A love story about the world’s first electronic TukTuk!

I want to tell you a story that begins in India about ten years ago. The story revolves around an American entrepreneur and a method of transport very familiar with pretty much everyone in the whole of Asia: the TukTuk!

Our American entrepreneur – let’s call him Adam Rice, as that’s his name - was struck by the challenges that faced the cities in Asia he often visited. Besides the typical issues of sanitation, housing and clean drinking water, he recognized that one of the biggest challenges facing cities like Mumbai and Bangkok was an effective means of transportation for its growing populations. And like most tourists and locals he loved the convenience of travelling around in a Tuk-Tuk. He then got thinking about the challenges in his own adopted country of Germany, and what lie ahead for the future. He realised that the TukTuk could solve many of the problems facing our increasingly crowded streets, but not in its current form, as however loveable, they are actually quite inefficient users of fuel and cause significant levels of air and noise pollution.  So what was the solution? 100% Electric motors of course! So fast forward a few years and we have the first eTukTuks hitting the streets of Europe.  Due to transportation regulations they are not (yet!) in use as taxis, instead they are used daily for tourism and special events. But they are an alternative way that the general public can experience first-hand the joys of electric driving and dispel all the myths. After one overnight charge the Tuk is good to drive for 85-100km depending on weather and driving conditions. Not bad eh. And before all the super-greenies out there start asking – yes the Tuks in Berlin are all powered by green electricity! In Germany we are lucky enough to be able to choose from four genuine providers of renewable, non-nuclear energy: Naturstrom, Lichtblick, Greenpeace Energy and EWS Schönau. 

In Berlin our eTukTuks are just one part of a transport revolution that seems to be taking place here at the moment. Carsharing schemes are really taking off and “cars-to-go” – even electric ones - can be found on every street corner. We also have a super public transport system and well-used cycle paths. However Berlin still isn’t meeting the EU standards on pollution despite laws requiring old cars to be removed from the roads and the creation of an “environmental zone” in the city centre.  So there is still a great deal of work to be done - which isn’t easy, especially when the German Chancellor is so influenced by the extremely strong German car lobby and exerts her power to weaken Europe-wide emissions targets. 

But meanwhile, back in happy 100% electric TukTuk land, we are doing the best we can do, to assist the long –overdue electric transportation revolution.

So where is the love story? Well, basically anyone who comes into contact with our eTuks falls INSTANTLY in love with them. They look great, sound great and smell great so what is not to love?  

--

This is a guest post.


Katie Griggs is Operations Manager at eTukTuk Gmbh. She is also Campaign Director for 10:10 Deutschland.

A Single Man's Walking Challenge 1: Gulshan-Dhanmondi-Gulshan

                                                 (On the way)                                                                   

Last year, I realized I was not doing enough on my part to make a difference so I came up with an initiative of my own. I decided to come up with a series of challenges.  I normally go to the park once or twice a week to walk and jog, so I felt I was already trained. Trained for what?  The challenge was to walk from Gulshan 1 to Dhanmondi and back to Gulshan 1, a distance of about 15kms.

I created an event on facebook (since its one the popular social media platform if you want to spread the word about any event). Once I did that, I made a story to explain the challenge. 

The story begins about a young slim fellow, who is a little bit concerned about the environment and decides to make a little difference if not any at all. As he walks on the streets of Dhaka, it strikes to him why not do a series of walking challenges. A simple task to normal people however for him it seems like a challenge and something he feels he need to achieve. So he plans the route for his first challenge from Gulshan-Dhanmondi-Gulshan. A distance of more than 10kms.

Why walk?

Walking from his experience has indicated certain things

- It saves time
- It saves fuel

- It saves money

- Good exercise
- Makes you feel happier

As a 10:10er and eco-blogger, he feels its been awhile since he had a nice long walk. The timing is perfect with the nice winter weather and he knows he will not get bored while walking considering all the exciting and funny things that happens on the streets of Dhaka. 

When does he plan to do so?

