My idea to Create the Future of transportation, is to link urban centers and help eliminate traffic and pollution by employing renewable energy and one of the most powerful forces in nature, falling water, to operate a Hyperloop. The idea is to elevate water by pumping it to a high point using solar energy and then using that mass, volume, and pressure of the water as stored energy for propulsion, electrical generation, compression and suction too.

We do this by building tall water towers in two locations and coordinate sending vehicles in opposite directions at the same time.

Water is pumped to the top of the towers and released through hydro electric motors to generate electricity. The water is gathered in essentially a suspended bucket, tightly fitted or skirted to the walls inside the tower. For example, with a capacity of 25,000 gallons of water, it would provide 100 tons of mass that we can use for propulsion. When the volume is reached and it’s time to send the vehicle, the bucket descends down the tower along gears that grab the vehicle and thrust it forward. At the same time, the air below the bucket is compressed, creating a high pressure condition behind the vehicle in a low pressure tube. The change in pressure could effectively help shoot the vehicle down the tube. As the weight forces the bucket in the tower down, it also creates suction above it and helps lower the air pressure in the return tube, helping to draw the vehicle from the other station. The pressure in the tube needs to be about one thousand of the pressure at sea level in order to reduce friction and wind resistance so additional vacuum pumps and motors will likely be required. The high pressure air entering the system can be regulated as a means of control and to fine tune operations and the speed of the vehicle. The length of the tube would be covered with solar cells to help generate electricity and power linear induction motors inside the tube that will help generate lift and propulsion. A giant rechargeable electrical compressor on the vehicle will also help pull it through the tube. With speeds approaching Mach 1 in a Hyperloop, (around 760 mph) long distances won’t take long for travelers or cargo. That means that a trip from Tampa to Orlando could take under 10 minutes.

Even if some additional electricity is needed from the grid on cloudy days, cost per mile should still be extremely low to operate this super-efficient Hyperloop and provide form of transportation that is impervious to the weather. I believe this will be a 21st century solution for transportation that runs much faster, cheaper and more reliably than the best High-speed rail systems.