Fans of sustainable transport have had a good year, with the development of particularly innovative and efficient vehicles running off solar energy rising to the challenge of sustainable mobility.
The use of solar energy in the field of urban transport has led to some great initiatives. Such as the solar tuk-tuk, unveiled by engineer Morakot Charnsomruad. This solar version of the tuk-tuk, the traditional way of getting around the city of Bangkok, could appeal to many towns looking to develop new forms of mobility.
A field taken over by designers who are showing great creativity in inventing sustainable transport. In this regard, two designers, Elisa Sayuri Irokawa Freitas and Rafael Osmar de Oliveira e Costa, have designed the Suspended Public Transportation System) which runs thanks to photovoltaic panels installed on the coaches and wind turbines built all along the track.
The latest creation unveiled to the public is the Gravity Vehicle. It’s a futuristic solar scooter created by the designer Niek de Kort. The particularity of this one-wheeled model is that the driver steers it from a vertical position.
Solar vehicles rise to the challenge
While certain projects are still at early stages, the focus of others is challenges that aim to prove the reliability of their implementation and possible uses.
Remember the exploits of the Solar Impulse plane which landed on 8th July 2010 after a 26-hour flight powered purely by solar energy. The solar plane created by the Swiss Bertrand Piccard was able to fly at night thanks to the electricity that had been stored during the day. A new model of the plane should be flying around the world as soon as next year.
In March 2010, Switzerland made a name for itself again when the 31-metre long PlanetSolar solar catamaran took to the water for the first time. Created by Swiss explorer Raphaël Domjan, the boat runs off 536.65 m2 of photovoltaic solar panels. The largest solar boat in the world has now embarked on a round-the-world trip, which began in April 2011.
Finally, in May 2010, on Swiss territory again, the Icare solar car from engineer Marc Muller departed on a 40,000-km (25,000-mile) round-the-world trip until autumn 2011.
For those involved in these initiatives, it is of the utmost importance to show our capacity to change energy models. This is how Swiss writer and National Councillor, Jacques Neirynck, presented the targets of the Icare challenge: "a realisation concerning Switzerland’s most important problem of the next ten years, that’s to say our energy consumption. We are going to have to save two-thirds of the energy that we consume, (…) but we have all the expertise to rise to these challenges."
Marcel Green and Sustainable Mobility are starting a new partnership together … And it’s all happening in the “Interviews” section!
