2006 Tour de Sol, America's #1 Green Car Show and Competition, Helps Move Thinking "Outside the Barrel"
GREENFIELD, MA—May 22, 2006—With a goal of reducing oil use and climate change emissions, the 2006 Tour de Sol, America’s #1 green car show and competition driving toward zero carbon emissions, showcased a variety of cutting-edge technologies that address the energy and climate change crises, offering both short-term and long-term solutions including some that are available on the market today. “What we saw at this year’s Tour de Sol was tremendously exciting,” said Nancy Hazard of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), organizer of the Tour de Sol. “The fact that our entrants, including many vehicles that are on the market today, were able to average a collective 66 mpg, 144% above the current CAFÉ standard, demonstrates in no uncertain terms just what is possible today if we simply decide to make better choices. And there’s no question that we can do even better in the very near future.” Held May 10-14 at the Saratoga Spa State Park and Saratoga Automobile Museum in Saratoga Springs, NY, the Tour de Sol featured three separate competitions. Participants used a variety of energy efficiency techniques, and, in some cases, switched to less carbon intensive fuels such as compressed natural gas, biodiesel, vegetable oil, or electricity and hydrogen from clean renewable sources. The Tour also featured conventional on-the-market advanced vehicles, such as hybrids, and offered a sneak preview of Toyota’s new Camry hybrid and LEXUS GS450h, and Honda’s Civic GX that runs on natural gas. “We were very impressed with the innovative technologies demonstrated by the vehicles participating in this year’s Tour de Sol,” said Peter R. Smith, President and CEO of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, premier sponsor of the event. “NYSERDA is pleased to have brought the Tour de Sol to New York State to showcase how we can reduce our dependence on foreign energy sources, and ultimately control our own energy destiny.” During the 5-day event, NYSERDA joined with the Tour de Sol to host a special event for area businesses and government personnel at the Saratoga Technology + Energy Park (STEP) in Malta, NY, the first site in the nation designated as a home for a research technology park dedicated to the development of clean-energy and environmental technologies. Praising the Tour de Sol for advocating and presenting energy and climate change solutions, NYSERDA Vice President Bob Calendar emphasized that the time has come for all of us to start thinking “Outside the barrel!” Competition entries representing high school and college teams, in addition to individuals, came from 13 states coast-to-coast, as well as from Canada, to compete in the Tour de Sol Championship, Monte Carlo-style Rally and Fuel Efficiency Challenge, and Around Town Vehicle competition. A new entrant this year was a team that traveled from Delhi College in New Delhi, India with its one-person hybrid vehicle that demonstrated the benefits that come by designing a vehicle to suit a specific use, in this case addressing India’s over-reliance on motorcycles. The variety of vehicles and technologies thrilled the visitors to the Tour that included more than 600 local schoolchildren who came for a day of discovery and informative sessions and thousands more who enjoyed the Tour de Sol vehicles during their visit to the Saratoga Automobile Museum’s Spring Auto Show. In addition to the entrants, over a dozen sponsors and exhibitors brought displays of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids using advanced batteries, kits to convert diesel vehicles to use biofuel, the Ford hybrid Escape, and state programs that promote green vehicles. “In so many ways, this was the most important and most successful Tour de Sol we’ve ever had,” said Hazard. “Never have so many people been aware of the need to address our reliance on oil and I think we were able to help people realize that some answers are available to all of us right now. I think that anyone who was at the Tour de Sol this year came away with a realization that the that working toward “Zero Zero” that is, zero oil use and zero climate change emissions, is not just a pipe dream, it is possible!” Premier sponsors of the 2006 Tour de Sol were the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the Center for Technology Commercialization. Additional key sponsors included the New York Power Authority, the Saratoga Automobile Museum, Stewart’s Shops, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, Eastern Biofuels, New York Department of Environmental Conservation, Toyota, the UK Trade & Investment, Honda, Kurkoski Solar Electric, Westboro Toyota, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, E-The Environmental Magazine, EIN Publishing, CSRwire, and GreenBiz.com. The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, organizer of the Tour de Sol, is the Northeast’s leading organization of professionals and concerned citizens working in sustainable energy, and whole systems thinking. NESEA facilitates the widespread adoption and use of sustainable energy by providing support to industry professionals and by educating and motivating consumers to learn about, ask for and adopt sustainable-energy and green-building practices. NESEA accomplishes this through conferences, K-12 educational resources, its members and chapters, its Sustainable Yellow Pages, and public events. To find out more about the Tour de Sol, please visit www.TourdeSol.org.
