TREE huggers and those who lament the use or abuse of non-renewable resources, especially in the generation of energy and power, should take a long hard look at the proposed technology that is being touted by Motor Development Inc. founder Guy Negre and his manufacturer of choice, Tata Motors.

Yes, the same Tata Motors that has dared to bring forth the $2,500 car — while purchasing high-end Jaguar and Land Rover from a sputtering Ford Motor Company. The car invented by Mr. Negre is powered by compressed air. A full load of compressed air that can presumably be available in many or most gas stations takes only a few minutes to load and will take the prototype car a full 125 miles (200 km).

Now one has to take a long hard look at the Indian market and realize just how practical they are about their cars. The Maruti car company manufactures a local version of the Suzuki Alto which has a minuscule 800cc engine. This car may seat four or a maximum of five people anywhere else, but the intrepid Indians manage to shoehorn seven people in there! Imagine what they will do to a car designed for seven, as the first proposed model of the air car will do since it is supposed to perform yeoman’s chores as an everyday taxi.

The first model is to be named the CityCat and will cost about $12,500 — roughly the cost of a Corolla in most countries. It will run at a maximum speed of 68 mph (almost 110 kph) — just enough to stay within most speed limits, but putting a damper on the speed demons out there — which should get one from point A to point B in good time.

Now, this is probably the best idea for a practical car there is today. It will not spew any dangerous fumes or probably create a large carbon footprint. And air is available anywhere at a pittance compared to either the stratosphere-riding cost of gasoline and other alternative fuels. Until a viable solar powered car comes along, this will be the technology to beat.

Read about this amazing technology in the following threads.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2007/03/21/a-new-agreement-between-tata-motors-and-mdi-bring-the-air-car-cl/

http://www.theaircar.com/acf/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_car

http://www.businessweek.com/autos/content/mar2007/bw20070319_949435.htm?campaign_id=rss_topDiscussed

SOMETIME back, in one of my earlier blogs about microfinance in this country, I was reminded by a reader of the early pioneering work in this area by Dr Jaime A. Alip from Los Baños. Well, some interesting things happened since that blog.

First, I got to meet Dr. Alip himself after he gave a talk before usually jaded businessmen and entrepreneurs in the Entrepreneurship Forum organized by the Asian Institute of Management. He mentioned in his talk that he started the CARD MRI network sometime in the mid-80s with the magnificent amount of twenty pesos! I mentioned to him that if I had met him in 1989 — especially in that fateful meeting organized by the late Gasty Ortigas, then president of AIM, and Ernie Garilao (who was executive director of PBSP then) — I would have very willingly rammed grant money down his throat. The donors and creditors who had tried to work through our fledgling government unit, the CCPAP, were willing to try and funnel a certain amount of funds directly to NGOs instead of through the ponderous — and leaky — government process.

When I mentioned this chance encounter the same evening to my wife she exclaimed that her family, which has its origins in the municipality of Biñan, Laguna, used to go to the lanzones farm of a certain Dr. E. Alip, a best friend of my late father-in-law. A text message to the younger Dr. Alip confirmed that the person in question must have been his grandfather, Dr. E. Alip, the historian. Then, my wife pointed out Dr. Alip the historian to me in our wedding pictures. Interesting.

Remembering that a classmate of mine in one of the big three banks was in charge of branch lending, which included loans to the microfinance sector, I asked him if my friend did business with him. He replied that my friend had just lent him (through the bank, of course) about P200 million that same day! In a later gathering of my college class to honor a balikbayan classmate, my friend confirmed that he had indeed lent that amount to Dr. Alip’s CARD MRI network and that they were very good debtors.

Another interesting point brought up by Dr. Alip is that his network is “grant-free,” meaning, they don’t rely on grants. They take out loans from commercial or development institutions and lend these out without taking a hit. Another interesting deviation from the model developed by Dr. Yunus is the fact that Dr. Alip’s beneficiaries are expected each to be responsible for her (only women are subjects of the network) own obligation. Unlike the original microfinance model which usually has a group of five and only two people being able to borrow at a time, with the remaining three making sure the two pay up on time.

SOMETIME in the ’70s, I got my hands on the seminal work by Rachel Carson entitled “Silent Spring.” (Later on, I found the sequel titled “Since Silent Spring.”) Reading this book marked my introduction to
the very interesting world of environmental protection and conservation, a cause I have carried close to my heart ever since.

Since that time, I have accumulated scores of books on different subjects related to the environment, not to mention a substantial collection of National Geographic publications and other books and
magazines that highlight the beauty (or distress) of planet Earth.

From that time till the fairly recent present, taking the cudgels for environmental causes, especially for those in the business world, was like taking on the mark of anathema — a personal curse, if you may –
by the way colleagues and the public would treat such activists. Even to this day, the various battlecries such as “Save the Whales” or “Save the Trees” evoke much scorn or indifference from a public that still has to appreciate what man’s encroachment on the environment has caused in terms of global warming and the depletion of natural and non-renewable resources.

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