒(méi)有想象中那么遙遠(yuǎn)。
“我們選擇投資新技術(shù),”吉格爾說(shuō)。“但舊技術(shù)并不會(huì)消失。仍然會(huì)有火車(chē),仍然會(huì)有飛機(jī)。我們想要不斷完善它們,并且正在謀求發(fā)展新功能,使之更可持續(xù)并速度更快?!彼f(shuō)。
目前,全球航空業(yè)占碳排放量的2.5%。自 1980 年代中期以來(lái),飛機(jī)的碳排放量翻了一番。
一批新的億萬(wàn)富翁,包括布蘭森、埃隆?馬斯克和杰夫?貝索斯,一直競(jìng)相在地球上乃至太空中進(jìn)行創(chuàng)新,建造新的大型運(yùn)輸和基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施項(xiàng)目。布蘭森說(shuō),眼下是一個(gè)大變革的時(shí)期,但如果沒(méi)有政府的幫助,就很難有持續(xù)性的創(chuàng)新。
“這些項(xiàng)目歷來(lái)都是由政府運(yùn)營(yíng)的,要花費(fèi)數(shù)十億美元才能實(shí)現(xiàn),而且耗時(shí)長(zhǎng)達(dá)二三十年,”他說(shuō)?!拔覀冞@都是些私人公司,拿不出數(shù)十億美元[在無(wú)法保證利潤(rùn)的情況下投資],所以,我們必須在非常緊張的預(yù)算下建設(shè)這些,還要有創(chuàng)新。這確實(shí)很考驗(yàn)?zāi)托??!?/p>
他說(shuō),美國(guó)人還要等上很長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間才能看到超級(jí)高鐵成為現(xiàn)實(shí),這會(huì)讓人們很難對(duì)該項(xiàng)目保持興趣并一直給予支持?!八鼈兌际情L(zhǎng)期的項(xiàng)目,”布蘭森說(shuō),“但非常值得等待。”
上周,參議院多數(shù)黨領(lǐng)袖查克?舒默表示,他希望兩黨對(duì)這項(xiàng)基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施法案的投票能在7 月底、8 月休會(huì)之前完成?,F(xiàn)在,至少有 11 名共和黨參議員和 21 名民主黨參議員支持這項(xiàng)1 萬(wàn)億美元的兩黨提案。該提案不會(huì)提高公司稅,但也面臨著一些挑戰(zhàn):拜登政府表示他們尚未看過(guò)該計(jì)劃,一些激進(jìn)派的參議員表示,他們認(rèn)為該提案不足以解決氣候變化和收入不平等問(wèn)題,暗示他們可能不會(huì)簽署通過(guò)。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
編譯:陳聰聰
In the past week, U.S. senators have busied themselves by attempting to cross an aisle as treacherous as the River Styx and come to a bipartisan agreement on a historic $1 trillion infrastructure deal. And even without a psychopomp to see them through, it appears that Democrats and Republicans are nearing a deal.
Thousands of miles away at the Virgin Hyperloop testing facilities in Nevada, Sir Richard Branson of the Virgin Group is hoping that the infrastructure deal includes some incentives for the hyperloop, a high-speed transportation project which the company said will move 10 times as fast as traditional rail and could cut passengers’ carbon emissions by as much as 95%.
A hyperloop is essentially a train in which passengers would sit in pods holding up to 28 people and hypothetically speed through a low-pressure tube. The pods glide at speeds similar to those of airplanes while floating above the ground using magnetic levitation.
“The infrastructure benefit is massive,” Branson told Fortune. “It will save lives, it will speed people between airports, between cities. It’s environmentally friendly. There is no form of transport that fits better into the bill.”
Josh Giegel, CEO and cofounder of Virgin Hyperloop, sat in D.C. last month as a participant in a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee hearing. This infrastructure bill and the work being done in Washington, he said, will set the tone for the next 100 years of transportation— and high-speed rail and hyperloops will be an integral part of that equation.
“We’re at the beginning of the decade of the hyperloop,” he said. The decade began with Giegel and his colleagues becoming the first passengers to actually experience a test ride in a hyperloop in December of 2020. They hit only 107 miles per hour in the test run, slower than some high-speed rail in Asia and Europe. Giegel said that the work is incremental and that he believes the hyperloop will eventually be able to achieve much faster speeds of more than 700 miles per hour. “We’re hoping by the end of this decade that we’re going to have hundreds of millions of people riding.”
The pandemic, said Giegel, and lessons learned from a year and a half of relative isolation have also increased the incentive for developing transportation alternatives like the hyperloop. People want to be able to connect with one another physically, and they want to do it in a way that creates less pollution and less congestion.
Giegel and Branson also see opportunities for moving cargo. During the pandemic, when Branson was unable to use his multiple airlines to move people, he converted many of them into cargo carriers. He’s hoping Virgin Hyperloop can do the same, in a more carbon-efficient manner. “Just taking lorries [British for trucks] off the road and putting the product into pods and whisking it straight to ports, that would be a big, big part of it. With the current administration, and hopefully this bipartisan agreement, infrastructure like this is exactly what they’re looking for,” he said.
France recently voted to ban short-haul domestic flights, an unprecedented move meant to reduce carbon emissions. The idea has been floated in the U.S. by climate activists but has so far mostly served as fearmongering fodder for Fox News pundits. Branson and Giegel, however, don’t think the U.S. is as far off from taking action as public reception of the proposal might indicate.
“We’re choosing to invest in new technologies,” said Giegel. “The old technologies aren’t going to go away. There’s still gonna be trains, there’s still going to be planes. We’re looking to complement those. We’re looking to add a new capability that’s sustainable and high speed,” he said.
Global aviation currently accounts for 2.5% of CO? emissions. Emissions from planes have doubled since the mid-1980s.
A new crop of billionaires, including Branson, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos, have been racing to innovate and create new, large transport and infrastructure projects here on Earth and up in space. This is a particularly transformative time, said Branson, but it’s difficult to keep innovating without government help.
“These kinds of projects historically have been run by governments, they’ve cost billions to bring to fruition, and they’ve taken 20 or 30 years,” he said. “These are private companies, and we haven’t got the billions [to invest without a guarantee of profit], so we have to create these things on a very tight budget and be very inventive. It does take patience.”
Americans will have to wait some time for hyperloops to happen, he said, and that makes it difficult to sustain interest in and support for the project. “They’re long-term projects,” said Branson, “but well worth waiting for.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said last week that he hoped there would be a vote on a bipartisan infrastructure bill by July, ahead of the August recess. At least 11 Republican and 21 Democratic senators now support a $1 trillion bipartisan proposal which would not raise corporate taxes. But the agreement faces some challenges: The Biden administration says that it has not seen the plan yet, and some progressive senators have indicated that they don’t think the proposal does enough to address climate change and income inequality, signaling that they may not sign off.