Kolkata: I had once asked R.K. Pachauri what he thought of his frequent flying to environment programmes all over the world, adding to his own carbon footprint. He replied that if his travelling actually helped the cause, it was worth it. But when Andy Pag from London decided to travel around the world to create environmental awareness, he chose a truck made from scrap and run on vegetable oil as his mode of transport.
The 21-year-old Mercedes RV (recreational vehicle) is now in Kolkata along with its 35-five-year-old green traveller. “It’s an old school truck converted to run on vegetable oil,” said Pag, who set off on his journey in September 2009 and has since driven through France, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan Europe, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan before entering India through the Wagah border last December. In India, he has through Pushkar, Jaipur, Mumbai and Kathmandu before reaching Kolkata.
An engineer, Pag has converted the bus himself and it can now run on vegetable oil, biodiesel and still take fossil diesel in case of an emergency. The massive tank, boasts a capacity of 1,500 litres, and when full would allow the vehicle to travel at least 8,500 km between fuel supplies. He has also installed a solar- powered hydrogen generator, which can feed hydrogen gas into the engine so that it burns the fuel more efficiently. The exhaust includes a particulate filter, which also reduces pollutants with only a minimal impact on fuel consumption.
In Europe, Pag got his fuel supply from restaurants, who gladly gave him the used vegetable oil they would have otherwise had to pay to dispose of. In Asia, bio-fuel companies such as Emami, Royal Energy and Gomti Biotech came forward to sponsor him. Speaking to students of MCKV Institute of Engineering at Liluah on Saturday, the environmental campaigner said: “I want to see if I can go around the globe emitting less than two tonnes of carbon-dioxide. That’s the amount the G20 nations have agreed to cap CO2 (carbon-dioxide) emission per person per annum by 2050. If this happens, the chances of global temperatures rising 5°C by the end of the century will drop to 3 per cent from 50 per cent at present.”
What is encouraging is that Pag found many people in India taking up innovative ways to keep the environment clean. In Kolkata, he said, people seem very enthusiastic about doing something for the environment but most are unaware of ways to save the ecology.
“For instance, a simple decision like availing public transport instead of using a private vehicle can reduce one’s carbon footprint,” Pag said.
But it is not as if there is no green initiative in India. “People are using solar power and bio diesel. In Haldwani, I saw people extracting oil from mud contaminated with vegetable oil. But there is very little encouragement from the government to use alternative energy. Europe has done these mistakes in the last 30- 40 years. Hopefully, India will learn from it.”
According to Pag, there are two major hindrances in going for sustainable energy alternative to the fossil fuel infrastructure. “First, there are the technical problems and then there are social problems. Asking someone to suddenly cut down on their energy consumption is tough.”
Pag is scheduled to leave Kolkata on Wednesday and head for Indonesia after the India leg of his tour.