greenswitch – climate change and cleantech solutions

Round-the-world flight: powered by solar



(source: Solar Impulse site)

I guess they will have to follow the sun…

.::Solar Impulse – a human, scientific and ecological adventure::.: “In March 1999, Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones, on board ‘Breitling Orbiter 3′, accomplished what was considered as the last great aviation adventure of the 20th century: the first ever non-stop round-the-world flight in a balloon. The aim was not to revolutionise air transport but to accomplish a great dream combining, in Jules Verne style, technology, human adventure and respect for the environment. The public immediately understood this symbolism and, having followed their progress hour by hour, acclaimed the pilots as heroes. “

…

Today Bertrand Piccard has decided to embark on a new and even more ambitious project: a round-the-world flight in a solar aircraft . This time, the challenge is to mark the history of transport by exploiting new technologies that satisfy the demands of our era for sustainable development: use only renewable forms of energy and remain airborne without generating any polluting emissions .

This adventure aims, step by step, at re-enacting the great ‘firsts’ and record-breaking flights that punctuated the history of 20 th Century aviation, this time using only solar energy, with the final objective of a solar-powered round-the-world flight.

First public hydrogen fuel station in Germany planned

By the end of 2004 Berlin will have its first public hydrogen fuel station. There are already several hydrogen fuel stations in Germany but most of them are in ‘beta’ or even ‘alpha’ — which means they are only in testing mode. In the next weeks I will focus more on ‘bio fuels’ — there have been some interesting developments in Germany. Also, I finally had the chance to watch Joshua Tickel’s (aka. Mr. Veggie Van) DVD “Veggie Van Voyage” — cool beans….I met Joshua a couple of months ago in Munich and had a good evening with his film crew. It’s so refreshing to exchange visions with Americans…I really do miss this here in Germany, where these ‘engineer type people’ always come up with 10 reasons why it’s NOT going to work out as opposed to that ‘can do’ attitude I admire in Americans (well, you need a sophisticated bullshit filter, though..)

translate source below using google translation

Grundsteinlegung: Berlin bekommt erste öffentliche Wasserstoff-Tankstelle – Auto – SPIEGEL ONLINE: “Ab Ende 2004 will die CEP an dieser Tankstelle am Berliner Messedamm eine Flotte von zunächst 16 Pkw mit Wasserstoff versorgen. Dies geschieht öffentlich im Alltagsbetrieb einer normalen Tankstelle mit konventionellen Kraftstoffen, Waschhalle, Informationszentrum und Werkstatt. Ebenfalls erprobt werden soll der Einsatz von biogenem Kraftstoff als Übergangslösung zur Wasserstoff-Technologie.

In Berlin betreiben TotalFinaElf Deutschland und die BVG bereits seit Oktober 2002 eine nicht-öffentliche Wasserstoff-Tankstelle. Die Tankstelle in Wedding ist Teil des Berliner Wasserstoffkompetenzzentrums, in dem die beiden Unternehmen ihren Forschungen konzentrieren. Bis zum Jahr 2005 sollen bis zu zehn BVG-Busse mit Brennstoffzellen betrieben werden. Laut Plan soll der Erste noch in diesem Jahr auf den Berliner Straßen zu sehen sein. “

okay, I am back to Munich. I’m quite busy with some projects but will post something in the next days…rei