Lean, mean, green machines

Almost 140 years after Jules Verne dreamed of travelling around the world in 80 days, Swiss inventor Louis Palmer launches a new challenge: to travel 30 thousand kilometres across the globe in the same amount of time but without carbon emissions.

The ZERO Race starts and ends in Geneva. By January 2011 it will have crossed 16 countries and passed through 150 cities. The four teams participating in the race and which began their journey on August 16 are from Australia, South Korea, Germany and Switzerland and are racing with purpose-built electric vehicles that have to be efficient, safe, useful and good-looking as well as fast to guarantee them a place on the podium.

The cars will travel across Switzerland, pass through Brussels, Berlin, Vienna and Moscow before heading to Shanghai where a ship will carry them to Vancouver. From Canada the race will head down the west coast of America and into Mexico where the vehicles will be put on show at the UN Climate Conference in Cancun. In December the cars will again board a ship and sent to Portugal where they will take off for the last leg of their worldwide journey.

Dreaming a carbon neutral future

The race is the brainchild of Swiss teacher turned inventor Louis Palmer who in 2008 became the first person to drive a solar powered car around the world, covering 54 thousand kilometres in 18 months. The 38 year old is being hailed as a “solar pioneer” and has won awards, including the European Solar Prize, for his accomplishments in the renewable energy field. “Growing traffic and environmental pollution are situations that are just asking for solutions. The ZERO race is very much about showing realistic ways towards a cleaner and greener future for the planet and its people”, he said.

The competition will test the latest technology but also ensure that the vehicles are practical for everyday life and, most importantly, that they truly are green. Power during the race must be in the form of renewable energy and electricity will be fed into the grid in the teams’ home countries from solar or wind sources. Any unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions created, such as the shipping of vehicles or flights for team members, will be compensated by investments into MyClimate renewable energy projects.

“With this race we want to show that seven billion people on this planet need renewable energy and clean mobility… petrol is running out and the climate crisis is coming”, says Palmer. In other words: the race against time has begun for all of us.

To follow the journey in real time visit: www.zero-race.com