[Keith_McClary]

Foodtubes Proposes Underground ‘Physical Internet’

The Foodtubes group wants to put goods in metal capsules 2m long, which are shifted through underground polyethylene tubes at speeds of up to 60 miles per hour, directed by linear induction motors and routed by intelligent software to their destinations.
...
The proposal uses lightweight capsules, which are roughly the same size as the cages that are carried by supermarket lorries

How big are these "cages" ? Can we ride in them?

[Sixstrings]

The energy savings over road distribution would be huge, since around 92 percent of the diesel burnt by a lorry is used to transport the vehicle itself, which spends much of its time driving around almost empty.

Interesting idea for a dense urban environment.. but ultimately cost prohibitive I think. Sure, trucks just waste 92 percent of their gas.. BUT trucks save money on infrastructure; a nationwide network of fricken tubes would be a lot more expensive than roads.

[TheAntiDoomer]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news ... dtubes.ars

Much of the world's food supply is transported via an inefficient, polluting, and dangerous system of highways and trucks. The overwhelming share of the fuel used to move food powers cumbersome vehicles, only eight percent is really needed to transport the cargoes themselves to supermarkets, according to one estimate.

So what's the alternative? Move the whole system underground and set up a "transport industry Internet," says the United Kingdom based Foodtubes Project, a consortium of academics, project planners, and engineers. Siphon veggies, corn flakes, and cans of baked beans about in high-speed capsules (one by two meters) traveling through dedicated pipelines lodged below our cities. And why not? That's the way we transport water, oil, gas, and sewage, isn't it?

[Cog]

Ever do a cost analysis or the engineering work to see what is involved in placing a buried tube underground amidst all the other buried tubes that are already there.

I didn't think so.

[Keith_McClary]

Ever do a cost analysis or the engineering work to see what is involved in placing a buried tube underground amidst all the other buried tubes that are already there.

I didn't think so.

Lets keep it in mind for our next planet, after this one's used up.

(BTW, We already had this exact discussion

[efarmer]

Oh boy, Spam on demand. A few taps on your iPhone screen, a little smack on your paypal account,
and the next thing you know, 3 cans of Spam shoot up out of the tube for you. If the English get this going I hope they use it for curry and Thai, and not send all of that bland stuff they eat around on such a fancy delivery system. Now if you want my opinion, if you send Oreos, or Goldfish, or Cheetos you should request the efarmer safety option when you order. This is where the crumbly goods are packed inside a layer of spongy Twinkies that will absorb any shocks during transit, plus when the goods arrive,
you can eat the packing material as well.