Good morning SuperForest!
We just got in an amazing post from SuperForester Jesse!
“Introducing the X0F1… a fully solar powered car… the brainchild of Canadian citizen Marcelo Da Luz… This car currently holds the world record for the longest distance traveled by a solar powered vehicle… having traveled over 12,500 miles from Buffalo NY, throughout Canada, up to the Arctic Circle, and finally down to Los Angles CA. And on Thursday, March 12, 2009 at 7:46pm PST, in the parking lot of Leaf Cuisine in Culver City, during a short test drive that was featured on Air America’s “Clout” radio show, I was responsible for adding an extra 30 feet to this world record. Very happy to have been a part of this moment in history…
Here’s some background on their project:
Marcelo and a support vehicle have been driving the long and winding route that finally brought them to Los Angeles since July 12th 2008… and the whole time, the XOF1 has been powered exclusively by the magical sun that is always up in the sky providing free energy. The trip was not without its setbacks… on his best day of sunshine he traveled over 250 miles, and on his worst cloudiest day he only traveled 4 miles. He was pulled over 11 times, including once, when the police pulled him over because someone had called 911 to report a UFO.
The car weighs only 470 pounds, and the design maximizes aerodynamics by having the driver lay on his or her back and use the motorcycle like throttle/brake and steering system… You also have to wear a pair of sunglasses which feature on one corner a digital projection of the image coming from the tiny camera mounted on the back of the vehicle because rear view mirrors would have provided too much drag. Marcelo also reports that it is so comfortable driving on your back that he once fell asleep. That is scary. There is much room for improvement on the practicality of such a car, and Marcelo is a self described “solar purist”… So I can imagine there being a happy medium of this technology reached very soon… Why don’t all cars have solar panels on top at least to power things like the radio, the air conditioning/heating, or even for storing energy into a battery that could power the lights at night… seriously… that’s not just a rhetorical question… can someone answer that?
Anyway… all questions aside for now… the pioneering spirit of individual inventors like Marcelo is a beautiful example of how these changes we’re all hoping for can come from the bottom up as well as from the top down… and it gives me hope that the tipping point of cultural consciousness about energy sources is fast approaching.
I’m very much hoping that when congress meets in just a few weeks (!!!) to debate the Clean Energy Initiative that the Obama Administration is pushing, we will see some radical new policies that will push us further into the world of Sustainable Living!!!
For More information on the XOF1.
and For More information on what you can do you influence the decisions that congress will make in a few weeks… please visit: Vote Solar and click on their Action Alerts button.
LOVE!
jrc”
AMAZING! Cheers, Jesse!
Marcelo Da Luz… Doesn’t that mean Marcelo of the light? How appro. :)
(SuperForester Jesse is a member of the Save-A-Seed Coalition and you can be too!)
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