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.