Posted on 02/13/2006 8:02:34 AM PST by Gengis Khan
LONDON: India is ready with a roadmap for use of non-conventional resources with one million Hydrogen powered vehicles expected to run on the country's roads by 2020, Non-Conventional Energy Resources Minister Vilas Muttemwar has said.
"We have been slow to respond to face the challenge of our energy requirements, but we are fast catching up and if powerful nations like America, China, Japan, Canada and Germany have a roadmap for Hydrogen energy, so have we.
By the year 2020, we will have one million vehicles on our roads running with Hydrogen fuel," he told a BBC Hindi programme last night.
..."We have huge resources of renewable energy in the country. To begin with we have a potential of five trillion Mega Watts of solar energy, seventy thousand MW of wind energy and more than two lakh MW of Hydrogen energy.We are now tapping this potential to meet our requirements," the minister said.
Admitting India's lack of planning in the energy sector over the years, Muttemwar said due to this the country was presently facing a gap between its energy needs and resources, and a change in the mindset was essential to understand the importance of renewable energy resources if the country was to overcome the challenge in the sector.
"Keeping in mind the country's population and our energy needs, there has been a lack of planning in the energy sector over the years. That is why we are facing such a challenging situation, but we can overcome this challenge if we change our mindset and positively move ahead with the renewable sources of energy," he said.
Sometimes it's good to have another nation do things like this. When things start to go wrong, we can learn what NOT to do.
I'm confused. My understanding has always been that it takes more energy to extract the hydrogen from H2O than you'd use by just driving a gas- or electric-powered car. Am I mistaken?
Yes.
"one million Hydrogen fuel-run vehicles"
Can you say, "Hindenburg"?
I'll believe it when i see it. Trucks and cars in India are just plain scary. Those TATA monsters and the Ambassadors are built like tanks to ride on some of the worst roads in the world.
Its the future....just not in the next 10 years...
but hybrids will get us there....
Because heaven knows gasoline isn't flammable.
".....one million Hydrogen powered vehicles expected to run on the country's roads by 2020,"
too funny.
The U.S. have more than a million hydrogen powered vehicles by 2020. If the goal was 2010 or something it would be interesting.
The US will have more than that by 2020. Hyundai has been testing a fleet of hydrogen fuel cell powered Tucson SUVs in the US since last year. The range isn't very good yet, but that is the point of this early test. They are getting ready for a second generation of fuel cell already, which will provide better range and take up less space in the vehicle.
If only that were true, we wouldn't constantly try to copy the failed policies of Russia. :)
True, in strict terms of energy... it would also be greatly less wastful to place a nuclear reactor in every home appliance, rather than waste so much to heat, transmission, etc.
Hydrogen is much more volatile. They will need to ensure they have excellent containment systems. You don't mess w/this stuff.
You are not mistaken. Hydrogen is an energy storage system, and a not terribly efficient one. But, if you have gobs of abundant, cheap energy (read: nuclear reactors), you don't have to be terribly efficient.
Liquid gasoline is not flammable. Gasoline vapors are. You can actually put a match out in gasoline if you move it through the vapor layer quickly enough.
Gasoline leaking from a car wreck rarely ignites. Hydrogen leaking from a car wreck will frequently ignite with a flame that is nearly invisible.
Oil rig workers who are walking the pipes will often hold a broom handle in front of them. If the handle suddenly cuts in half, they know they've stumbled on a hydrogen fire.
Wouldn't toilet paper by 2020 be a better objective??
I never ate Indian food and I never will!!! Not until they hire one-handed potato peelers!!!
Many of the H2 refuel stations get the H2 from natural gas or from solar powered hydrolysis.
Absolutely! This is either window dressing for enviro-whackos or India is about to go down a dead end street, wasting money, time, and talent that could be better spent on something that will pay off.
Uh....... Is there something those of us that DO eat Indian food should know?
Please!
Semper Fi
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