January 5, 2008
Elaine Meinel Supkis
Nice news today! India is going to mass-produce cars that run on compressed air. This costs much, much less than gasoline and since many countries tax gasoline very high, this car is revolutionary in several ways. One thing is certain: either we adapt or go on foot. And in this case, coupling air compressors with solar energy panels means very cheap transport in the long run! On top of this, these cars don't create smog in heavy traffic. They are, if coupled with better hybrid technology, a great future auto transport system.
After fourteen years of research and development, Guy Negre has developed an engine that could become one of the biggest technological advances of this century. Its application to Compressed Air Technology(CAT) vehicles gives them significant economical and environmental advantages. With the incorporation of bi-energy (compressed air + fuel) the CAT Vehicles have increased their driving range to close to 2000 km with zero pollution in cities and considerably reduced pollution outside urban areas.The application of the MDI engine in other areas, outside the automotive sector, opens a multitude of possibilities in nautical fields, co-generation, auxiliary engines, electric generators groups, etc. Compressed air is a new viable form of power that allows the accumulation and transport of energy. MDI is very close to initiating the production of a series of engines and vehicles. The company is financed by the sale of manufacturing licenses and patents all over the world.
I have a pretty big air compressor. I could use this car right away! I would love to see this technology be mass-produced. I suppose we will see a flood of such cars here? India may overtake Japan as the top exporter of cars? For years, I have had to drive a big 1 ton truck for business but always, for my own self, I drove a variety of great milage cars because I hate burning good money for nothing. The psychotic need to drive huge hulks in the hope of killing anyone and anything in one's path while remaining safe behind a wheel has never appealed to me.
So I have a lot of experience driving small cars surrounded by crazed drivers seeking to intimidate or crush anyone driving anything smaller than a Sherman Tank. When I drive my big truck, it is taller and heavier than the biggest SUVs but I drive it very conservatively because it is a diesel that huffs and grinds along and being kind of top-heavy, dangerous if I were to stupidly zig-zag or play tag in traffic. If I was towing a backhoe, even more so. Even with air brakes, you need lots of room to stop if towing heaving equipment!
Before cell phones, people who would see my Sirroco VW or Geo Metro would tailgate or do other hazardous things they never do when they see the big Ford diesel. More than once, I took down license plate numbers and called the State Troopers. Now, people are more cautious because of so many cell phones. But we still live in a nation where there are far too many big vehicles driving all over the place.
Small cars have small chances here. But due to both high prices and our collective incomes dropping as globalization flattens everyone, we will not be able to continue this mad massive-vehicle fad much longer. And good riddance! These monsters eat up parking space and obstruct the view in heavy traffic and make heavy traffic much worse and you can't see pedestrians very well. And worse of all, they pollute. Like crazy. Despite the anti-pollution devices, they still pollute like crazy!
The compressed air cars wont' foul the air in NYC or at the Holland Tunnel entrances or any place with rush hour traffic. For this alone, they should be REQUIRED. Any fossil-fuel vehicle should be FORBIDDEN ACCESS to any city or even perimeter of any major city! They should be double-taxed and indeed, there should be laws forcing automakers to subsidize the sales of non-pollution cars so that the profit margin on polluters be reduced.
Investors meeting at MDI, Nice, April 2005.
On Friday 22nd April a number of investors from America, Europe and Asia met at the MDI factory in France. Interested in different applications of the MDI compressed air engine and its vehicles, those in attendance were:Mr Balaji Ranganathan, Representative of Sona Group, interested in producing cars in India.
Mr Asgier Leifsson and Dr. Valdimar K Jonson, Co-ordinators of an EU supported research project investigating alternative energies and evaluating the possibilities for the Air Car in Iceland.
Mr Alfredo León, ex-Director of Business Development for Toyota, interested in purchasing a licence to manufacture the car and buses in Venezuela.
Mr Amadeu Calbò and Mr Juan Manuel Tinoco Sastre, interested in distributing the MDI cars in Andorra.
Mr Sam Ferguson, from Vancouver, interested in purchasing a licence to manufacture the cars in Canada.
Mr José Mª Guerrero and Mr José Matas, professors of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, investigating applications such as public transport and energy storage and the line of study opened by this compressed air technology.
Mr Bob W Greenyer, engineer from The Image Refinery, UK.
Mr Ferran Freixas and Mr Marc Arus, private investors from Barcelona.
