Sat 23 Oct 2010
Zero Emissions Race around the World
Posted by admin under World Expeditions
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If you reached this Balkingpoints.com article by direct external link, stop by the front page for an incredible satellite view of the earth in rotation!
The Big Start…day 1 of the Zero Race
Today was finally the official start of Louis Palmer’s inaugural zero emissions race! We started at 5 AM – but at least on the top of the world at about 2100 m above sea level in the Grimsel Hospiz Historic Alpine Hotel. Our aim was to make it on time to our official launch in Geneva. Unfortunately, we started with yet another unexpected setback. This time, the Korean Team’s car Yebbujana was not plugged in correctly overnight, and so their battery was not sufficiently charged for driving the 275 km to Geneva. They were delayed all day, and missed out on our fun events.
As for the rest of us, we drove to Geneva in rain and gloomy conditions, but at least we made it on time! Late morning, we set up our display at Place des Nations, in wet, blizzard like conditions. Nonetheless, our start was historic for many reasons, but we were particularly proud, and thankful for having obtained the permission to start inside the Palais des Nations of the United Nations. Normally, nobody is allowed to enter there, unless they are of high importance such as political leaders. But, exceptionally, for the first time ever, an event like the ZERO Race was granted special entry. For Louis and me, this was a personal dream come true.
So, once we passed security and arrived between the flags, the Zero Race participating vehicles lined up in front of an impressive crowd of local and international press representatives, while Louis gave interviews. This was followed by speeches by Mr Jan Kubis, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, representing the Director-General of the United Nations Office in Geneva and Ms Ivonne Higuero, Senior Officer at the United Nations Environment Programme, and Louis of course. They all outlined the importance of signing the deal in Cancun, and emphasised the role of new innovative transport technologies in mitigating the impacts of climate change. Representatives of our partner organisation from UNEP officially waved the start flag for the Zero Race, and participating vehicles proudly rolled out and headed to Yverdon.
In Yverdon, we were welcomed in the Jules Verne Museum with a special opening, and accompanied by amazing people like Raphael, who is an adventurer about to set out to be the first person to circumnavigate the planet in a solar powered boat. In Yverdon, the teams were tested for the smallest circle with their vehicle and the winner was Team Vectrix.
Late afternoon, we headed to Huttville, where we were invited by representatives of the company Flyer to test their super cool electric bikes! I am very happy to take two with us on the world tour to use them for getting around in places.
We were all extremely tired (and slightly grouchy) by evening time, but at least it was completed with a delicious dinner on a farm in the company of great local hosts who invited us to indulge in locally produced foods. This farm is part of a local network of businesses that work in partnership with the Flyer bike company, and they offer visitors the opportunity to use the bikes in the beautiful surrounding Emmental countryside, while having truly authentic experiences – so far as having locally made electric bikes. I think that is impressive, and since the bikes are partially powered by human effort, this is great for health and fitness as well.
Posted August 17th, 2010 in Switzerland.
More like a diary entry above. The Zero Emissions Race is an 80 day quest by 4 teams to get around the world on renewable energy only. Participating are teams from Australia, Germany, South Korea and Switzerland.
The vehicles can be powered by solar, wind, wave or geothermal energy. At first I thought these above were all solar, but now not so sure. I’ll try to find out exactly how each vehicle is powered.
In any case a great story to kick off the B/P World Expeditions section, and of course contribute some visibility to the endeavor. The only thing these guys forgot is the Wright Brothers window sticker… ;^)
This is pretty cool.
Day 2: Huttwil to Winterthur
This morning, a few of us were keen to ride our Flyer bikes back to the factory, where we had the pleasure to partake in factory tour inside a brand new ecodesigned Minergie standard building. The Flyer factory in Huttwil is equipped with a wide variety of resource saving technologies, including solar panels and a roof garden maintained with treated water from the building. The factory employs about 120 people from the surrounding regional area, who produce about 200 electric bikes a day. The demand for Flyer bikes is rapidly expanding, and the majority of them are sold in Switzerland, some are also exported to Holland, Austria and Germany. The tour was really interesting, and I was really impressed to see this bike company trying everything possible to implement the principles of sustainability along its production chain.
