Tag Archives: cars
JLT motorists caught in jam
JLT motorists caught in jam Muaz Shabandri / 10 September 2013 Thousands of motorists were stuck in their cars on Monday morning after traffic came to a standstill in the Jumeirah Lake Towers community. Some motorists spent more than two hours in their cars as traffic backed up from Shaikh Zayed Road leading up to the entire stretch of the road going around the community. The slow-moving traffic at the JLT roundabout in Dubai on Monday. — KT photo by Leslie Pableo Police officers confirmed the incident on Twitter as Dubai Police tweeted, “Broken down vehicle is causing traffic congestion at JLT.” Rush hour traffic continued late on Tuesday evening also as motorists complained similar traffic snarls in the same area. Some motorists complained that a major roundabout in the middle of the development was closed and traffic from three different roads was being rerouted to one exit. “It usually takes me seven minutes to reach office from my house in Emirates Hills. On Monday, it took more than two-and-a-half hours and it was absolutely chaotic. There were no signs explaining which roads were closed,” said Manjari Khatwani who works for an international media company in JLT. Most motorists in the area were unaware as limited traffic signs and new road diversions added to traffic problems. Offices in JLT were severely affected as the so-called ‘planned road closure’ had choked access to buildings in the area. Security staff working in the area were seen directing traffic towards an exit leading to Shaikh Zayed Road as teams from civic authorities also rushed to the site. Rami Salame works for an advertising agency in the area. He called on authorities to plan better and help avoid such situations. “There can’t be three or four roads leading to one exit. Someone has to take responsibility for better planning and build more access and exit points in the area,” he said. JLT’s master developer, Dubai Multi-Commodities Center, was tight-lipped about the traffic crisis. The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) also did not reply to questions by Khaleej Times . muaz@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
Parking woes hit Sharjah residents
Parking woes hit Sharjah residents Lily B. Libo-on / 20 August 2013 Parking woes continue to haunt residents and expatriates in the emirate due to the scarcity of free parking — prompting some families to stay at home rather than pay to park their cars. With just few “kacha” (temporary) areas mostly left for free parking, residents are facing the problem of moving their cars in the morning to go to office with often hundreds of cars crammed into the small kacha areas. The tight parking spaces mean some cars get damaged by others, whose drivers due to lack of space, sometimes, sideswipe their cars and drive away. The hunt for a car park also render people late for appointments or meetings, as sometimes they have to spend more than an hour waiting for someone to vacate a space. In many residential areas such as in the parking near the Immigration department and the Al Mahatta Museum, only a small strip on the right side of the museum is left for free parking, with the rest being paid parking at Dh2 an hour. The Sharjah Municipality has offered an annual parking sticker — for Dh1,300 — for a car to be parked in two areas at the owner’s choice. But most motorists are saying they want the government to charge Dh700 like in Abu Dhabi for one parking area. Rao Naido, an Indian expatriate staying in Rolla, Sharjah for the past eight years, has been in this situation for the past three years. “Eight years back, it was free parking almost everywhere but now, almost all except the “kacha” areas, which can only accommodate between 300 and 500 vehicles in various areas, are free. It is also dangerous as other car owners just bump into your car while maneuvering to get in or out in such a crammed area,” he said. He said it takes him an hour or so waiting to get a parking space, especially when his wife goes out to buy groceries. “I have to stay back in the car, put on the hazard lights, and wait until I can get a space when someone moves out. Most of the time, I don’t get one. Coming from the office at 6pm, I have to rush to a “kacha” area, which is far from my residence, to vie for a space. The situation is so depressing. It requires so much patience.” Sameer Hamza, an Indian who has been living in Al Qasimiya, Sharjah for four years, says that he always rushes from work at 6pm to the “kacha” area near the Mega Mart to be able to park his car. “Once I park in the “kacha” area, I don’t want to move my car anymore because if I go out with my family to the Corniche to watch the lagoon as we used to do, I cannot find a space by the time I get back. By 11pm or midnight, there is no more parking space in the “kacha” area, which accommodates about 500 cars in an overcrowded place.” He said he has no option but to go to a paid parking area. “If I park my car in a paid parking regularly, I need between Dh100 and Dh150 a month. This is not possible for me,” he said. Mohammed Ahmed, a Pakistani who has been living near Al Mahatta Museum for years, said there was just a small strip of free parking in this area. Before, spaces there were free, but for the past year all has been made paid parking. “From my work, I always go back home to be able to get a parking space at a “kacha” area near Al Madina and Al Hilal Bank. After 8pm, I cannot get a parking space anymore. I will wait until 10pm, to get free parking, but many like me are eying the area to get free parking. Parking is free until 8am. Hence, I pay for an hour, from 8am to 9am at Dh2 an hour, then I drive my car to work.” Families going to Al Majaz Waterfront say they are paying Dh5 in green parking inside, seven days a week. Outside parking, which is always full, is Dh2 an hour. But, very few get a parking space. Many of the families say the parking