India Tourism to be More Water Conscious?

Source: EverywhereMag

Anyone flying out to India for their holidays in the near future could be staying in hotel which are as focussed upon water conservation as they are on guest comfort according to the Bangkok Post:-

Delegates attending the inaugural session on water conservation at the annual caucus of overseas Indians here were surprised to find that the chief guest was Indian Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahai.

That was no mistake. Although the minister did make the perfunctory tourism promotion statements, he also stressed that India’s new policy would be equally intended to ensure that tourists do not squander the country’s precious water resources.

He urged the Indian diaspora gathered here for the annual event known as the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) to build hotels that would focus on water conservation in equal measure as guest comfort.

Under India’s 12th five-year plan, tourism has been declared a poverty-alleviating sector that can contribute significantly to the economic progress of rural areas and create jobs, especially for women. The country is targeting another five million visitors over the next few years, which it hopes will create 25 million jobs.

But tourists, and hotels, are major water-guzzlers in a country whose large population of 1.21 billion and rapid economic development is also putting huge pressure on scarce water resources.

India relies heavily on the Monsoon for its water supplies, but, as with all things weather related, the amount of rainfall and its location varies from year to year, making it more difficult to plan ahead.

Massive efforts are under way nationwide to conserve, recycle and store water through such measures as rainwater harvesting and storage.

One of the speakers at the session said hotels could even seriously consider providing buckets in the rooms for those guests who are truly serious about saving water.

He said phenemonal amounts of water gets wasted by guests leaving the water faucets on while shaving or brushing their teeth or standing for minutes on end in the shower. Giving them the option of filling up water-buckets and using only as much as they need could save millions of litres a year.

I’m not quite sure how being told to fill up a water bucket and use it as necessary and taking shorter showers will go down with certain sections of tourists who may think that part of going on holiday is to relax and take full advantage of the resources. Hopefully they will be able to come up with a message that will make people aware of the need to conserve water in a tourist friendly way.

Solar Storms in 2012?

UK subsidies – Should we do more to promote EV’s and Hybrids?

On the 1st of January 2011 the Guardian newspaper published an article that said 2011 was to be the year of the electric car. This is because the UK government had launched a fund, known as the ‘plug-in car grant’ to provide a £5,000 subsidy to those buying an electric car. In October 2011 the Guardian published another article saying that electric car sales had been poor and the scheme was a failure. So what is the plug-in car grant and why do some people consider it a failure? And is there anything that can be done to better promote electric vehicles and hybrids?

What is the UK electric car subsidy?

The grant was conceived by the Labour government to help subsidise the cost of electric cars, which can cost a third more than their fossil-burning rivals. Getting more electric cars on our roads is one of the ways the government intends to reduce UK carbon levels to the agreed limit for 2020. When the Conservative/LibDem coalition took over they agreed to maintain the subsidy, which wasn’t due to start until January 2011, but only for a year, after which it was to be reviewed.

Under the scheme, anyone looking to purchase one of several pre-approved models of electric car could apply for a grant of £5,000 towards the cost of the car.

Why is the subsidy considered a failure?

The main reason that the electric car grant has been considered a failure is that the uptake of electric cars has been very small, the very thing the subsidy was meant to help boost. In quarter one of 2011 465 electric cars were registered through the scheme, with 215 in Q2, and only 106 in Q3. Those numbers are well below what was expected, but still far higher than the numbers of electric cars bought in 2010.

However, the slow uptake does not necessarily mean the grant has been a failure. Electric cars are expensive – all those on the approved list for the grant would cost more than £20,000, so even with the full grant a buyer must have at least £15,000 to purchase a car. Not many people have that amount of money to spend on a car, and in such unsure economic times they are less likely to want to pay out that much, especially on a relatively new technology that has received its fair share of bad press.

What bad press?

Many people will at first be put off by the upfront cost, but this has to be considered with the fact that electric cars are road tax free, could have cheaper car insurance, and are also cheaper to fuel.

Then there is the limited range of the electric motor when compared with a petrol or diesel engine, along with the substantially longer refuelling time – even at a rare fast-charge point a Nissan Leaf takes 30 minutes for a full charge. A hybrid engine does not suffer this problem, but they are not included in the subsidy unless they can be plugged in.