The rest of our morning was mostly about rushing around, as we had some unexpected logistical issues to resolve with several teams. Fortunately we found solutions to everything, thanks to everyone having a good attitude and team spirit. From Huttwil we drove to Luzern again, where the participating vehicles faced their 3rd Zero Race competition challenge. This time their breaking system was tested, and according to the measurements carried out by Hubert Riggert from the Luzern Traffic Authority, the Zerotracer got the most points – 10 out 10!
Unfortunately, we arrived late to our lunch event at D4 Luzern Technopark, but the warm reception made up for the stress of the morning’s rush. I should mention that the Zero Race home-base office is here, so we had friends and family waiting for us for a final farewell! The Luzern Technopark is a very modern establishment that strives to be ecologically sustainable, and also implement the objectives of a 2000-Watt Society. Since it is located in a semi-rural setting, it even has its own railway station to facilitate rapid and efficient access. The buildings meet Minergie ecodesign standards, and they are fitted with a number of ecoefficient features such as a high-quality structural shell and triple-paned windows. Plus, our office’s heating and cooling comes from a combination of geothermal (one of the largest sinks in Switzerland), solar (660 m2 on the roof) and wood-chip firing plant (locally sourced, and carbon neutral).
In the afternoon we drove to Rapperswil, where we all calmed down a little, thanks to another friendly reception – and finally some sunshine! The teams had a pleasant time chatting to interested bystanders by the lake in the old part of town, and we even got drinks and fresh local sausages to eat!
From Rapperswil we drove to Winterthur, where we had another colourful evening – this time at a party organised by our Swiss Team, whose home base is here. We had great food, interesting and fun company, and our driving crew also expanded with the arrival of Mick Chapman from Australia to join Team Trev for the next stretch of our adventure.
Posted August 18th, 2010 in Switzerland.
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Day 4: Michelstadt to Mainz and to Bonn
This morning, we picked up the vehicles from a recharge at Ralos, a company that makes solar installations. Then at breakfast, we figured out that the most important tool we have with us is a paperclip!!! Yes! I fixed my phone with it yesterday, and last night, while driving on the Autobahn in Germany, the Zerotracer’s lights went out suddenly. After, overcoming the unexpected shock, the team quickly realised that Frank’s converter blew a fuse! So….the only tool to fix the problem was a paperclip I had given to Tobi earlier. And it worked of course!!!
This morning we stayed in the historic town of Michelstadt, where Louis gave a presentation to an audience of 300 people, of which 200 were school children. The atmosphere was amazing and probably the highlight for most of the teams! The kids sat really still during Louis’s entire presentation, and they paid very close attention to every single word he said. We then drove to Mainz, in a rush of course….as somehow, we just continue losing time with small things.
We spent the entire afternoon in Mainz, were we had an impressive welcome at SCHOTT Solar, where Louis gave another presentation. This company has a 125 year history in glass manufacturing, and today it has considerable technological competence in the solar industry. I was told their modules are twice as good as industry standards! A company’s monitoring study shows their roof modules installed over 20 years ago, still achieve over 90 % performance. SCHOTT Solar also produces receivers for solar power plants with parabolic trough technology, which are able to supply entire cities with power. The Zero Race teams are all big solar energy fans, but I really wonder why the planet is not switching to using it faster. The sun shines everywhere, and it is a renewable energy source that truly provides development opportunities with dignity! The sun sends enough energy to the earth in less than one hour than we humans consume in a year!
By evening time we were really tired again, and most of us were whinging about something! I think the long days and the limited sleep time is a bigger challenge than we thought they would be.
Posted August 20th, 2010 in Germany.
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