Tour de Sol 2006— America’s Green Car Show
by Warren McLaren, Sydney 
on 03.20.06
We mentioned it a couple of times last year. And soon it will be back again for 2006. Motoring into its eighteenth year, the 2006 Tour de Sol “will celebrate progress made toward more environmentally friendly vehicles that use less fuel and emit less climate change emissions, and offer new ways of getting around.” So, if you have a passing interest in “hybrid, natural gas, biofuel, electric, and fuel cell vehicles” then maybe you should be passing by Saratoga Spa State Park, in New York state, come 10-14 May 06. The Tour de Sol is organized by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) who have established competitions with a total prize pool $10,000 USD to “showcase advanced-technology and push the envelope toward zero carbon emission vehicles.” The show is open to the general public, but does have special events for students, the media and inventors. ::Tour de Sol 2006
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Surely hydrogen fuel cells are the best long term solution...or am I missing something with limitations to this technology?
All other technologies seem to rely heavily on non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels.
A hydrogen fuel cell that was powered by solar technology and only emitted water vapour, surely that is where the money should go.
Anyway the event seems like a brilliant idea.
Vincenze.
ps I'm posing a question on "minimal impact transportation" over at http://vincenze.com though it's more about using current technology...
Vincenze, one of the downsides of hydrogen at this point is the lack of infrastructure to deliver the fuel. Was recently reading a discussion about how Methanol could possibly be distributed, via the existing petrol/gasoline network. But Methanol has its own set of problems. There is no single silver bullet to slay our oil dependence. It will require a multi-solution approach.
I don't understand this fixation on hydrogen powered vehicles. It seems to me that a battery electric vehicle would be far more affordable, practical, safe and available today.
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are essentially electric vehicles with a complicated and expensive hydrogen system instead of batteries. Great for auto manufacturers and energy companies. Bad for the rest of us.
Ahmad,
It is simply this battery = long (several hours) charge time. H2 = few min to refill.
That being said since most people drive a few miles a day. There is no reason why a battery electric vehicle wouldn't work for most people. My commute is 50 miles round trip so as long as the cold weather range of an E vehicle was this plus a reasonable "safety" factor, say 20-25 miles or so I could use one.
Thanks for the clarification Warren. I guess until solar powered hydrogen fuel cells are feasible, the technology won't be that popular...and of course using a fossil fuel to aquire the hydrogen is not a good solution.
And as you said, there'll probably be many technologies that develop that will help with the oil situation...diversity is always good.
cheers,
Vincenze.
http://vincenze.com
Thanks for the clarification Warren. I guess until solar powered hydrogen fuel cells are feasible, the technology won't be that popular...and of course using a fossil fuel to aquire the hydrogen is not a good solution.
And as you said, there'll probably be many technologies that develop that will help with the oil situation...diversity is always good.
cheers,
Vincenze.
http://vincenze.com