Annual Report to the Congress by the Office of Technology Assessment: March 15, 1974 Page: 19
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19
human wastes, newspapers, and garden wastes through an anaerobic bacterial
action to produce sufficient methane gas for heating water and for cooking. The
practicality of installing such units in new houses and retrofitting existing houses
needs to be investigated.
4. Upgrading of Railroad Tracks. -One of the most perplexing problems facing
the nation in any attempt to improve rail passenger service is the need to upgrade
track and roadbed. Even on the best roadbeds in the country, passenger trains
are limited as to speed because of poor track (e.g., Washington to New York, the
170 mph Metroliners cannot travel over 105 mph because of track deterioration).
The Amtrak Improvement Act of 1973 granted the National Railroad Passen-
ger Corporation the power to upgrade tracks. However, if Amtrak spends money
to improve a given segment of track, the railroad which owns that segment
benefits from those improvements and is able to provide better freight service.
Railroads competing with that line suffer what they perceive as a competitive
disadvantage provided through what in effect would be a government subsidy.
What is needed is a system of cost allocation which would divide the costs for
improvements between Amtrak and the railroad whose line is being improved,
based upon such factors as train miles, the degree of wear and tear exerted by
the various types of rolling stock involved, the benefits to be derived by Amtrak
and the railroad, etc. England has been developing a computer model which
attempts to allocate wear and tear on a given section of track between freight
and passenger trains (at British Rail's research and development centre in
Darby, England), but no productive research has been done on this subject in
the United States.
5. Crisis of the Oceans.-It is proposed that OTA undertake the following
ocean-oriented assessments to avoid any more crises similar to the one we are
now experiencing in energy.
The first crisis prevention assessment ought to be on the technology of offshore
oil drilling, production, transportation, and environmental and socio-economic
impact upon the oceans, coastal waters and land portions of the affected coastal
zones, including State-Federal efforts in coastal zone land use management under
the recently enacted National Coastal Zone Management Act (P.L. 92-582). We
should carefully assess the state of the art of existing and expected ocean
engineering and operations technology to assure that it will perform the func-
tions required within acceptable environmental risks.
Secondly, can technology assessment help us avoid a "protein crisis"? It is
alarming that a maritime nation such as ours has a trade deficit in our fisheries
account reaching $1.3 billion annually. Our present fisheries management prac-
tices, our archaic institutional and statutory constraints, on the national as well
as local levels, hinder rational and effective fisheries operations. Fishing industry
technology demands assessment of almost the opposite type to that normally con-
sidered. It is not the exotic and new technology that is of highest concern, but
the relics of past generations still in use that need hard-nosed assessment as to
effectiveness and the nature of delayed impacts.
Third, it is proposed that OTA assist the Committee in avoiding a crisis of in-
decision and inaction with respect to deepwater ports. Although we will need
time to debate the economic, environmental, trade balance and other value-
oriented tradeoffs concerning deepwater ports, it would be possible through ade-
quate technology assessment to provide a clear identification of the nature of the
various tradeoffs and of the respective impacts of this developing technology.
There are other areas needing technology assessment, but perhaps do not de-
mand the immediacy of those mentioned above. These include:
6. Feasibility of Retrofitting Existing Office and Residential Buildings with
Energy Conservation Equipment.--Heating and cooling of buildings requires 22%
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United States. Congress. Office of Technology Assessment. Annual Report to the Congress by the Office of Technology Assessment: March 15, 1974, report, March 1974; [Washington D.C.]. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc39830/m1/23/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.