Thursday, January 07, 2010

Around the world on a green mission


That was three and a half months ago. Since then he has travelled some 13,500 km, travelling from London to France to Switzerland, Iran, Pakistan, and finally India. On Wednesday, he was in Jaipur, a stopover before he drives off to Pushkar, Mumbai and Kathmandu. Actually, the route is a little flexible. That’s because Pag can’t be sure where he will get fuel next. After all, if you want to drive around the world using only biofuel, it can be very, very difficult.

But that was the whole point of this Biotruck Expedition: trying to see if this could be a way to reduce ones carbon footprint. Pag, a 34-year-old engineer who’s dabbled in different things from investigative journalism for the BBC to filmmaking, wants to see if he can go around the globe and emit less than two tonnes of carbon dioxide. That’s the amount the G20 nations have agreed to cap CO2 emission per person per annum by 2050. If this happens, the chances of global temperatures rising 5 ° Celsius by the end of the century will drop to 3% from 50% at present.

So it was to spread the message on global warming and also find out what people in different parts of the world were doing to reduce their carbon footprint that Pag planned this expedition. He took time off from work — which at present is running a small web-based business broadcasting big fat Indian weddings in the UK to their relatives here — and decided to buy an old vehicle. He settled for a 20-year-old Merc school bus that had been given up for good. It was high enough inside for Pag — he’s 6-feet-five — to stand, and also wide enough for him to sleep comfortably. It cost him only 850 pounds or just over Rs 60,000. Then began the three-month remodelling and refitting. Solar panels went up on the roof, and inside, a mammoth 1,500-litre tank was fitted to store biofuel (because you never know where you will get your supply next).


Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Around-the-world-on-a-green-mission/articleshow/5418392.cms

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