Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet-Union, and Hans-Dietrich Genscher, former German foreign minister and first minister for the environment, together on one boat! It was like the (re)unification all over again on monday at the prominent Stecher-Stammtisch (named after the host Alexander-Klaus Stecher) which is held yearly for charity.
Hans-Dietrich Genscher, former foreign minister of Germany.During the event not just the historical summit was a topic, but also environmental protection and sustainable mobility - both main protagonists of the night, Gorbachev and Genscher, having been leading the way of environmental protection in their times. Some of the guests also got the chance to drive the BMW Hydrogen 7, experiencing the hydrogen technology first hand: among them, of course, Mikhail Gorbachev and Hans-Dietrich Genscher, also TV-Host and journalist Sabine Christiansen, the actors Erol Sander and Barbara Wussow.
Patricia Riekel (Editor in Chief BUNTE), Udo Walz (star coiffeur), Sabine Christiansen (TV-Moderator)Jumping on the chance Club of Pioneers asked them about their personal view on the matter and got some interesting answers. Coming up soon: Hans-Dietrich Genscher about a hydrogen Infrastructure in Germany and Mikhail Gorbachev explains his very own “sustainable” initiative Green Cross International.
Actors Albert Fortell and Barbara Wussow

The New York Police Department has discovered the advantages of sustainable and flexible mobility.The good old cops and robbers game isn’t what it used to be. Formerly it might have been enough for the police to be faster and cleverer than the bad guys. But thanks to overall technical improvements, the Cops have been forced to upgrade their equipment. The New York Police Department has adopted a real pioneering invention to be more maneuverable: The Segway!The Segway is an electric transportation device that balances on just two wheels, thanks to its sensors, its computerized brain, and its array of five gyroscopes. Riders stand on a platform over the Segway's two wheels and steer by leaning. Sounds complicated, and in fact, the Segway used to have some significant technical problems: The NYPD has tested the scooters before, launching a pilot program in 2003. The program was soon abandoned during a nationwide recall after it had been discovered that Segways would tip when battery power ran low. There was a second recall after at least six riders experienced that their Segways switched into reverse gear without warning. A software update solved the problem.An NYPD officer on a SegwayRight now, the NYPD Segways work without any huge difficulties. The specially trained Cops cruise Coney Island, Prospect Park, Orchard Beach, the Bronx Zoo, Yankee Stadium, Flushing Meadow Park, Shea Stadium, Arthur Ashe Stadium and Central Park with their 2-wheel cruisers. “They’re especially well suited for pathways and boardwalks”, says John Kelly of the NYPD. “It also makes sense to deploy Segways in the milder and warm weather when there is a greater use of the parks and beaches.” Besides the mobility, another obvious advantage of the Segway is the better view: “Officers riding Segways are elevated eight inches from the ground – giving them nearly a foot higher vantage point. They can see over crowds and traffic more easily.”Another plus of the Segway mobility is certainly their eco-friendliness: A Segway does draw electric power during recharge, but that electricity causes fourteen times less greenhouse gas emissions compared to a car. After one year on your Segway you would have literally saved one ton of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere. On the other hand, authorities said that the Segways didn't meet safety standards and couldn't legally be registered in New York State. So in their view, it was illegal to use Segways on the streets or on the sidewalks. For this reason, a man on his Segway was stopped by the police in midtown some time ago. His ticket cost him over $95. This measurement was actually illegitimate because the law does not specifically mention Segways. However, there is no case reported that an officer on a Segway was arrested by his own colleague from the police department!Watch our Segway video at the IAA 2007 in Frankfurt, Germany!

Wind is actually one of the natural enemies of vehicle designers. But researchers at the University of Stuttgart in Germany are trying to regard this energy source from a different point of view - They are working on a vehicle that is powered by the wind!Wind can be quite fast. Theoretically, it can reach incredible speeds of up to 760 mph (1230 km/h) on our planet. For ages people have been using its enormous potential, first for moving on the water and later for moving through the air. But using wind power to move vehicles on land has up until now been a task just for pioneers. Researchers from the team InVentus at the University of Stuttgart are now occupied with the groundbreaking idea of developing a wind vehicle: The Ventomobil.
A draft of the VentomobilThe vehicle is still in the planning phase, however the design has already been visualized on paper. At first glance, the four meter long vehicle will look like a cross between a sports car and a helicopter. On the roof of the aerodynamically shaped body, there is a rotor with a one meter diameter. This lightweight carbon fiber component, weighing 600g, is the centerpiece of the Ventomobil. “One of the biggest challenges in developing the Ventomobil has been obtaining the highest power output from the rotor,” explained Alexander Miller, one of the design engineers from the InVentus team. “In order to optimize the aerodynamics of the rotor, we are also going to conduct some tests in a wind tunnel in the near future.” The results should help to reduce the thrust of the rotor. As opposed to an aeroplane propeller, which generates movement through thrust, the Ventomobil actually “sucks”, so to speak, the energy from the wind. The wind is thereby weaker behind the rotor than it was previously – this process is the exact reverse of that of the propeller. In this way, speeds of up to 60 km/h can be reached. As it is irrelevant for the rotor from which direction the wind is blowing, the Ventomobil can also travel against the wind, without tacking! Thus, it also fulfils the most substantial conditions for participation in the Aeolus Race, which will be conducted at the end of August in the Dutch city of Den Helder. For the “Tall Ships Race”, eight windmobile vehicles will compete against each other over three days. The vehicles will be allowed to store wind energy electrically, in order to then use the energy in phases where the wind is weaker. “Ultimately, you have to weigh up whether to store the energy and be slower from the start,” says Alexander Miller. “We decided, however, against such storage.” The InVentus design engineers are instead relying on a mechanical power train, which promises less energy loss than an electrical or hydraulic system.
"In Legoland, it already works!" - How the design engineers imagine the public presentation of the VentomobilHowever, even if this system did work as perfectly as one imagined it would, one weak spot would remain. During the calm phase, the wheels of the Ventomobil stand still, but energy storage could be the solution for such a problem - and could therefore make wind vehicles attractive for consumers. This is an interesting vision indeed, because wind mobiles are totally free of CO2 and energy costs! However, Alexander Miller doesn’t believe that wind mobiles will become a familiar part of the daily life on our streets. “But maybe they will be established as sport or fun vehicles in shore areas”, he adds.Nevertheless, it will take the InVentus Team some more months of hard work to turn the vision of the Ventomobil into reality. On June 21st, roughly two months before the race, the Ventomobil will be presented to the public. This event will be part of the initiative “Germany - Land of Ideas”, a campaign for innovative projects that Club of Pioneers will join in with, holding our own event taking place on February 22nd in Berlin! Certainly, we will keep you informed about how the Ventomobil is going on – stay tuned!