China - what is China? What can we expect from a country that is said to build a new coalplant each week? Our first impressions of the country are suprising. We are welcomed by a country that is working on solutions to global warming, and that realises that it has to happen quickly. The solartaxi is fully acknowledged as one of the solutions, and was greatly welcomed.

What do you need to be a powerhouse in the CleanTech Sector?
Well Vinod Khosla, thinks you need intellectual capital, industrial capital, trained technologists and the will. All of which India has in abundance. Vinod Khosla, Venture Capitalist from KPCB and co-founder of Sun Microsystems spoke recently at the CleanTech Conference in San Francisco about the future of Clean Technology in India. Here is an excerpt from his presentation and a short brief on the startup of Cleantech India, a fund headed by Jesswinder Kaur to encourage funding of green technology enterprises in India. India is working to create an industrial revolution in the CleanTech sector. To that end It has created the world's first Ministry of Renewable Energy which will work to concentrate investment in areas where there is predicted to be strong growth. Australasia in general is using Clean Tech Policy as a driver of innovation. Singapore with its Solar and Water, China working to build a sustainable or at least low impact city for 8 million from scratch and India all seek to capitalize on innovation in this sector as an economic motive force. Khosla points out that even though while the largest current focus is on the energy sector with about 85% of investments in the CleanTech sector going into alternative fuels and recently solar. There are many other markets for innovation from cement to glass. Cutting the cost and environmental footprint of cement and other common building materials in half would make a huge difference in worldwide carbon reduction.

Newschecker is short and sweet this week.Artists EcoArtTech have developed a mobile solar powered, GPS enabled robot that’s senses changes in the environment, pollution levels and even terrorist threats! It then projects this data via video projection onto the nearest available surface. The Environmental Risk Assessment Rover–AT, Version 1.0 is on display at the Off The Grid exhibition in New York.
Image from EcoArtTech
In America, they are promoting the use of bikes in May. The League of American Bicyclists is promoting Bike-to-Work Week from May 12-16 and Bike-to-Work Day on Friday, May 16. Need some ideas? Check their website for 50 ways to celebrate bike month.
Wired magazine have a photo contest inviting readers to send in photos of different forms of mobility in their countries. It is a varied and interesting overview of everything from trains , planes and automobiles, and a few other surprises! Check out the pictures here.

Image "The no 12 Tram by Calum Davidson" from www.wired .com

Over bumpy roads, the Solartaxi has arrived in China. Another part of the world and another adventure to go on. Of course you’ll get all the amazing images through my regular video blogs coming soon. So stay tuned!

But… after my impressions from almost six months travelling with the Solartaxi, I’d say that the tour is so much more than just the spectacular action on the road. This is why I have decided to share our personal thoughts and concerns with you in a new video series from behind the scenes: Unvarnished, uncensored, simply “uncut”. Exclusive on clubofpioneers.com! Watch Louis in our first episode with his first impressions of China!

In the last report from our future car design series we talked about the carpool vision of Honda. Now we present a completely different approach to future mobility: It's all about the single-seat design of the Audi Virtuea Quattro!

Though such a concept might not be very efficient in minimizing traffic, the Audi Virtuea contributes to the health of the environment by using hydrogen as an energy source. But what's really amazing about this car is its ability to change its exterior design! The Audi Virtuea functions as a solid unit at its core, while providing thousands of possible holographic exteriors stored in a library and accessible through the vehicle's interactive holographic interface. The driver can switch between different designs from one minute to the next and without any environmental impact, as no physical materials are needed to create the design, regardless of size.

Another remarkable feature is the Community Processing Unit of the Audi Virtuea. It connects by wireless with the processing units of the surrounding vehicles, thus allowing for collective memory and active symbiosis. And in case you notice the picture of the solid unit and wonder if it has any wheels - it does: the spherical wheels enable the vehicle to maneuver in every direction.


Images: Audi

Some news items that caught our eye this week.
As promised we have been keeping watch on the Milan Design Fair. One of the great mobility ideas to come out of it were the cute No More Gas electric vehicles by Meyers Motors. They can travel up to 75 m/hour and if you want to see more, there’s an informative video on their site here.

The No More Gas vehiclesOf course we are also in love with the new Caravan by Verdier, with its ‘Sun Tracker’ solar cell technology, GPS and on-board computer to keep the cells in an optimal position as the sun moves.

Image of the Verdier caravan
Meanwhile Australia is unveiling many new sustainable initiatives to coincide with the 2030 summit about the future. One exciting proposal is Frasers Broadway, which is to be the most sustainable development in Australia. It includes new uses for the old Kent Brewery, a staple fixture of the cities skyline. Inhabitat has a good report about it too.

Green plans for the Frasers development in Sydney

She is one of Germany`s most renowned actresses: Martina Gedeck earned her outstanding reputation in movies like the Oscar-winning “The Lives of Others” or “Bella Martha”. She is noted for her careful choice of roles and her sincere screen incarnations of characters – which she impressively demonstrates again as Ulrike Meinhof and Clara Schumann in movies coming up this year.When it comes to environmental matters, Martina Gedeck is no less sincere, as she told us when we met her at the Brandenburger Hof Hotel in Berlin. This is one of the reasons why she gave us her testimonial about the BMW Hydrogen 7 which she used for several months. Watch our video interview!