U.N. Chief Goes To Work In Solar Taxi
by Windsor Genova – AHN News Writer, New York, September 12, 2008
Source: AllHeadNews.com
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7012276449
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took a solar-powered cab to work on Friday to raise awareness about climate change and to promote environmentally-friendly technologies. The ride on the Swiss-built Solartaxi took Ban from his home in New York to the UN Secretariat building. Louis Palmer, the Solartaxi’s inventor, drove him to his office.
Palmer is in New York as part of his global tour to promote the Solartaxi as a cleaner alternative to conventional fuel-run cars. The tour kicked off in Palmer’s hometown in Lucerne in July 2007 and will end this December in Poznan, Poland, where an international meeting on global warming will be held.
The Solartaxi consists of a solar vehicle and trailer with solar cells, which produce 50 percent of the car’s energy requirement. The remaining 50 percent of solar energy, which comes from the solar power roof of the Swisscom building in Bern, Switzerland, is fed to the cab via power sockets en route. The Solartaxi has a top speed of 56 miles per hour.