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French Louis Palmer sits inside his solar taxi at the venue of the UN Climate Change Conference 2007 in Nusa Dua, on Bali island, 07 December 2007.
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Swiss national Louis Palmer fulfilled a childhood dream when he set off from his home country on July 3, travelling over desert, city and sea in 17 countries by a “solar taxi” to reach UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia.
"In 1986, I was a 14-year-old boy, I was dreaming that when I will be an adult, I want to drive around the world," he told reporters.
"Then it came to my mind, how can I travel around the world and enjoy the beauty of this world with a car that is polluting the world? Then I thought the perfect car would be a solar car."
His car, which has become a major attraction at the gates of the summit of some 188 nations, was built in three years with scientific help from four universities and 15 Swiss companies.
The car pulls a trailer with six squares metres of solar panels which soak up the sun. The electricity is fed into the battery which powers the car, and can run for up to 100 kilometres a day.
"It's the first time in history that a car is driving around the world without a single drop of petrol," boasted Palmer, a teacher by training.
His epic solar journey is not his first adventure -- he traversed Africa on a bicycle and North America in a light aircraft.
So far, Palmer has gone by land through Europe and the Middle East, then by sea to India and on to Indonesia.
After traversing much of Asia, Australia, North America and Africa, he will return to Switzerland to try and drum up support for the commercial possibilities of solar cars.
For the moment, he has his hands full, with more curious customers waiting to take a ride in his unique automobile which, he said, "works like a Swiss clock."
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(Agencies)
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瑞士男子路易斯?帕爾莫終于圓了他兒時的一個夢。今年7月3日，他駕駛一輛“太陽能出租車”從瑞士出發，穿越了沙漠、城市和海洋，途經17個國家，最終抵達印度尼西亞的巴厘島，參加在此召開的聯合國氣候變化大會。
他在接受記者采訪時說：“早在1986年，當我還是個14歲的小男孩時，我就夢想著長大以后能開車環游世界。”
“后來我想，我怎么能開著一輛會給世界各地帶來污染的車環游世界，欣賞各地美景呢？所以，我覺得最理想的工具應該是一輛太陽能車。”
在約有188個國家參加的聯合國氣候變化大會會場外，帕爾莫的車成了最大亮點。這輛車在四所大學和15家瑞士公司的技術支持下，用時三年制造而成。
太陽能轎車后面是一個拖車，上面載有6平米太陽能采集面板。轎車依靠太陽能電池供電，每天能行駛100公里。
身為培訓教師的帕爾莫自豪地說：“一輛車沒費一滴汽油，就跑遍了全世界，這在歷史上還是首例吧！”
然而，對于帕爾莫而言，類似這種壯觀的“太陽能之旅”的冒險可不是第一次了。他曾騎車穿越非洲大陸，還曾開著一架輕型飛機穿越北美。
截至目前，帕爾莫從陸路穿越了歐洲和中東地區，通過海路抵達了印度和印度尼西亞。
在穿越亞洲、澳大利亞、北美和非洲的大部分地區后，帕爾莫將打道回府，并打算為太陽能轎車爭取商業機會。
而眼下，帕爾莫可是忙得不可開交，很多好奇的人們都等著上這輛奇特的車過把車癮，帕爾莫說：“它現在簡直像個瑞士鐘一樣連軸轉。”
（英語點津姍姍編輯）
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