Electric Cars the future answer to the spiralling gas prices

Move over, Tata Nano; Tara's electric Tiny is now the world's cheapest car. With its battery power, the Tiny will have a top speed of 70 km per hour (43 mph) and a range of 100 km (62 miles). The operating costs is 60 paise for every km, about one-fifth to one-tenth the cost of using gas. The Tiny is expected in the next three to five months along with three other electric cars tentatively branded: Tara Titu, Tara Micro and Tara Mini.

Tara International is working with China's Aucma, and has already ordered a 14-seat electric bus that will ship this May. Tara may even release an electric two-wheeler. It's not clear if Tara plans to release the Tiny overseas, but what is clear is that the Nano won't be the only car selling for about 1 lakh this year. Nano has shifted from Singur to Gujarat. The roll out schedule delayed obviously.
Tata Nano; Tara's electric Tiny

Nissan's electric car, the Nuvu, on display at the Paris Auto Show: Remy de la Mauviniere/ APIf Barack Obama and John McCain are as serious as they say they are about ending US dependence on foreign oil, they might want to dispatch a trusted aide or two to the Paris Auto Show, a biennial global industry extravaganza that opened last week.
Electric Cars at the Paris Auto Show

The girl who silenced the world at the United Nations

Economics of Barrel of Oil

What is Barrel of Oil
Now hovering at $140
One barrel of oil is the same as:
159 litres (8 buckets of water)
The weight of a barrel depends on where the oil comes from However, there are about 8 barrels in a tonne.
1 Gal(US Liq)= 3.78541 L

Present cost $144
1 L Petrol in Chennai (India)= Rs55.00
1 Gallon in US= $4
1 L gasoline in US= 160/3.785= Rs42.20

Projected Cost at $200 a barrel
1 gallon in US= $6
1 L in India= Rs80.00

The standard barrel of crude oil or other petroleum product (abbreviated bbl) is 42 US gallons (34.972 Imperial gallons or 158.987 L). This measurement originated in the early Pennsylvania oil fields, and permitted both British and American merchants to refer to the same unit, based on the old English wine measure, the tierce.

Earlier, another size of whiskey barrel was the most common size; this was the 40 US gallons (33.3 imp gal/151.4 L) barrel for proof spirits, which was of the same volume as 5 US bushels. However, by 1866 the oil barrel was standardized at 42 US gallons.

Oil is not actually shipped in barrels since the introduction of oil tankers, but the 42-US-gallon size is still used as a unit for measurement, pricing, and in tax and regulatory codes. Each barrel is refined into about 25 gallons of gasoline, the rest becoming other products such as jet fuel and heating oil, using fractional distillation.

Oil passes $144 to set yet another record
World Bank warns G-8 group: World is entering "danger zone"

Fossil Fuel: "Are We 'Running Out'? Look at Chennai City!

Chennai Petrol Bunks run dry for the third day
Oil will not just "run out" because all oil production follows a bell curve. This is true whether we're talking about an individual field, a country, or on the planet as a whole.

Oil is increasingly plentiful on the upslope of the bell curve, increasingly scarce and expensive on the down slope. The peak of the curve coincides with the point at which the endowment of oil has been 50 percent depleted. Once the peak is passed, oil production begins to go down while cost begins to go up.

In practical and considerably oversimplified terms, this means that if 2005 was the year of global Peak Oil, worldwide oil production in the year 2030 will be the same as it was in 1980. However, the world’s population in 2030 will be both much larger (approximately twice) and much more industrialized (oil-dependent) than it was in 1980. Consequently, worldwide demand for oil will outpace worldwide production of oil by a significant margin. As a result, the price will skyrocket, oil dependant economies will crumble, and resource wars will explode.

The issue is not one of "running out" so much as it is not having enough to keep our economy running. In this regard, the ramifications of Peak Oil for our civilization are similar to the ramifications of dehydration for the human body. The human body is 70 percent water. The body of a 80 Kg man thus holds 50Kg of water. Because water is so crucial to everything the human body does, the man doesn't need to lose all 50 Kg of water weight before collapsing due to dehydration. A loss of as little as 4 to 5 Kg of water may be enough to kill him.

In a similar sense, an oil based economy such as ours doesn't need to deplete its entire reserve of oil before it begins to collapse. A shortfall between demand and supply as little as 10 to 15 percent is enough to wholly shatter an oil-dependent economy and reduce its citizenry to poverty.

Chennai city is the embryonic sample of the future Metropolis and the picture it is likely to paint. The Politicians however mighty they claim have little control over fossil fuel pricing, demand and supply. The truth is the bitter pill. The Rural India is a safer bet to survive. Please click on the link below to learn about future of fossil fuel availability and the reality.
Fossil Fuels Can it Last
No fuel in Chennai!

Brave IAS on Horses

Just saw NDTV Hindi news at 2000 hrs our time [9.30 behind IST]. They showed a DGP [of UP?] going to office on horseback rather than in a car. Idea was to save precious petrol.

Police still rides horses. ICS used to ride horse and so did IAS but only till early fifties. That is the time when this brave ruling class gave up riding [they will not publicly admit but they are scared of the 'four legged friends'].

Maybe it is time for them to restart horse riding!

Cdr KK Punchhi (Retd) Indian Navy is 7 JSW Course, settled in Canada.
Sunday, May 18, 2008 6:06 AM

Fossil Fuels Finite Resources

Finite resource
The fossil fuels are likely to be completely depleted in 50 years at current consumption rates. This cheap energy which we obtain from the sub surface planet earth had taken millions of years to form but mankind is likely to exhaust this vital resource in a span of 150 (1900- 2050) years. The Middle East which has the world's largest reserves is depleting its resources. When these countries oil wells run dry they will revert back to biblical times! The cost of petroleum products have increased twofold in the last four years. India is gripped with acute shortage of electrical power and the situation is likely to worsen. Cleantech/ Greentech are the only logical saviours of the future mankind. One of the primary reasons for inflation and rising cost of products and services is mainly due to increasing cost of fossil fuels. Whatever hikes one gets from Pay Commission it cannot match/ catch up with the galloping costs of energy. The rising cost will materially affect the purchasing power of everyone and more adversely those whose incomes are well below the poverty line.

Cleantech
The concept of "clean" technologies embraces a diverse range of products, services, and processes that are inherently designed to provide superior performance at lower costs, greatly reduce or eliminate environmental impacts and, in doing so, improve the quality of life. Clean technologies span many industries, from alternative forms of energy generation to water purification to materials- efficient production techniques. The term "clean technology" describes technologies developed by biological, computational, and physical scientists and engineers that enable more valuable use of natural resources and greatly reduce ecological impact, although this may be only one of a technology's benefits. The impact of clean technologies in areas of agriculture, energy, manufacturing, transportation and water will have profound effect the world over in the coming years.

ESM Policy
Advocate, prescribe and practise clean/ green technologies. One of the immediate measures that come to our mind is use of energy efficient bulbs in our homes. The additional cost of bulbs alone will pay for itself by savings in electrical power within a year. There are ever so many methods, all that one has to do is to "google" and get a list of things you can do to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
Clean Energy Technologies