Tour de Sol Offers Solutions for Easing America's Energy Crisis; Transportation Festival to Showcase New Technologies and Choices

    GREENFIELD, Mass.--May 17, 2001--From Waterbury, Connecticut to Albany, New York to Boston, Massachusetts, more than 50 cleaner, greener vehicles from 16 U.S. states and 4 countries are competing for a national championship.
    But these cars, trucks, scooters, and other vehicles are after more than trophies, event organizers aim to change the way Americans view their transportation choices and its impact on our environment.
    From May 19-26, The Tour de Sol: The Great American Green Transportation Festival will give tens of thousands of people in the Northeastern United States a hands-on encounter with the latest environmentally responsible transportation technologies. Millions of other people around the world will follow the Tour via media coverage and the Internet.
    They will see the largest single collection of cutting-edge vehicles to be found on the road anywhere. Some of the vehicles are experimental, some are pre-production prototypes, some are student-built education projects, but others are right off the showroom floor.
    Even though more and more of the vehicles in this event are available on the market each year, the Tour de Sol is not about selling cars. "This event is about giving us new ways to think about how we get from one place to another. Different places and situations require different types of transportation solutions -- from walking and biking to cutting-edge, new cleaner cars, buses, and motor scooters," said Nancy Hazard of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) and director of the Tour. "The Tour has them all."
    Setting the pace for this year's Tour is the Honda Insight, the first gas-electric hybrid on sale in the United States, since 1999. Last year, the Insight took top honors in the Tour de Sol, achieving a record 92-mpg over the 300 mile course.
    This year, several dozen vehicles will compete and be evaluated on vehicle performance and consumer acceptability. But unlike other automotive events, vehicles are also carefully evaluated and judged on their environmental impact. So the top finishing Tour De Sol vehicles are those that meet consumer expectations and are good choices for the environment.
    Participants come from major automakers, specialty manufacturers, universities, and schools, entrepreneurs, and government agencies. Vehicles represent a wide variety of automotive technologies including battery-electrics, hybrid-electrics, solar electrics, fuel cell vehicles, and alternative fueled vehicles. What unites all these technologies is their increased energy efficiency and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the cause of global warming.
    In the midst of the national debate over energy shortages, energy supplies, and energy security as well as a background of skyrocketing fuel prices, there is a lot to be learned from the success of this event and its vehicles. "We're showing the real answer to America's energy crisis," says Warren Leon, executive director of NESEA. "Americans can travel in comfort while cutting down dramatically on the nation's dependence on imported gasoline."
    During the 13th annual Tour de Sol, vehicles will travel several hundred miles and participate in six festivals that celebrate the progress made in clean, energy-efficient transportation and in environmental awareness. The festivals take place in Waterbury, CT (May 19-21); Pittsfield, MA (May 22); Albany, NY (May 23); Greenfield, MA (May 24); Worcester, MA (May 25); and a finish-line celebration in Boston, MA (May 26). All these festivals are free and open to the public.
    Major sponsors of the 13th annual Tour de Sol include: the U.S. Department of Energy (Title Sponsor), American Honda Motor Company (Gold Sponsor), the Connecticut Department of Transportation, ENSCO, Inc., the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the Waterbury Region Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Texaco Ovonic Battery Company.
    Other major sponsors this year include: AutomotiveWire, DaimlerChrysler, the Electric Vehicle Association of the Americas, EOTC/MassHighway, Ford Th!nk Mobility, KeySpan Energy Delivery, National Grid, the New York Power Authority, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
    The Tour de Sol is organized by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), the nation's leading regional association involved in promoting awareness, understanding, and development of non-polluting, renewable energy technologies. Headquartered in Greenfield, Massachusetts, NESEA has worked successfully for more than a quarter century in the fields of transportation, building construction, and renewable energy. Further information on the competition, as well as directions to the Tour de Sol festivals, are available on the Web at www.nesea.org or by calling NESEA at 413/774-6051.

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