And then there is the British weather. The range of an electric motor drops when you use the electrics for other functions in the car, such as wind screen wipers, lights, air conditioning, etc. All of which could be used a lot in Britain, especially in the winter months.

Finally there is the battery (or batteries) itself: After only a few years the capacity of the battery drops considerably by such an extent that it has to be replaced, and the cost a new one is four figures at the moment. The green credentials of the cars have also been called into question because of all the chemicals and processing that has to go into building the battery. Plus, when you plug them in the
electricity is being provided by a power plant that is getting its energy from where?

Will the subsidy continue?

The government is due to review the plug-in car grant in January so we won’t officially know until then, but there are plenty of people who want it to continue, including environmental groups and those with a vested interest in the electric vehicle industry. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Is there anything else that can be done to improve the uptake of electric cars?

Addressing the negative points already listed will help. Most electric cars now look like ‘normal’ ones, and plenty handle and drive like their fossil-burning brethren as well, so those issues are, arguably,
taken care of.

All new technology is expensive when it first comes out – just think of the cost of DVD players and DVD’s now compared to when they first became available. As manufacturers get better at building the cars and start producing them in greater numbers, the cost will come down. Plus, there are more and more car makers entering the electric field (pun intended) so competition could drive the cost down too.

Providing more fast-recharge points will help, but let’s not forget that recharge stations will be needed everywhere, and that means in the middle of the countryside as well as in the middle of urban areas, otherwise the B-roads of Britain will be littered with Nissan Leafs and Peugeot iOns having run out of juice.

But perhaps the biggest issue is the battery, because it is this that dictates the power, range and recharge time of the car. Improving the battery can help but there are other ways of storing energy in a car, such as super-capacitors which store energy in an electric field rather than electrochemically.

Whatever the answer, it’s clear that electric cars are here to stay. 2011 may not have been the noisy revolution that many had expected, but that’s the thing about electric cars: they’re quiet, so you can’t hear them sneaking up on you.

Etihad Airways Plants 200 Trees for UAE National Day Celebrations

Etihad staff planting trees as part of the 'Greener Together Campaign'

Staff at Etihad Airways‘  UAE headquarters planted around 200 trees as a part of the airline’s ‘Greener Together’ campaign, helping to celebrate the UAE’s 40th national day.

The campaign was in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Municipality and also supported by the Abu Dhabi police.

Etihad staff along with Abu Dhabi Police and Hasan Saleh Al Hammadi, Etihad’s Senior Vice President Chief Executive Affairs and Corporate Security

Khaled Al Al Mehairbi, Etihad’s Senior Vice President Government Affairs said “Etihad is committed to preserving the environment and this event was a good opportunity to get our staff directly engaged in the local community and environment.”

This is just one of several events that have been held to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the unification of the seven states, WheelsofLux, a Dubai supercar spotter, captured footage of the Ferrari parade.

Lease Cars More Environmentally Friendly than Hire Cars

The British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) recently comissioned research, which was carried out by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) on whether or not rented cars were safer and cleaner than privately owned ones. The Green Car website has the full story:-

Commissioned by the industry body, British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA) and conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), the new study found that the average CO2 emissions were 12 per cent lower in rental cars than the average for the UK car fleet.

What’s more rental cars were also found to be safer, newer and better maintained than the average private owned car as well as more likely to be fitted with the latest safety technology.

Because they are used more often than the average privately-owned car, rental vehicles are also more cost efficient and can help reduce the parking congestion seen in urban areas too.

The article goes on to suggest that with the rising cost of motoring, having a business lease car or rental car may be a cheaper option than owning your own vehicle. Norman Baker, Minister for Transport also said:-

“For too long the rented car has seemed like a poor relation to its private counterpart. Yet this report from the vehicle rental industry shows that, in environmental terms, rental cars often represent the cheaper, more efficient and less carbon intensive option.

“What’s more they have real potential to encourage the take-up of new low-carbon vehicle technologies. The Government wants people to travel in more sustainable ways, choosing the low-carbon alternatives that suit them best – whether that means working from home, working more flexibly or sharing a car. As this report demonstrates, it’s high time renting a car was added to that menu of options.”

This could be good news for the mobile businessman as it gives them extra added weight to their case for an audi business package. Not only will it look impressive to a client, but is proven to be more economical and safer to boot.