How's that for non-pollutant?
A former Formula 1 engineer, Guy Négre, has signed a deal with an Indian company (Tatra Motors) to produce an air-driven vehicle.
This car works on compressed air, thus having zero emissions.
A completely non-pollutant vehicle.
Or is it? Its air tank must be filled with an air compressor, either the in-built electric compressor or an industrial compressor.
So although the car by itself is environmentally friendly, charging it means you'll have to use electricity.
Now, you can have a windmill generating the electricity, or a solar panel, that way you won't be using fossil fuels to generate the electricity for the compressor, but then you'll have to spend energy to build the windmill or the photovoltaic cells...
Don't get me wrong, I DO think this car is great and I do think we must try and find environmentally friendly solutions. But the main issue remains in electricity. Most of the processes in our so called civilized world require energy, at some point or another. Nuclear power is dangerous and generates pollution. Fossil fuels aren't going to last forever and you all heard about the problems associated with them.
As for all the other sources of energy... they are not efficient enough to satisfy our needs for energy.
Without wanting to seem pessimistic, but assuming it will take a long time to solve our energy problems, maybe we all should really focus on the other side of the equation and instead try to reduce our need for energy. Walk instead of driving, use public transportation, turn off the lights when you don't need them, unplug all the useless electrical gizmos around the house. Electrical can opener? What for?
Off course this idea can also mean don't spend so much time on the internet, turn off the computer...
In the meanwhile, a big HURRAY!!! for Guy Négre for is contribution!
4 comments:
Every time people talk about machines, electricity and so on, I remember that E M Forster's story, The Machine Stops.
You're right, we should walk more, use less electricity.
Y'know those cycles with 3 wheels...one in front, 2 at the back, a long seat between the two wheels for others to sit? How I want one. I'd let my mother do the cycling, it's good exercise hahahaha...wait when I tell her this...
I'm going to switch off the computer right now, D.
Excellent post.
I've heard that if everyone in the US ate one meal a week that was local (all ingredients grown less than 100 miles away) we'd save a million barrels of oil a year.
Knowing that it will take time before most folks get on board, I've pledged to source 75% of all of my food locally. (75% lets me off the hook for things like spices, coffee, tea, alcohol etc.). I've also sworn off almost all processed foods, since there is both a lot of waste and energy wasted in producing them. Anyway, fresh tastes best.
More people need to join "locavores"
GG: I fear if this "machine" stops there will be no Homeless to carry on... instead of breaking an air ship we're wrecking our planet.
But at the same time I can't forget mankind already survived an ice age, so even if things go really bad, at least some people will surely pull through and rise again. Ok, ok, maybe I'm crazy, but deep down I'm ever the optimist!
Hayden: None of our efforts will be THE solution, but if we all do something the combined effort will certainly help!
Exactly. It's easy to feel overwhelmed and incapable of affecting the outcome, but the truth is change happens when a ga-zillion people each make small differences in the way they live.
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