A tale about Michael Pritchard and Shai Agassi

I have always liked miracles. They signal HOPE. But then, all miracles do not do good for the world. Rather are not always necessary as well. Of-course, I am not talking of Harry Houdini's magical escapades or those of Gods in Mythological Epics here, but I am talking of the difference (even non-descript) people make to the world in general and at times to the human species in specific.


Michael Pritchard's water filter turns filthy water drinkable - TED Talks

This is one such incident. I am sure it was not serendipity. It was a well thought out effort by an Englishman to help the under-privileged get a right to what specifically is everyone's given. The right to clean drinking water.

If you go visit his video, you would realize that natural disasters spare no one, and its just not the people in Africa who have to face this ordeal. Things like Hurricane Katrina have proved that innovative alternates, even tho a necessity at many places, might be the right solution to every conceivable situation around.

I quote a few of his statements for those in a hurry..

"What happens when 20,000 people congregate in a camp? Diseases spread... So here is the 'Thinking Different' bit... We could use the 'Lifesaver' bottle. It will process 25,000 liters of water... And how much does it cost? About half-a-cent-a-day to run... With just eight billion dollars, we can hit the millennium goal's target of halving the number of people without access to safe drinking water."

Now let me talk a bit about Shai and his wonderful idea.

So you have heard of web 1.0 and web 2.0, moving on to 3.0 and further? Something similar is happening with cars too!!



We are right now at the 2.0 for cars. With hybrids and alternate sources making ways for a greener future (better late than never :D )



With that said, wouldn't keep you all waiting more to actually hear what Shai thinks about what holds for the future of cars and our environment in general. Is it 3.0? I sure hope it is. Underneath is the link.

Shai Agassi's bold plan for electric cars - TED Talks

Again, its the simplicity of the idea that makes it a genius. Will it work? Only time will tell, but we are fast approaching a better world. Now, it is not HOW, but WHEN..

A few excerpts from Shai for those who want to have a quick understanding.

"So how would you run a whole country without oil? That's the question that sort of hit me in the middle of a Davos afternoon about four years ago. It never left my brain. And I started playing with it more like a puzzle... through a process of wandering around, I got to the thought that actually if you could convert an entire country to electric cars, in a way that is convenient and affordable, you could get to a solution... how do you scale this so that it can become something that is used by 99 percent of the population... we're bound with the laws of physics and the laws of economics... I actually found out that the answer comes from separating between the car ownership and the battery ownership... you could actually answer the need for a convenient car by creating a network, by creating a network before the cars show up... we created electric miles... we do not use any electrons that come from coal. So in a sense this is an absolute zero carbon, zero fossil fuel, electric mile, at two cents a mile by 2020..."

I would actually like to re-iterate a very interesting thing that was the conclusion to Shai talk. Its about economy vs morality. For, how a presentation on electric cars end in such a conclusion, I would rather you go thru the entire talk he made. It is very interesting to listen to!!

200 years ago, in Parliament, in Great Britain, there was a long argument over economy versus morality. 25 percent, just like 25 percent emissions today, comes from cars. 25 percent of their energy for the entire industrial world in the U.K. came from a source of energy that was immoral: human slaves. And there was an argument. Should we stop using slaves? And what would it do to our economy? And people said, "Well we need to take time to do it. Let's not do it immediately. Maybe we free the kids and keep the slaves. And after a month of arguments they decided to stop slavery. And the industrial revolution started within less than one year. And the U.K. had 100 years of economic growth. We have to make the right moral decision. We have to make it immediately. We need to have presidential leadership just like we had in Israel that said we will end oil. And we need to do it not within 20 years or 50 years, but within this presidential term because if we don't, we will lose our economy, right after we'd lost our morality.

So my question for you!!

How are you working today to make this World a better place?

Cheers & Luv
Nisarg

PS:- YOuR inTerEst in the BlOGs woULd indicate if I con"TIN"ue writing! So I hope you like this one!!