Friday,February 10th, 2012

Route: 

Starting point- Gulshan-1 circleMid-way point- Dhanmondi(short pit-stop, not sure, it will depend on his spontaneity)Ending point- Gulshan-1 circle

Problems he might face:

- Getting mugged on broad daylight.
- Oversleeping and missing the challenge completely being a weekend.
- Getting ill prior to the challenge.

Updates about the event:

He plans on twittering while on the move.

Twitter
twitter.com/fhmtech

How can you participant? 

- Cheer him on!
- Criticize him for being an idiot ( there is something called a bicycle, or even better a car..)
- Spread the word that walking is good for many reasons and is not a tedious thing to do- When traveling short distances try walking instead of using the car.- Send an invite to your friends.

What is 10:10?

10:10 is a global campaign run through out the world to promote carbon cutting and reduce climate change. 10:10 Bangladesh joins with organizations, businesses and educational institutes and promote active participation of people through events/projects and raise awareness. www.1010global.org You can sign up your organization or yourself at www.1010global.org/bd (for Bangladeshi citizens)

Country hub of 10:10 Bangladesh- TERM Magazine, a concern of Bangladesh Information Gateway Ltd.(BIG) Ltd.


 The walk itself was very good considering a nice winter morning. I was a bit worried about the weather but it was perfect. I reached my check point in Dhanmondi and grabbed lunch at Nandos with a close friend. After a heavy stomach, I started the return journey, digesting all the food.

According to pace, I reached Dhanmondi in about 1 hour 30mins. It was slightly quicker if I compare with a car. This being the fact, the car is stuck in traffic most of the time. On the return journey, I took about 1 hour 45 mins, kinda slowed down. At the end it was a good challenge, seeing some interesting things on the way.

Surprisingly, I received a lot of interest from people and those who wanted to participate. Hopefully next time I might just let other people be part of it.

Also have to thank Sandra Antonovic for posting a guest post about the event on the web magazine. She is the CEO of Nektarina non profit, Editor in Chief of Nektarina (S)pace web magazine. Check it out here.

Alternate energy, may not be alternate any more

In my usual scourging on the net regarding environmental issues, I came across an article of The Economist which is couple of months old nonetheless and as I read through it, it made it realize that the term we use "Alternate energy" may not be alternate any more.

When scientists were giving presentations, seminars about the need of shifting the use of fossil fuel into alternate fuels around the late 80s, it definitely took time for it pick up. Currently the use of solar and wind energy have increased significantly over the last 10 years, powering a small portion of national girds of many countries. Initially costs of these were quite high, and not preferred such an example would be of solar energy. The entire process of harnessing the Sun's energy and converting that into electricity was very expensive but now with prices coming down ( notable because of research, production costs coming down) , it has become a common household item.

Ok so as the article goes, solar and wind energy cannot be termed as alternate energy source anymore. Why? Its because as I mentioned, they are now powering major countries. Germany is now mostly dependent on solar and wind if not fully but with its nuclear programs being shut down by 2020, these two sources of energy will eventually become its main contributor of power.

Anyways read the article here.

10:10 Bangladesh Sustainable Hunt

It has almost been three (3) years since the inception of 10:10 Bangladesh and it has so far been quite an interesting journey. Their next event, 10:10 Bangladesh Sustainable Hunt, is another such fascinating event. This time, they have come up with a contest where contestants are supposed to share their sustainable ideas and energy- saving habits.

The contest is divided into two categories

Category 1- Energy-saving success story (a habit/story that can inspire us).

Category 2- A sustainable idea/project (your idea of a project can be of any sort, but it has to be done in an energy-efficient manner, unique and scalable).

The winner will have his/her own documentary film about how they are doing their part on creating a sustainable environment. On top of that, the winning idea will have the opportunity to implement their idea or project with the collaboration of 10:10 Bangladesh.

Unlike previous endeavors, where contestants can apply from any part of the world, this time the competition MUST be within Bangladesh. The reason behind this was to highlight Bangladesh.

To know more details about the event, and how to participate, visit the facebook page at 10:10 Bangladesh Sustainable Hunt.

Reason for businesses going green

When going green started out couple of years back, businesses were very reluctant not to go towards that. There was a myth that going green was a waste of money and just a business-killer. However over time becoming more environmental-friendly became an investment to companies in the long run.

