Solar Impulse Hangout on Air with Schools Across India (Video)
Originally published on 1Sun4All.
Solar Impulse reports that co-founders and pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg hosted a Google Hangout with schools across India, arranged by Aditya Birla Group. The pilots were in the mobile hangar with the Solar Impulse 2 airplane during its stay in Ahmedabad, India, at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport.
André Borschberg says in the video that the revolution is already behind us, we’re seeing the price of solar technology constantly getting cheaper and easier to install in all parts of the current economy.
Bertrand Picard speaks to the mentality needed to have the next breakthrough in renewable energy in the video above:
Solar energy will never be enough in our world to fulfill our needs as long as we continue to waste the energy as we do today, with all technologies that have too many losses and not enough efficiency.
So we have to understand that to make renewable energy a reality worldwide, we also have simultaneously the need to implement clean technologies in the engines, in the insulation of building, in the lighting systems, in the heating and cooling systems, in the industrial process…we have to save energy everywhere.
And we can do it, because it’s possible to do it. Then solar energy and wind energy will be enough for the world.
Bertrand Picard goes on to say that government has a role to play with legislation in this area:
Today it is still allowed to pollute, it is still allowed to waste energy, it is still allowed to put as much CO2 as we want into the atmosphere, and as long as there are not clear guidelines, legal limits and regulations, it will never change.
So we need now several things, we need to put a price on carbon as we have for the waste. We need also to replace the old technology with new cleaner technologies, have more electric mobility, have better insulated houses, LED lighting systems.
And if we do that we will see that not only renewable energy will be enough for the world, but it will also create jobs, it will also make profit for industry, and it will create wealth. So for developing countries, or emerging countries it’s a must, it’s an absolute must to go in that direction.
Many of you will remember the news of solar-covered canals in India. The first project is located on top of Narmada canal in Gujarat — a state in the western part of India, known locally as Jewel of the West, and the location of the first landing for Solar Impulse 2. Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time, and the current Prime Minister of India, inaugurated the 1 Megawatt pilot project on April 24, 2012. A second, 10 MW canal-top solar power plant has been installed in the city of Vadodara, over a branch of Narmada river canal.
Video Credit: SOLAR IMPULSE | Photo Credit: 2015-03-13 Solar Impulse 2 RTW 2nd Public Visit in Ahmedabad, Stefatou via Solar Impulse | Cartoon Credit: Martin Saive via Solar Impulse
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