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http://www.prafulbidwai.org/index.php?post/2010/07/11/A-perverse-no...
http://www.prafulbidwai.org/index.php?post/2010/07/11/A-perverse-notion-of-modernity
Praful Bidwai
Isolated Israel Eases Gaza Blockade: Victory for - Double standards on aid
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03-07-2013 18:01
http://www.prafulbidwai.org/index.php?post/2010/07/11/A-perverse-no...
http://www.prafulbidwai.org/index.php?post/2010/07/11/A-perverse-notion-of-modernity
T-3 is doubly obscene because 80 percent of the structure is glass. Glass loses 30 percent more warm or cooled air than insulated brick. Its production is expensive and emissions-intensive. It may have limited merit in a cold-climate airport which needs maximum sunlightbut not in Delhi . T-3s designers mindlessly imitated the West. Similarly, the liberal use of energy-intensive materials like aluminium and marble belies the claim that T-3 is a green building. T-3s greatest absurdity is that it will add to Delhi s long-notorious airspace congestion. Few domestic flights take off or land in Delhi on time; most aircraft circle for 30-60 minutes. This is a tremendous waste of social time and costly fuel. A new terminal will worsen the congestion. Projects like T-3 are being promoted in India on the specious plea that civil aviation is a public good and indicates social progress. But globally, aviation is increasingly seen as a social liability. Air travel is a major contributor of GHG emissions. Exhausts from airplanes, containing potent GHGs besides carbon dioxide, are 2.7 times more harmful at the altitude at which they occur than on the ground. Affluent air-travellers emissions significantly widen global GHG disparities. Worldwide, sensible policymakers are seeking alternatives to planes, including trains, airships and waterways. The greatest alternative is reorganising cities to limit long-distance traveland thus carbon footprints and travel bills. All of South Asia should join such efforts before addiction to air travel even for casual/holiday trips grows among their elites, and powerful private aviation lobbies capture policy-making. India and Pakistan are poor countries where only a minuscule minority can afford to fly. We shouldnt delude ourselves that aviation will become affordable for the millions who cannot even give their children enough nutrition. During the low-airfare peak, only three per cent of Indians flew. We must develop climate-friendly alternatives to flying. Trains are an excellent example. Today, the Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani takes 16-17 hours to cover 1,400 km. If it can be accelerated to the global level of high-speed trains, it will cross the distance between the two city centres, the most convenient points, in about four hours. This is less than current flying time (2 hours), city-to-airport transit time, plus check-in margins. Most travellers would prefer trains to planesas they do between Paris and Lyon, Madrid and Barcelona , and Tokyo and Kyoto. Similarly, theres no reason why the Lahore-Islamabad distance (360 km) cant be covered in one-and-a-half hours by rail. Trains consume only about one-quarter as much energy as planes, and emit much less GHGs. Speeding up trains will need large emissions-relevant investments. But these would be only a fraction of what it costs to replicate White Elephants like T-3 and other emissions-intensive aviation infrastructure. Singh was obviously delighted when he said Indian aviation can absorb up to $120 billion (Rs564,000 crores) of investment by 2020. India could do wonders with such money for its healthcare, education and social security. Alternatively, it could build a first-class surface transport network appropriate to its needs. The sum represents one-eighth of India s GDP. Should we blow up such colossal sums on socially low-priority aviation, and on super-expensive ecologically unsound projects like T-3? Its time to radically rethink our transportation and urban development policies in the light of equity, inclusiveness, energy efficiency and climate responsibility. The writer, a former newspaper editor, is a researcher and peace and human-rights activist based in Delhi. **
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