problem is forcing them to stay away from a night out in the parks and other entertainment areas to avoid any inconvenience of not finding a parking space after they return home. Filipino Nando Reyes says they can heave a sign of relief on Friday, when the parking areas are free. But, he said, many prefer Dubai because the parking is free for two days, Friday and Saturday. Reports of some enterprising individuals leasing empty areas are aplenty. These leased areas are managed by several Asians who allegedly collect Dh200 a month parking fee from residents of the area in order to let them park. But, it is not known whether they register it with the government or if this ongoing business is in the knowledge of the authorities. – lily@khaleejtimes.com More spaces to be added: Municipality Afkar Abdullah A senior official at Sharjah Municipality has attributed the lack of parking areas in Sharjah to the increasing popularity of the emirate, which attracts more and more families due to its secure environment. However, the municipality is considering the issue and is working on alleviating the problem, by introducing more multi-storey car parking facilities as well as open car parking areas in places where the number of people residing exceeds the assigned parking areas for their cars. The municipality has completed the construction of more than 10 multi-storey parking lots in various parts of the city and is also making use of open areas to be used for parking vehicles. He added that the move has come to meet the current increasing demand from residents and to cope with the rapid constructional development in the emirate. The municipality said the project will be executed in areas where a lot of traffic congestion is witnessed, where many motorists resort to parking their vehicles on the roads. He said a team of inspectors and other municipal personnel are contributing effectively to reducing the traffic congestion in the crowded areas, adding that they have towed away many cars parked in public places for long periods and have also fined the owners. afkarali@khaleejtimes.com Continue reading
The Key To Making More Efficient Biofuels Is Taking the Wood Out of Wood
By Michael Byrne Here’s the problem with using wood as a biofuel: it’s wood . That’s it, basically. The thing we associate with wood being wood, rigidity, is what makes trees poor materials for use in ethanol production. Rigidity comes from lignin, an organic polymer that fills in the empty spaces within the cell walls of plants; its function is generally mechanical—providing structural strength for the cell and aiding in the flow of water through the plant. Lignin also burns great, but that’s a different kind of fuel. In biofuel applications, we want to get past the lignin to cellulose, which is converted to alcohol-based fuel that can be used to power our cars and trucks. Split wood isn’t the best choice for internal combustion, so the lignin just gets in the way of the part that is the best choice—sugar in the form of cellulose. Let’s stop for a moment. What exactly is biofuel? It’s diesel basically, albeit not derived from the fossil fuels we’re about to run out of and that we extract from the planet at considerable cost socially, environmentally, and economically. Biofuel isn’t “clean” fuel; it’s still a thing resulting in greenhouse gas emissions, though less per unit of energy derived than dinosaur stuff. So as far as being “better” it’s probably not much more than halfway there. But it’s here now in a world with a heavy dependency on diesel-powered trucks for moving its goods around. In many places, particularly Europe, there’s already an infrastructure for it. In several U.S. states, its use is already mandated and the highly ungreen U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005 mandates a significant increase in biofuel use in the coming years. The point of this aside is less to argue that biofuel is good or bad than to say that “it’s here.” And biofuel being here, even against the will of those of us that might know better, means that it’s in our interest to have better and more efficient biofuel. This means making cellulose more efficient to access by eliminating the wood in wood, more or less—eliminating the lignin barrier. The solution, unsurprisingly, is GM biofuels. Let’s make trees with only the good stuff, as far as biofuels are concerned. Floppy plants. It’s a difficult task, however—the process that plants use to make lignin isn’t as obvious as in most other organic molecules. Different plants do it differently, even if it’s the same stuff fulfilling the same functions. According to a new report in Science , Wout Boerjan, a molecular geneticist at Ghent University, tracked down the correct common gene central to synthesizing lignin by way of an enzyme called caffeoyl shikimate esterase. Once identified, Boerjan experimented with silencing this central gene, with the result being plants containing a third less lignin and able to produce up to four times the amount of cellulose. They weren’t even really floppy either. The main catch is that with less of this crucial building material, the plants lost some of their ability to transport food or water. As a result, they were a bit stumpy. It’s thought this could be worked around with more engineering; maybe we could just reduce lignin in cells where it isn’t needed as much. If this is registering as kind of “whatever,” consider the United States’ ethanol problem . The U.S. grows a ton of corn, but much of it is earmarked for biofuel production. This keeps corn prices high across the globe, which keeps civilization primed for violence and unrest. If we’re able to grow biofuel crops with four times the efficiency, that’s a whole lot less farmland needed to keep fuel tanks full. This is also good news for paper production efficiency, though I’m not aware of any connection between the price of Charmin and rioting in the streets. Continue reading
