Transforming the Tuk Tuk

A ride through Bangkok's busy streets can cause sensory overload thanks to the sounds of incessant honking, the sight of an unbroken line of brake lights and the smells of tailpipe exhaust. The New York Times reports that one organization is trying to alleviate the last form of pollution.

At Enviu, a Netherlands-based environmental think tank, they've come up with the idea for a hybrid tuk-tuk, the motorized three-wheeler rickshaw favored by Bangkok's tourists for careening down its busy streets.

Enviu gathered students from the Netherlands and India, and challenged them to come up with a new and more eco-friendly design to update these auto rickshaws, which often run on dirty fuels like kerosene. The aim is to reduce carbon emissions by 40 to 60 percent. Not only will this benefit the environment, but the organization estimates that tuk tuk drivers, who traditionally come from a low income bracket, will be able to save up to 35 percent on fuel costs. A race among the students' vehicles was held in Rotterdam last month, and, this month, judges will determine the winners whose designs will be implemented in the creation of a million new hybrid tuk tuks.

Now if they could just do something about the traffic.

Photo courtesy of Starving Fox, via Flickr.