I worked on some technical aspects on renovating businesses/industries into green industries in Dhaka and found certain things why it’s worth it:

When it came to energy auditing, generally the entire energy flow would be mapped. Then after mapping that, you know where you are losing extra energy. So if you plug that portion of energy down, you save energy. So what’s the benefit of saving energy? Firstly you spend less fuel (with fuel prices increasing, you would be definitely glad if fuel was saved), you save electricity are just some places where you save. However the strongest motivation is money, and trust me you save a lot of money. For businesses

Saving Money = Profits

Anyways I got an article from The Economist on as to why firms go green.

Link courtesy @Julika Niehaus- Global Campaign Manager at 10:10

UK kicks off one of the world's largest wind farm

As UK leads one of the largest coordinated global event 10:10:10, the Global day of Doing, this news sounds great. UK embraces renewable energy to a whole new level.

Details, basically this wind farm is one of the world's largest offshore wind farm situated off the Thanet in Kent. The project was at a cost of £780m ,and is expected to generate enough electricity to power 240,000 homes.

Read more about it.

An American setting an example

Mr. David Sandalow served in the State Department and at the National Security Council during the Clinton administration. Mr.Sandalow also have helped the Obama administration to up speed the development of electric cars and offer incentives for consumers and communities to begin taking steps to make transitions off conventional vehicles.

He travels on a Prius, which he converted to the latter models which allows you to plug it at an electric outlet and charges the battery. He fills his Prius will gasoline only once or twice a month. Just imagine the amount of CO2 emissions he saves!

Hats off and its great that officials like him are setting the example.

Get the full article here.

Yamaha's zero electric scooter

Yamaha has announced, actually last month that it has added a zero-emission electric scooter to its arsenal. The scooter is a 50cc and apparently can travel five times farther than its gasoline counterpart.

The scooter, EC-03, can travel 43 kilometers on a single 6-hour charge from a normal household power outlet .The model will be launched in September 1st,2010 with a price tag of $2,800.

Courtesy of Physorg.com

Bangladesh and India part of PutSolarOn.it without knowing it

In my last post, I mentioned about the campaign on PutSolarOn.it, a campaign targeted towards world leaders, so that they also start by getting to work. The objective, placing a solar panel on top of all head buildings.

Bangladesh and India have recently powered their head buildings with solar power. Bangladesh Prime Minister office was lighted by solar power something earlier this year. Soon after the Prime Minister's office, the Bangladesh Bank was also powered by solar. Looks like in Bangladesh, the politicians are a bit ahead in fighting climate change compared to the West but there a still a lot of work that needs to be done.

Governor of West Bengal in India, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, installed solar panels on the Kolkata Raj Bhavan, the Governor's Residence, in December of 2009.

Even before the PutSolarOn, leaders have taken action and this shows that you too as an individual can do so much without waiting for someone do it for you. Anyways, the people at 350.org were quite excited when they found out. Get it here.

Top 10 Countries utilizing solar energy

As countries make strong decisions on cutting their CO2 emissions, I came across a list of the top 10 countries using solar power and to tell you the truth, its quite fantastic.

1. Germany (9,785 MW)
2. Spain (3,386 MW)
3. Japan (2,633 MW)
4. United States (1,650 MW)
5. Italy (1,167 MW)
6. Czech Republic (465 MW)
7. Belgium (363 MW)
8. China (305 MW)
9. France (272 MW)
10. India (120 MW)

Courtesy of 1bog.org

Earth Hour- Seminar on Energy Savings

Now with March 27th 2010 just round the corner, preparations for Earth Hour are in full swing. Over the last couple of days, I have been conversing with WWF Australia to get Bangladesh aboard as another country to the list of 88 countries who have signed for celebrating Earth Hour. I am still in discussions however in the mean time, IEEE AIUB Student Branch and I have organized a Seminar on Energy Savings, keeping that the theme.

