The hike in the price of oil means that new ways of fuelling transport are no longer fantasy. Today's globalized economy largely rests on nineteenth- and twentieth-century revolutions in transport: humankind's ability to move goods and people around the planet by boat, train, car and plane. The global transportation network allows consumers to buy crisp New Zealand apples in London, fresh seafood in Oklahoma City and Chinese-manufactured goods everywhere. Indeed, transportation is so integral to the global economy that 14% of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions come from that sector alone. And in the developing countries especially, that fraction is growing rapidly. Witness the explosion of private transport, which has always been a symbol of wealth: Beijing gets another 1,000 cars every day. Earlier this year, India's Tata Motors unveiled the world's cheapest car, a $2,500 bubble called the Nano.
展开▼
