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I appreciate that the subject of ecology is a vast subject with a multitude of opinions and therefore offer these views as a contribution to the discussion pool.
I feel that biodiversity and sustainability are the key terms that must be used carefully in any design situation and be used in a global context whilst also sonsidering the microfauna and flora effects. Interestingly, the most commonly-cited pond problem of algae bloom, provides a possible solution to biofuel production as its net yield per acre (of water) is said to be possibly 100 times greater than any land crop and therefore would not necessarily compete with existing agriculture systems, although I am not saying that ponds are of economical size for biofuel production, of course!.
Carbon footprint of vehicles - one of our vehicles is an aging 4x4 Mitsubishi but still achieves 36mpg fully loaded, and when we use biodiesel the 'footprint' falls still further achieving a most ecologically sound transport system for us and miniexcavators. We also choose the smallest possible machines and the minimum movement to achieve the same ends. We use innovative techniques, technology and procedures to minimise disturbance, labour and energy to achieve biodiversity and low-maintenance sustainability.
When considering the carbon footprint of any action or product then labour must also be accounted for. Take transport for example, when calculating the economics of trains all of the labour and energy must be accounted for - including the transport to and from the stations and the disturbance time at each crossing! Such high labour cost is only justifiable in the case of high volumes and/or great distances with few crossings, where the energy saving of running on steel tracks far outweighs the enormous energy losses in accelerating many tonnes at each station. Perhaps flywheel energy could have been used to store the braking energy losses and used just for reacceleration periods. No wonder every taxpayer is subsidising all those city companies personnel transport costs to the tune of 50% on each fare i.e. the cost is actually double that that is paid as the fare !
In cars, if we could accept the acceleration of a Morris Minor as a norm then I am sure that we could now be driving cars of 100mpg as standard with huge carbon savings and still cruise at 70mph!. Anyway, the research will no doubt now be targeted to achieve good acceleration with this level of fuel consumption and the economics of pedestrian train travel will recede still further !! Perhaps drive on/off trains could be considered for long inland journeys instead of just a short tunnel journey (!). . . . . . . .now a distinct possibility with Gordon Murray's T25 eco three seater being short enough to fit sideways into a parking space and hence could fit sideways onto a carriage and still leave room for a walkway! ps a recent actual roadtest of it achieved 96mpg - petrol version. (forecast price £6000!). Now, why doesn't the government relaunch the British car industry by backing this brilliant engineer of F1 fame with his ground-breaking production methods instead of subsidising the international electric car manufacturers with purchase price cash !! It could also near-triple the car capacity of the existing road structure and parking areas in cities without structural change!
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