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Tour de Sol Adventure Quest |
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I-NetNews Reports
May 10
OPENING CEREMONIES
Dr. Louis Calcagno from the New York City Department of Transportation
spoke at the opening ceremonies of the race. Calcogno spoke about how
New York City in recent years has increased the numbers of alternative
energy vehicles for public use. These vehicles include cars, buses and
postal vehicles. 298 new alternative powered vehicles are expected to be
on the road in the next two years.
Megan Hagerty
Bart Chezar, manager of Electric Transportation, says that New York City
is currently using electric school buses. His company is now progressing
towards achieving the attention of bigger companies to buy into the NYC
Capital Electric Transportation. There's hope for the future!
Christiana Usenza
Nick Karditas, Tony Osgood and James Worden have a team called Ovonic.
They have put together an electric scooter and an electric Sudan that
they bought previously built. They just had to buy the electric systems
and and exchange them with the motors and change a few components, not
to say that this is an easy task. These machines get plugged into the
wall and are ready to go! Their Sudan has set the world record four
years in a row! It holds four people and drives 200 miles from one
single charge.
Christiana Usenza
The commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection in New
York City, James Miele, spoke at the opening ceremonies about the steps
the City of New York is taking to increase the use of
environmentally-friendly technology. When interviewed afterwards, he
spoke about enforcement of the three-minute idling law, which would
dramatically cut back on car emissions. Another major source of
automobile pollution is the fleet sector of transportation. Delivery
trucks and vans spend a lot of time idling while packages are being
delivered, and the City of New York is negotiating with companies such
as the United Parcel Service, to arrange tax breaks for the use of
electric powered delivery trucks. We asked Tony Krossmann, the driver
of a commuter car in Tour de Sol, what his reaction to these speakers
was, and whether he felt that there was concrete support of the
Alternative Energy Vehicle movement at the government level. He said
that he felt Mayor Giuliani was a supporter, and that progress was being
made in the fleet sector, but that token efforts were often displayed,
with no real follow through.
Cassie Tharinger
Rob Wills, at the starting line of the race, reflected on the first Tour
de Sol nine years ago. The tour has evolved from those four small cars
in Montpelier Vermont, to the forty alternatively powered cars lined up
here on Pier 17 of the South Street Marketplace in New York City. Wills
announced the cars as they began the race: "This is a dream come true."
he said.
Cassie Tharinger
E-mail us at TOUR@solarquest.com.