Trains will soon run entirely on wind energy

folarin okunola

February 7, 2017 2:18 PM

NS, the Dutch rail operator, is setting up the Dutch rail system for a future of renewable energy-powered trains with trains that run on 100 percent wind energy.

Trains in The Netherlands are going to run on 100 percent wind energy.

Almost every other day, across the world, there is a new technological advancement breaking barriers and laying the groundwork for an interesting future.

NS, the Dutch rail operator, is setting up the Dutch rail system for a future of renewable energy-powered trains with trains that run on 100 percent wind energy.

According to a report by The Guardian, NS and energy supplier, Eneco already achieved the global milestone on January 1, 2017 - a full year before the originally proposed goal of 2018.

NS currently runs about 5500 trips per day and a single windmill can power a train travelling 193 kilometers. Both Eneco and NS say this enables 600,000 travellers get around each day without generating any emissions.

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Both companies started the project in 2015 and ran 75 percent of NS' trains on just wind power in 2016.

The Netherlands isn't the only country to try to combat the effect of its transit systems. Germany also has plans to launch a hydrogen-powered passenger train sometime this year.

The idea has also been posited in the US with cities like California planning to run its future high-speed railway on renewable energy though that $64 billion project has encountered several hiccups since it was approved in 2012.

A lot of African startups focused on renewable energy solutions have received a lot of funding since 2015 but Africa is yet to achieve the renewable energy renaissance happening across other parts of the globe.

Will 2017 be the year?

folarin okunola