As the hype surrounding the Tata Nano subsides, we're seeing a sharper picture of what a $2,500 car means for the environment and global energy demand. It doesn't look good.
The world's cheapest car is a marvel of engineering and ruthless cost-cutting sure to bring greater mobility to people throughout the developing world. And that is what makes it so troubling.
The Nano doesn't go on sale until fall, but already environmentalists say it will bring big increases in carbon dioxide emissions and pollution. "This car promises to be an environmental disaster of substantial proportions," Yale environmental law professor Daniel Esty told Newsweek. Some energy experts say all those new cars will increase demand for gasoline, with one telling CNN, "we'll get into a situation where we'll have to compete with them for gasoline, $4, $5 a gallon. Who knows how high we could go?"
It would be easy to denounce the naysayers as western do-gooders with no moral standing to criticize India. But the most vocal critics include Indians who say the Nano will deepen the country's critical pollution, infrastructure and traffic woes.
Could the Nano really be so bad?
NVDL: In a word: Duh! The problem is we are addicted to oil, we cannot live without it, and our consumption levels (demand levels) are so outrageously high... And everyone wants this lifestyle. You can't blame them, or stop them, but something has got to give.
By Chuck Squatriglia
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