As fuel source efficiencies improved, so too did transportation and information advances. Before fossil fuel advancements, the main way to carry products was by horse drawn carriage or barge. With steam engines and steam turbines, trains became the best way to transport products over land as the train’s engine could produce more power to haul more goods. Also, the railroad tracks combined with the new engines allowed for faster transport, times. Then with time the train engines saw many improvements like the electric trains of today that carry mostly people in urban areas at high speeds of around 200 kilometers an hour. Other forms of transportation also saw advancements. Boats had steam engines and turbines placed on them allowing for much faster travel over water, like a six day trip across the Atlantic. Cars with the gas combustion engine allowed for easier, faster, and efficient personal travel. Gas engines, though produced much air pollution, but the cost of maintaining a car created a greater work force and more economic development. Then airplanes appeared and advanced to intercontinental travel in rapid trips. Plus, pipelines to move oil from wells to refineries allowed more gas engines to be used across the globe as more oil was brought to the refineries. Along with faster transportation, information could travel faster with telephones, cell phones, with the invention of the microchip, computers became efficient at immediate information sharing and the internet was developed. With greater rates of travel and information sharing, businesses could transport more goods to necessary locations quicker, creating a more efficient economy.

Answers:
Better transport allowed for more efficient economy by allowing greater amount of products to be carried over greater distances at faster rates. By using more advanced methods of transportation, businesses could move their resources anywhere for cheap prices rapidly, creating greater profit margins.
More efficient information communication could reduce fuel use by allowing people to send important information over distances by the internet or phone and not need to run an engine to carry themselves to the other person. Plus, if orders are sent by internet, then they could be gathered by nearby areas, if possible, rather than sending the product from a different location and using energy fuels.

Questions:
1-As new transportation advancements were made, what made gas combustion engines in cars so good that the steady progress of improvements was brought to a halt?
2-If pipelines were so good at transporting oil over a large distance, why have people not looked at tube transport for other things like people? (inspired by cartoon versions of the future and reading)
3-What is the environmental impact of the modern bullet trains and what is the possibility of spreading their use outside of urban regions? Would it be cost effective?