Solar Impulse To Land Successfully In Hawaii After Nearly 5-Day Flight (Video)

July 3, 20159 years ago Amber Archangel 4 Comments

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Originally published on 1Sun4All.

BREAKING NEWS from Solar Impulse 2 (Si2): André Borschberg aboard the Solar Impulse 2 will touch down at Kalaeola Airport in Hawaii at approximately 6:00 am local time (16:00 UTC).

Solar Impulse 2 is carrying the message of a clean future from Nagoya to Hawaii with #FutureIsClean.

After breaking absolute distance and duration world records for solar aviation and a few hours before the landing of Solar Impulse 2 in Hawaii, Swiss explorers Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg want to remind everyone that their adventure is dedicated to the #FutureIsClean initiative aiming at collecting millions of voices to encourage governments worldwide to replace outdated polluting devices with new clean technology.

Solar Impulse’s adventure is indeed full of challenges over the Pacific, but the explorers are not doing this for the sake of doing it, as humankind is facing a much bigger problem with pollution, depletion of natural resources, and climate change. To directly address this, their priority is to demonstrate that if technological solutions exist to fly a plane day and night without fuel — which has been already proven after 4 consecutive days in the air — then there is potential for these same efficient technologies to be used in our daily lives, and to achieve energy savings which reduce CO2 emissions.

Our airplane has not been built to carry passengers but to convey a message. Global implementation of clean technology similar to those which are used in Solar Impulse 2, would already today allow to divide by two the energy consumption and the CO2 emissions of our world, thanks to energy efficiency in ground mobility, buildings, industrial processes, as well as in lighting, cooling and heating systems. These solutions are profitable, and would create jobs, revenue streams and support economical growth while also protecting the environment. —Bertrand Piccard, initiator, chairman and pilot of Solar Impulse

To take this idea to the next level and demonstrate solutions against climate change, Solar Impulse has initiated the Future Is Clean initiative, calling supporters to add their voice to the message on futureisclean.org, a website serving as a petition to convince governments around the globe to implement the necessary clean technological solutions ensuring the United Nations’ up-coming Conference on Climate Change (COP21) is successful in renewing the Kyoto protocol next December in Paris.

This flight to Hawaii is very challenging, but it’s an incredibly powerful motivation to know that people are showing their support on futureisclean.org. I should even fly longer if it could help get more signatures! —André Borschberg, co-founder, CEO and pilot of Solar Impulse from his cockpit

Some 160 organizations and influential personalities have already joined the movement to mobilize the public, such as H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, Sir Richard Branson, and former Russian President Michael Gorbatchev. This week, we are also proud to announce that the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) is joining the movement, as well as American marine biologist, explorer, and author Sylvia Earle.

UNEP Executive Director and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Dr. Achim Steiner states:

UNEP is pleased to support the #FutureIsClean initiative. We know that a clean future cannot exist without clean technology, and I would like to congratulate the Solar Impulse team, who are proving with every mile flown that clean technology can achieve what was once thought impossible. Clean technologies also have the capacity to drive the green economy and environmentally sustainable economic growth in industries from construction to transport to energy. And with over 150 supporters of the movement already, the momentum to ensure that our future is clean is continuing to grow.

The Solar Impulse team is engaging in many significant ways to make their message heard. The “Paper Plane Campaign,” for example, encourages people to spread the use of the hashtag #FutureIsClean when sharing a photo or video of themselves launching a paper airplane to a friend around the world. This fun and promotional campaign is to show how connected we all are, sharing the earth’s resources while demonstrating to global leaders at COP21 the importance of clean technologies. Solar Impulse is making the Future Is Clean initiative heard as well as seen, by placing the #FutureIsClean message largely visible on the aircraft while it continues its Round-The-World solar flight.