Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
electric and compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles. The Government of India has already
introduced a programme of 5 per cent ethanol in petrol (in 2003). There may be difficulties
in implementing this level of biofuel use in terms of land take and infrastructure requirements,
and there are ongoing concerns over lifecycle costs. Second- and third-generation biofuels
may provide more opportunities in future years, and Jatropha, in particular, has potential for
biodiesel production in India (Hickman et al., 2008). There is some precedence in changing
fuel types in relatively short timescales, for example the Supreme Court of India ruling which
led to buses and taxis to be run on CNG in 1998.
In future years the intelligent car or automated personal transit may become central to
movement in the city, with near zero emissions as they would be powered by (clean) electricity,
but there are other technological developments which aid safety issues or the comfort of driving.
These types of technologies may be developed in India and China, where the car markets are
in their infancy, the domestic motor manufacturers are looking for new 'niches' in the market,
and they are also free to experiment in their production processes. Human qualities are already
being appropriated into the car, as computers increasingly have 'memory', 'language' and
'intelligence'. At the same time, people are embracing the car as 'the living machine', developing
'networks' and 'interfacing' with others (Thrift, 2004). New hybrid forms may develop, where
the use and governance of the car (and much of the discretion involved in driving) is taken
out of the hands of the driver, so that the level of usage is raised. Cars can be driven at
optimum speeds and 'stacked' to improve throughput or reduce emissions, and safety enhanced
Figure 5.32
Two children playing in the River Yamuna flowing beside the Taj Mahal, Agra, India. What
would they want policy makers to do on transport and climate change?
Source
: Omniphoto/ UIG/The Bridgeman Art Library.