Mr José Colomar de Betacar, from the Europcar group, interested in the purchase and hire of the car in the Balearic and Canary Islands.
Mr Darek Laszczak, engineer, interested in producing the cars in Poland.
Mr Michael Moynihan, engineer interested in producing the cars in Ireland.
Mr Jim Snell, representative of a group of investors interested in setting up the project in Western Canada.
Oh, look at all the American investors! HAHAHA! Fooled you! There were none. Note that TOYOTA is one of the investors, not Ford or GM. The US kills millions of people via pollution. My son, born in NYC, has asthma and car pollution is probably the cause of this. It is very irritating. I wish I could sue the US auto industry for foisting on us these disgusting machines that have made my son's life worse. We know that people die from this, trees in cities struggle to filter the filthy air and even though it is cleaner than before, it isn't that clean, I live in the country and it is much cleaner here than in any city!
Physical space matters, too. And cars that use up two or three spaces are hogs. I feel that the only one-person cars allowed in cities should be minicars! When I have to wait for someone, I count the number of SUVs, vans and pick-up trucks with only one person in them. It averages at 50% or more. And three years ago, it was 70% or more.
Here is a French video of the compressed air car concept:
Tata's Rs 1 lakh car: Power to the people
On January 10, the Tata Group will unveil the People’s Car, based on the 1998 concept. Even as you read this, Mr Tata is busy inspecting the microcar models himself at the Pune plant and giving all the Tata Motors managers involved in the project the heebie-jeebies. “A truck with all models to be displayed at the Auto Expo has already reached New Delhi,” says a source at the plant.Expect the reaction to be even more dramatic than what happened after the Indica launch. For one, the auto industry will come out of denial. With only a few days to go before Ratan Tata pulls the wraps off what is to be the world’s most effective automobile, there will be no place to hide and ignore this segment.
Micro cars were tried out in Europe but like the US, Europe is in love with empire and power and want to ignore reality which is why they are content to bark at Russia and Iran while demanding more cheap energy. So micro cars failed. But in the developing world, there is no sense of entitlement so people are happy to have anything at all. Eventually, we will all be like this, too. And quite frankly, this will be good for us. The carnage on our roads despite huge advances in safety systems, is still astonishing. What sort of entertainment value do we ultimately get if it means death?
Daniel GrossIt's becoming evident that the rising price of oil has little relationship to anything Americans do, or don't do.
As we are endlessly reminded, Americans, about 4.5 percent of humanity, account for about 25 percent of the world's oil consumption. Historically, the consumption habits of these power users have had a huge effect on the commodity's global price. But we matter less and less each year, macroeconomically speaking. Oil nicked $100 the same day the Institute for Supply Management reported that the manufacturing sector—you know, that energy-intensive sector that burns up lots of oil—contracted in December. In theory, it should be hard for the price of oil to rise at a time when the world's economic engine is idling and plotting a shift into reverse. But that's exactly what happened in 2007.
Prices in the market are determined by supply and demand. Even with demand in the United States stagnating, global demand for oil is booming.
We are responsible for not only high energy prices but also, high pollution levels. We over consumed for the last 60 years and this means we are very responsible for everything. On top of this, we increased consumption even when we pumped less and less oil compared to this consumption! We import lots of our energy, over 60% and rising. For this reason alone, we must change ourselves even if this means we can't live out fantasies of being race car drivers or hot rodders or whatever. I once beat a hot rodder who wanted to jump ahead of me at a traffic light. He has a souped up engine that throbbed and I had a 3 cylinder Geo Metro. But I popped my clutch and jumped him and he couldn't pass me. It pissed him off and I laughed. But frankly, we don't need to prove manhood via muscle cars, not if this is bankrupting the USA.
Also, I am endlessly annoyed with the mainstream media. Why do they pay these idiots to analyze things that baffle them? Our industry isn't why we import oil so much, we de-industrialized some time back! India and China produce our industries which we have sent out due to the need to kill inflation caused by our desire to guzzle gas no matter what!
We will eventually, if things go well, live in a world where we will feel happy just to get around without walking everywhere like medieval Japan, or using rickshaws like in the 19th century in Asia or carriages with horses which is very expensive and requires lots of staff--stable boys, ferriers, coachmen, footmen, etc.
If we downsize our ambitions now, we can live for a long, long time quite comfortably, without much strain. and today's energy news shows us how! And no pollution, if this is done with solar panels? Wow. I can't wait, I just can't wait!
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