The World in 2050! (Part 2)

Due to popular demand from my readers in my previous blog entry, I decided to put two more stories of the future here. They are quite long. So have a look at them, patiently...


Hydrogen Finally Pushes Gasoline Off the Road
Iceland: Today was a historic day for Iceland when their President this morning at a symbolic ceremony officially shut down the last gasoline pump in the country. Iceland is a model country when it comes to the fuel transition from gasoline to hydrogen and became today the first country in the world to complete it.

This date has been planned for about 5 years so it came as no surprise to the Icelanders that they can no longer fill their cars with gasoline. The governmental subventions for motorists to scrap their gasoline vehicles, combined with a mature used cars market of hydrogen vehicles due to their early adoption have made the transition possible. Another key factor has been the low price of hydrogen, Iceland has the cheapest hydrogen in the world since their domestic production meets demand.

Iceland is not only self-sufficient with hydrogen, all of it is produced through electrolysis based on hydro- and geothermal power. This means that 100% of the hydrogen consumed in Icelandic cars are produced from renewable sources, known to the consumer as Re-Hydro, compared to about 10% of the hydrogen in the US cars.

The transition has also resulted in that Iceland now has the most modern car fleet in the world. Half of the 233,000 vehicles are hydrogen-hybrids and half are fuel cell models, even though now three of four cars sold are fuel cell.

35 years ago the Icelandic car fleet consumed as much gasoline as the marine fleet, but due to the automotive subventions and the longer life length of boats, the marine fleet has not been able to keep pace. It will most likely take another 10 years before the last Icelandic fishing boat with a diesel engine is taken out of service. By then Iceland will have decreased their oil consumption with about 80% since year 2005.

India's richest village at Haosi
Haosi village, set up in 1961, has been declared India's richest village. In this village of Haosi, a booming market town of 36,000 in Orissa's affluent central district of Ganjam, every family has at least one house or villa, two cars and Rs 250,000 in the bank.The villagers homes/villas are of around 4,000 sq ft to 6,000 sq ft area.

One man is credited with turning around the fortunes of the village: Ajit Kumar, who was the secretary of the village's local branch of the Biju Janata Party. Ajit adopted a set of policies that were an amalgam of free market economics and customary principles of communism. About 90 years ago, Ajit, a farmer himself, propelled a movement which saw Haosi transform itself from an agriculture-driven economy into an industrial powerhouse. The village built factories by the hundreds and the disciplined villagers, who all work seven days a week and take breaks only once in a while, soon realised the fruits of hard labour and smart transition from agriculture to industry.

Big items like villas and cars are distributed in a uniform way to the villagers here. People do not have to pay for it as the village distributes this wealth. The construction and decoration are uniformly designed by the village, and also paid for by the village.

The village itself is like no other Indian village or city. It resembles a western suburb that has been just plucked from the American countryside and transplanted into India. Officials from elsewhere in India have toured Haosi to find out how this once sleepy village, with just 576 residents in the 1950s, is now so rich and why non-local businessmen would donate million-dollar factories to buy the privilege of a local residence permit.

Haosi Village has adhered to a path of 'relying on the collective economy and working for common prosperity', says The People's Daily.

Again this time, I give the credit to the internet for helping me with these articles.

Coming up next is a set of funny news stories that will put your nerves racing, and heart laughing! Till then, Adios!

Comments

  1. Really really marvellous........ If d Oriya ppl living outside Odisha 4 few yrs cn luv Odisha 2 include it in so many articles, y nt ppl living hr....???

    Realy sad 2 c d inferiority complex of ppl evn 2 declare dat dey r Oriyas.... May b datz d reason y Odisha z d poorest state n mentality native cultures r so undervalued.... Neway, keep it up!!!

    I hope Housi z real n it shud achieve d status defined by u....

    Does it exist??? Didnt find in net....

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Pallabi: It actually feels great to include Orissa in almost all my college projects! Proud feeling! :)
    And of course Google search wont show the place called Haosi....it hasnt received any such 'rich' status yet...and so not famous! Google will take some time to recognise it!! ;)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

All spam comments with backlinks from bots/individuals will be deleted. So please don't waste your time by posting spam.