FUEL EFFICIENCY

 

From Sampath’s Desk:

 

FUEL EFFICIENCY

 

The other day I happened to see on the small screen a public interest advertisement in which a little boy sitting in the front seat next to his father who is driving a car and halting at a red signal point suddenly goes into a bout of fantasy and after retrieving himself and coming back to his senses states that he has an avowed objective of setting up a bicycle shop once he grew up, because, according to him, by the time he becomes a grown-up the entire fossil fuel resources available would have been perhaps depleted or exhausted and people would start using bicycles on a large scale. Hence his dream-wish! At that juncture, an anonymous voice chips in to entreat petrol/diesel/LPG vehicles to switch off the engine at times of halts at signal junctions with red lights on. Blushed and realizing the importance and necessity to do so, the father switches off the car engine. The seriousness of the fast-depleting fossil fuel resources along with the message germane to the issue for observing maximum fuel economy has been well articulated in the TV awareness snippet. One knows not how many people follow this energy-saving practice, but the message is pointed and crystal clear. By showing how even a little boy is seized of the burning issue in the formative stages of his life, the TV excerpt attracts and catches up the minds of the viewers very well and also gives them food for thought for effective remedial energy conservation practices. The lesson it seeks to give is, if preventive and precautionary steps are not taken from now onwards, the situation may perhaps get out of hands and reach further alarming proportions with due adverse consequences following in future – a though-provoking message indeed!

 

It is a different matter that the whole world is now engaged in a wild search for pollution-free alternative renewable sources of energy.

 

Be that as it may, coming to the subject of paucity of fossil fuel, its price fluctuations,  and the imminent possibility of the liquid resource completely ceasing to exist at one point of time in future, it is better we woke up from the slumber and raise up to the situation for the challenges ahead.

 

The multi-pronged problem being a complex one it has to be addressed in different angles. The best solution basically lies in creating and/or strengthening the public transport system especially running more buses and trains with increased frequencies. This will help dissuade many people from using own vehicles  thus reducing fuel consumption and resultant air-pollution. Multi-tiered flyovers and/or underground thoroughfares will help ease traffic congestions and keep traffic moving because inelastic road space offers no scope for expansion to cope with the needs of the ever-increasing vehicular traffic in our cities and towns.

 

Staggered locations of different key offices and shifting many to less congested places, suburban areas and out of the city/town, and also staggered working hours of offices, factories and other workplaces including schools, colleges, etc. would avoid mad rushes at peak hours and crowding of buses, trains, important landmark places, vantage points, etc. Thus we can even out the traffic and crowding.

 

Four-wheelers/two-wheelers can be shared by its owners, peers and friends in turns, as far as possible and feasible, so that the joint use can minimize fuel consumption; but alas we now see a number of more than half-empty cars plying. We can also use battery-operated e-vehicles. We have also to go in for large-scale renewable and eco-friendly resources of energy to be tapped from say - wind, solar, hydro and bio-sources.

 

Permissible processions should be regulated, and specific routes and timings earmarked and designated,  away from traffic-prone areas, with DO’s and DON’Ts prescribed to be strictly followed, so as to minimize the difficulties of people who are hard pressed to reach their destinations on time, thus saving precious fuel. Use of bicycle or stretching your legs for small distances is perhaps a cheap and best choice besides being a robust physical exercise. People in some European countries have already started reverting to bicycle-riding.  There is a need to sensitize people in general, and youth and children in particular, to follow the cardinal principles of fuel efficiency and saving. Canada, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Denmark are at present increasingly encouraging cycling as a cost-effective transport.

 

 

R.SAMPATH