UAE: Swiss adventurer stops in Dubai during world tour in solar-powered car

Swiss adventurer Louis Palmer is touring the world in his solar-powered vehicle in a campaign against global warming, aimed at illustrating the advantages of solar energy. Driving along Dubai's heavily congested Sheikh Zayed Road, Palmer and a member of his team illustrated how the 'Solartaxi' works. The solar trailer attached to the back of the two-seater vehicle can generate about 800 watts of power. This, according to Palmer, is enough power to get the car to a maximum speed of 90 kilometres an hour. ''What you see here these are the solar panels which are giving about 800 Watts of power. So the sun is shining on the solar panels and from here the electricity is going through the wires here into the battery. One battery is here in front and the other one is there in the back under the trailer and that's giving then enough power which is then going into the motor'' said Palmer, who arrived in the United Arab Emirates last week. Palmer worked with four Swiss universities and ten private firms to produce the car, with more than 200 people getting involved in the project. He also got a number of companies to sponsor him, namely Q-CELLS, the world's second biggest solar cell manufacturer. But despite all the help, Palmer says he has run out funding. Regardless of the costs, Palmer says his aim is to work on getting rid of carbon emission in an effort to combat global warming and limit some of the environmental disasters occurring around the world. He says his goal is to also make people realise that solar powered cars are a real possibility. Palmer, who has already travelled more than 60,000 kilometres in the last 16 months, says the car is not only environmentally friendly, but has practical and fun features as well. ''Basically I have three horns. One is for the holy cows in India, just to make sure that they get away from you, and this is in case the police are stopping you, and then this one is against crazy drivers,'' explained Palmer while sitting at the steering wheel. Palmer says he has been made very welcomed on the various stops of his tour by locals, politicians and the media. He believes it is because people are enthusiastic about the car. Palmer, who is a school teacher and a travel editor, says he became interested in solar energy as a teenager and since then has wanted to own a solar-powered car. ''When I was 14 years old, in 1986, I decided to build a car for driving it around the world without pollution, without destroying the climate, that that would be a fantastic idea I thought. It took me 20 years to fulfill my dream," Palmer said. ''We all know that global warming is a very big issue and a very big problem and I believe there are other possibilities on how to power a car. We do not need anymore petrol for powering cars. There are other possibilities like for example solar energy. So now, I'm taking this car on a world tour and I want to show it to all the people in the world, 'hey look at this, there is another possibility, there are solutions against global warming.'" Palmer has already toured a number of European and Middle Eastern countries in his car including Germany, Austria, Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. He is due to leave back to Switzerland on Tuesday (September 25). After about a week, Palmer will continue on his pioneering journey, heading to India, Indonesia, Australia and Singapore among other countries. The journey will end in Africa and Palmer hopes to return to Switzerland by October 2008.

ITN Source | September 25, 2007

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