Event Details

Day: Thursday, 25th 2010
Time: 12:30pm
Venue: AIUB Auditorium, Campus 1&5
Address: 58/B, Road-21, Kemal Ataturk Avenue, Banani,Dhaka

Event Speakers

!) Engr. A.H.M Mohiuddin
Chairman of Power & Energy Society

2) Engr.M.Omar Faruq
CEO & Consultant
Faruq M&E Consultant

3) Syed M.S. Zafar
Managing Director
TERM Magazine- A business monthly

4) Muhammad Faheem Faruq
Local Supporter of Earth Hour

100 great Green tweets to follow

Becoming a Computer Technician, compiled a list of Green tweets. As I saw the under-ending list, I noticed that I only follow only a few of the tweets and came across some that I never heard off. Anyways if you follow green tweets then check this post out. Thanks to Carolyn Friedman for sending me the post.

Newspaper and orange peels could be future's clean fuel

A team of scientists have been researching on a new technique where orange peels and newspapers could be used to run your vehicles in the near future. Now it is based on the concept of bio-fuel like using these to produce ethanol as fuel. However the ethanol produced by food causes more CO2 emissions.

This technique not only reduces the CO2 emissions compared to ethanol but it would not require food-based products to produce it unlike bio-fuel. This will benefit cause there are no chances of global food shortages or spiraling food costs.Food-based products are not used for this process such as sugarcane, corn, starch etc. It basically reuses waste products. Although research is still been done to verify the findings.

Training on Energy Management in Industries in Bangladesh

Day one

A two day training session, 15th and 16th of February 2010 organized by GTZ started of with a sleepy morning. I reached GTZ office at 9:10 hoping I arrived in time. The training was supposed to start at 9am,knowing Bangladesh time, the training started at 9:25am with the opening done by Elke Shrestha, Senior Business Advocate,GTZ. Soon after Mike Birks, Team Leader, ESIP project began the training.

Anyways more about the training. Basically GTZ Bangladesh and couple RMG industries in Bangladesh worked together with local and foreign consultants to become more energy efficient over a period of couple of months. So engineers from these RMG industries are been trained to make their industries more energy efficient. I was lucky as I got in as a Trainee for Faruq M&E Consultants. Its interesting, the methods used for energy efficiencies in industries are actually quite simply and the benefits are quite noticeable. The energy savings are quite remarkable. I thought I would be out of my league, dazed and confused about the training and would not understand anything. To tell you the truth, over my years of blogging and reading on different technologies and a 4th year Electrical undergrad, I seemed quite in tune with the real world engineering problems.

So far today's training 15th was good but tomorrow is going to be a bit difficult cause tomorrow is going to be the technical sessions. Anyways Ciao!

Day Two: Tuesday 16/2/2010

The second day was completely a technical session. Professors from BUET went through some of the basics in lighting and power factor correction. Mr. Birks on the other hand went to the details of various problems associated with the RMG sector in Bangladesh and how simple fixes could solve problems saving a lot of money and good pay-back period even if investments are made.

Overall I felt that the training was good but there was some discrepancies between the practical engineers and the theorists from BUET, something neither side would agree on.

Truly unbelievable: Ferarri will add a hybrid in their collection of cars

As I was browsing through an article on Jaguar creating a turbine-based hybrid,I noticed one of the most shocking headline " Ferarri is bringing the hybrid in Genava Motor Show", I was like WTF?

For some time there were rumors that Ferarri will be coming out with a hybrid(I did not hear any rumors btw) and they seem to have confirmed it while the presentation of this year's F10 Formula One Car. I seriously did not expect this to happen at least not yet. The reason being that Ferarri represents automotive engineering at its best. The innovations used in Ferarri cars are based from the extensive research they put into their F1 cars and these innovations are like the top of anything. These innovations are slowly integrated into road cars nowadays.


The car is based on the Ferarri 599 GTB Fiorano and will be gas-electric powered with the motor at the rear and a V12 at the front. The electric motor will be mounted at the rear transaxle and lithium-ion battery pack for optimal performance. The car will have the KERS (Kinetic energy recovery system) system, a technology introduced in F1 last season. To find the other details we have to wait till March at the Geneva Motor Show.

