Will smaller cars really save the environment?

23rd December 2009

I don't think so. The ratio of petrol small cars saves keeps going down after a certain size. Take the example of the new Beetle. It runs 10KMs for 1 liter of petrol. The answer is not in reducing the size and engine capacity of your car every year. The answer is in finding an alternative to fuels based on hydrocarbons. The other alternative is to find a different mode of transport, using a bicycle for shorter distances or using public transport like I do (It's a different story that I hate Mumbai trains and use them because there is no alternative).

While talking about Mumbai trains, I strongly feel that a big chunk of the 100 billion US Dollars that is going to poor countries, as decided in Copenhagen for combating weather change should come to people traveling by trains in Bombay. Not only a large percentage of population uses public transport, it uses a fraction of public transport used by people in other countries. Not sure about what I mean. You have to see how a local train is packed during rush hour, every trains easily carries 5 to 6 times of its capacity.