Journey Towards Green Vehicles

Watch the movie and Hulk says, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry just before he turns green. Cut to the real world and some of the biggest car manufactures are trying to make Green cars to cash in on the enormous market share to be gained as the world becomes more ECO conscious. Living in the real world you start to realize that Greed not green is a far better motivator of Human Response to adversity, or maybe its just the cynic in me.
Seldom have we stumbled on to a viable solution at the first attempt, there are a number of possibilities which have so far been created and demonstrated within which we will be replacing the traditional petrol/diesel burning car. Just because a car is running on an alternate fuel does not necessary makes it a solution viable enough to replace the fossil fuel.
There are still a number of factors that will determine how efficiently we can manage resources. It is always wise to remember that there are no miracle cures to a century old ECO problems.
Alternate fuels which replaced fossil fuel in our fuel tanks so far are Electricity, Ethanol & Bio diesel, Hydrogen, kinetic energy, air & steam power...

Let's look at how alternate energy has been fighting its way into the tarry market of fossil fuel.


kinetic energy, air & steam power:

Trams before WW2 were being run on air and steam engine. Paris operated trams that were powered by compressed air using the Mekarski system in 1876. These were replaced in 1911 by cheap fossil fuel based electricity which is now taking its toll on people of Paris with cost of producing electricity using Eco enemy fuels.....trams have been running on steam & kinetically powered engines as well in past. India has been working on Air engine and Tata intends to run taxis powered by air.



Image Above: A bouillotte mounted on the front of a tram built by Mékarski and used in early trials in Paris. (Drawing 1875)


Image Right:La Nature of a New York air loco 1882.


Image Below: German electric car, 1904, with the chauffeur on top.

Electricity:

We all know that our vehicles can be driven on electricity but we are not satisfied with the speed, but electricity is one of the greenest most Eco friendly options we have..provided electricity used for charging our plug-in's has been produced with renewable energy. Electric vehicles also seem to be the most commercially viable option at the moment.


Image Right:The Henney Kilowatt, a 1961 production electric car.


Hydrogen:

A hydrogen vehicle is an alternative fuel vehicle that uses hydrogen as its onboard fuel for motive power. The engines of such vehicles convert the chemical energy of hydrogen to mechanical energy either by burning hydrogen through internal combustion , or by reacting hydrogen with oxygen in a fuel cell to run electric motors.
Hydrogen fuel does not occur naturally on Earth and thus is not an energy source, but is an energy carrier. Currently it is most frequently made from methane or other fossil fuels. However, it can be produced from a wide range of sources (such as wind, solar, or nuclear) that are intermittent, too diffuse or too cumbersome to directly propel vehicles. Hydrogen as fuel is not commercially viable..at the moment.


Ethanol & Bio diesel:

No good words for Ethanol and Bio diesel from me.... i hate the idea and find it utterly non sustainable. in fact the impact of producing and using Bio diesel & Ethanol is a hundred times deadlier then fossil fuel. Firstly because it is produced from food..... making farming land and agriculture yet another highly captalistable industry....leading to even more food insecurity & deforestation......and lets not forget there are still fumes involved....

Our commitment with electric vehicles & mass transports like Maglev trains from Germany & Japan can lead us to cleaner, breathable future....