Sky News .com. au  Podcast - Eco Report
- discussing Peak Oil in Australia

(Audio only)
31 May 2008

CO2 EMISSIONS PER CAPITA

The Carbon Monitoring for Action (Carma) website is the first global inventory of emissions and looks at 50,000 power stations. Its data was compiled by the Center for Global Development, a US think-tank. The philosophy behind the website is to provide people with information that they currently do not have. Source

   Australia - 10.0 tonnes
   US - 8.2 tonnes
   UK - 3.2 tonnes
   China - 1.8 tonnes
   India - 0.5 tonnes
    (Source: Carma/CGD)

In Australia currently over 85% of electricity generation comes
from fossil fuels of which 75% comes from coal and this makes Australia on of the worlds worst polluters per capita.

•   without all the red tape of resource consents?
•   without more unsightly pylons and transmission lines?
•   without a huge carbon footprint
•   without polluting the environment?
•   initially the cost 25% less than current power prices?
•   to eventually achieve 80-90% efficiency compared to today’s
     20% efficiency?
•   to be independent of power outages and blackouts?

If one (1) MDI manufacturing plant produces 25,000 power generators (12 KW each)  per year this adds  300 MW of electricity, then think globally of what small factories worldwide could do, hundreds and hundreds of factories each adding 300MW per year (to the power grid) will do to replace and increase power generation for the planet. AND units will be run at point of use, minimising the carbon footprint, as well as being environmentally friendly - Power generated from AIR yes AIR!
p.s. The power supply solution is a combination of compressed air driven power generators and IndraNet Minder which form meshed networks that synchronize the power within the existing power grid.

Model factory in Carros, Nice, France

The events are fully covered on IT MDI Energy Website.
 Melbourne review (244 KB)

This is a prelude to the unveiling of the OneCAT car by MDI, planed for January 2008 in Nice, France and to a road show
demonstrating the OneCAT car and the Power Generator in all the Australian and New Zealand metropolitan centres
towards the end of  July Source

http://anz.theoildrum.com/node/3526   January 19, 2007

Q & A with Dr Louis Arnoux of IT MDI-Energy

It’s great to feel the excitement, interest and intrigue about the MDI “air car” as posted on The Oil Drum – Australia and New Zealand. However, a large number of those comments are in my view mistaken and made without the required knowledge and expertise. In this posting I wish to clarify a few matters.

To call the MDI vehicles an “air car” is a misnomer. It is no more an “air car” than a “gasoline car”, or a “diesel car” or an “ethanol car” or a “rapeseed oil car” or a “what-have-you car.” The point being that the MDI engines (there is a whole series of them) are being designed to accept a very wide range of primary energy inputs including fossil fuels, bio fuels, waste heat recycling from other processes and thermal solar energy. Transport is only on aspect of the applications of the MDI technology. Power generation at the point of use, on customer premises is another. Power generation applications are at least as important as the transport applications.

Question: When will construction of the manufacturing facility in Melbourne commence?

Answer: That depends on investment levels and MDI's delivery timetable. At present rate I am expecting establishing a first manufacturing facility during the second half of 2008 and being in full production in 2009. Initially, our focus is going to be on producing power generators, then we plan to move on the automotive applications.

Question: When will air cars first appear on Australian roads ?

Answer: MDI plans to unveil its OneCAT before the end of January 2008. I plan to show case one in Australia towards July 2008.

Question: Is the Melbourne plant the only one planned ? Some articles have mentioned three manufacturing plants in Australia / New Zealand.

Answer: The joint IT MDI business model is to manufacture at or close to the point of sale in small networked factories. We are planning a substantial number of such factories distributed throughout Australasia. We plan to complement this network of factories with a few hubs. We plan to establish the first of those hubs in Melbourne.

Question: How long do you believe it will take to obtain approval from the various Australian state vehicle licencing Authorities ? Has crash testing been undertaken and approved by Australian authorities ? What would happen if an air tank is ruptured ?

Answer: MDI is constantly monitoring regulations world wide and designing each feature of its vehicle to meet the most exacting of all specifications. So I do not expect any significant issue to obtain approval in Australia. The OneCAT will have very innovative design features concerning crash safety. Nothing much would happen in case of a tank rupture. The tanks are underneath the car floor, built within the chassis frame and design to bleed towards the ground in case of a rupture; so just a big "pshiiiit".

Question: There have been many reports over the years that production of the Air Car will begin shortly - for example, in 2000 this BBC report (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/988265.stm) claimed cars would soon be rolling off production lines in France then South Africa, with a raft of countries to follow afterwards - what obstacles were encountered back then and have these all been overcome ?

Answer: In my view, the two main obstacles have been

(1) that some parties do not like the prospect of a revolutionary energy and automotive technology and have been keen to stop it, slow it down, or take it over, and

(2) low investments levels because parties able to provide larger levels of funding by and large did not know how to evaluate an initiative that was so out of what they were use to (so-called change agent or disruptive technology) and/or wanted to take it over.

As is often the case and up to 2007, both MDI and my own company IndraNet technologies (the IT in IT MDI - Energy Ltd) have progressed entirely with the financial support of relatively smaller investors and small individual investments.

Both factors combined has meant many delays and much slower progress than would have been the case if the companies had been left to do their work in peace and had been suitably funded. The first commercial models could have been on the roads at least 2 years ago. However, we are resilient people and now things are getting very exciting.