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Evident eco-consciousness in China than in Malaysia

Nov 3, 2009 21:37

Continuing geek observations in Shanghai... 

Remember the days when China was famous for having hordes of bicycles on its streets? Possibly a sea of practical, standard-issue black bicycles as transport for the people? Well, two-wheelers are still commonplace, albeit more so in smaller towns and villages, but technology has caught up. Many, if not most, of the bicycles are now electrically assisted. It's not just a few of them which are electrically assisted, virtually all the bicycles are. Here's a picture of one of the more common models.

It's definitely not a passing fad where people use electric bicycles just to be green. The Chinese are using it as a practical form of transport. It's incredible to see what would be regarded as a gadget toy, even in Malaysia, being used as a main form of transportation. See that chunk in the center? That's the battery. All you need to do is plug the battery in when you're not using it to recharge. It's not even a belt-driven kind of motor, it's direct drive. The motor is in the hub of the rear wheel.



This bike with its monoshock configuration even carries passengers. What don't they carry? I've seen a few of these electric bicycles carry gas cylinders. Light, non-polluting, and most of all, functionally practical green machines. No smog emissions.



Electric bikes don't have enough power for you? Well, step up to GAS. Yep, most if not all, of the scooters I saw were GAS-powered. Powered by LPG. It's incredible. Extremely silent, no loud exhaust, and best of all, no smog emissions from the inefficient two-stroke engines. I've a good mind to blame a bulk of air pollution in Kuala Lumpur on the inefficent two-stroke engines being used there, burning oil and gas. There's so little pollution, and even better, LPG-run engines are cheaper to operate. Why don't we have these in Malaysia?



See the many scooters all lined up, each and every one of them, from a variety of makes, all LPG-powered. So green, clean, and again to state the obvious, practical.

This really brings truth to what I hold dear. Being enviromentally friendly should not involve sacrifices. If you make it practical, it's obvious that people will switch to using it. Kuala Lumpur has lots of motorbikes which run around the city spewing out smog. A simple introduction of such green forms of transportation would likely reduce the smog produced. Let's hope someone with a green thumb starts importing these eco-friendly forms of transport to start replacing at least a part of our smog- producing machines in Malaysia.



One more thing. Want to have a part-time job which keeps you fit as well? Here it is. Food delivery person on a bicycle. Cheap, practical and healthy.  

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