Next time you honk, remember that you are not only creating environmental chaos, you are also wasting important money. If calculations by Mumbai-based electrical engineer SK Patel, governing council member of Lions Clubs International, are to be believed, we can save upto INR 245 crores per year just by not honking. The calculation works on an estimate and the actual figure may differ by some margin. Patel’s calculations are based on the total number of vehicles on the roads multiplied with the average number of times a person honks and the electrical energy or diesel that goes into charging car batteries.
Here is how he worked out the calculations.
- Total number of vehicle running in India = 72.7 crore*
- Average wattage consumption of a car horn = 75 watts
- Average time a horn is pressed = 1.5 seconds
- Electrical units consumed by a horn every time = 0.00003125
- Average number of honks per hour = six times
- Vehicle’s average time on the road = eight hours a day
- Power consumed by honking per day (74,70,00,000 vehicles x 0.00003125 units per click x 6 times per hour x 8 hours a day) = 11,20,500 units.
- Average cost of electricity = INR 6 per unit
- Total electric power wasted (11,20,500 units x INR 6) = INR 67.23 lakh
- This adds up to a wastage (INR 67,23,000 x 365 days) = INR 245 crore per year
*The number of vehicles is derived from a World Bank-funded ministry of road transport and highways survey.
The actual number may not be INR 245 crore considering the fact that different vehicles ply for different number of hours every day. Moreover, different vehicles have different voltages for the horn. But we are sure not honking will definitely help you save some money while reducing noise pollution.
What do you have to say about the calculation? Let us know your views through the comments section below.
Source: Times of India
For a moment I thought this is some satire but appears to be a genuine article. I must applaud Mr. Patel for his mathematical skills. May be he should come up his thousands of crores we can save by driving slow and not applying brakes.
Reminds me when I was a kid and pointed to a rider going on his bike with headlights on in broad daylight. He laughed at my ignorance and told me that he doesn’t pay electricity bill for this light!
i believe Delhi NCR alone can rack up that number -_-.
On a more serious note, while we are saving wattage, we probably arent saving any significant money seeing as the electricity is generated as the car runs, modern generators dont really cause too much energy loss when it transforms it. We may only be saving a fraction of that number, maybe lesser than that.
However, If it ever came to it, Im all for a honk free India.
If this theory is correct, India would save at least Rs 10,000 Cr annually by putting on just pilot lamps at night drive when street lights are on. We don’t really need (close to 80% times) full headlights switched on in civil areas. We have enough light poured down by power hungry street lights at night. But we don’t really care in the name of non existant security. Do we?
Could have saved more money by not posting this article and having everyone use up their electrical units while reading it.
If Indians only had one child from now on, they save billions eventually.