With the introduction of Ferarri in the hybrid sector, things in the hybrid industry will change forever.

US Top 10 green energy dependent companies

The Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) announced the names of the top 10 green energy dependent companies in the States. When I came across the article, I was told it would be a shock considering the companies present. The list comes from the fact that the Green Power Partners program increased their commitments more than 1.5 billion kilowatts-hours(KWh) in 2009. Being an electrical student, that's a lot of energy.

The program partners are buying 18 billion KWh that putting in comparison to the annual CO2 emissions from electricity usage of about 1.8 million Americans.

The top 10 green energy partners in 2009 were:

1. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) - 51% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (1.4 billion KWh come from green power).

2. Kohl's Department Store (NYSE:KSS) - 100% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (1.3 billion KWh come from green power).

3. Pepsi Co. (NYSE:PEP) - 100% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (1.2 billion KWh come from green power).

4. Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFMI) - 105% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (790 million KWh come from green power).

5. City of Houston Texas - 34% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (438 million KWh come from green power).

6. Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) - 129% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (431 million KWh come from green power).

7. The Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE:PBG) - 100% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (426 million KWh come from green power).

8. Cisco Systems ( NASDAQ:CSCO) - 46% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (400 million KWh come from green power).

9. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania - 40% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (400 million KWh come from green power).

10. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) - 34% of its total electricity comes from clean energy sources (386 million KWh come from green power).

Courtesy: ENERGYBOOM

China is on the run for clean energy development

So far China has shown the the world what they are capable off but it does not get over there. For the past two years they have shown great development in the field of renewable energy surpassing countries like Denmark, Germany, Spain and the US. They are now the world's largest wind turbine maker followed by the world's largest solar panel maker. This will just boom China's economy further but it will benefit their economy more than it will do to the environment.

The Davos World Summit ended will talks ending with the slight ray of hope of countries to come up with deals to sustain climate change. There has been some big issues over the last few days with governments still not showing any interest to the Copenhagen Accord, I think the most disappointing document whether created where the world waited for a REAL DEAL! Well we cannot dwell on the past but have to look ahead.

Hybrids are a quick fix: Jeremy Clarkson

I was going through the December issue of Top Gear and found Jeremy Clarkson's article on hybrids to be kind of true. Now we all know that Top Gear hates green cars or anything to do with the environment. However over the last two or three seasons there were actually praising green cars such as the Honda FCX Clarity and the Telsa Sports car but this article is different.

I believe that what he mentioned was true, that hybrids are a quite fix and it will not solve the problem. Going through the article also made my realize whether all these car companies introducing green cars are actually saving the environment or creating a similar catalytic converter mentioned by JC for the future, a short fix but some 30-40 years down the line, you end up having the same problem but in a different scenario. So what will you be doing now with the Detroit Auto Show showcasing the future of green cars, will you be buying green cars? Honestly thinking about this is really putting me in a difficult position.

Wind Turbines to stand tall along British coastline

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has taken one of the largest initiatives by giving major contracts to energy companies to erect thousands of wind turbines along the British coastline of around 7,500 miles.

The total investment of the project is to be likely $120 billion. Get to know more about here.

DHS Motors unveils Honda Hybrid in Dhaka

On December 6th 2009, DHS Motors Ltd., the local dealership of Honda Motor Cars in Bangladesh have unveiled the Honda Civic Hybrid. I did a review about it some two years back. Anyways let me give a heads up again. The car has a 1.3 litre three-stage i-VTEC engine with integrated motor assist (IMA system) which uses a petrol engine as the primary engine.

The car has some nice nifty features. I drove the 2006 Japanese Honda Civic although it was the 1.8 litre petrol engine, the hybrid is based on that model. The Honda Civic is a very good car overall. Its a very fun car to drive, the ride height of the car is perfect and for some reason, the car wants you to drive it, it just appeals to you. If you are a passenger, its comfortable for long drives, good suspension, you do not notice the bumps and for Bangladesh roads its good.

So far DHS Motors have brought 10 hybrids and are planning to bring more of it. It is cheaper than the standard Honda Civic and DHS Motors will provide after sales service.