Solar car finishes first round-the-world trip

Vehicle, developed by scientists at Swiss universities, known as 'solar taxi'

POZNAN, Poland - The first solar-powered car to travel around the world ended its journey at the U.N. climate talks Thursday, arriving with the message that clean technologies are available now to stop global warming.

The small two-seater, hauling a trailer of solar cells and carrying chief U.N. climate official Yvo de Boer, glided up to a building in Poznan, Poland, where delegates from some 190 nations are working toward a new treaty to control climate change.

"This is the first time in history that a solar-powered car has traveled all the way around the world without using a single drop of petrol," said Louis Palmer, the 36-year-old Swiss schoolteacher and adventurer who made the trip.

"These new technologies are ready," he said. "It's ecological, it's economical, it is absolutely reliable. We can stop global warning."

Palmer's appearance at the conference marked the end of a 32,000-mile journey that began 17 months ago in Lucerne, Switzerland, and took him through 38 countries.

'Runs like a Swiss clock'
The car, which runs noiselessly, can travel up to 55 mph and covers 185 miles on a fully charged battery.

Palmer said he lost only two days to breakdowns during the journey.

"This car runs like a Swiss clock," he said.

He calls his vehicle, which was developed by scientists at Swiss universities, a "solar taxi" because he has given rides to about 1,000 people — officials and regular folk alike — to convince them of the technology's viability.

Passengers have included New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Delegates in Poznan are seeking an ambitious new climate treaty that would replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012 and has required that 37 countries slash emissions of heat-trapping gases by an average 5 percent from 1990 levels.

The goal is for the new treaty to be finalized at the next U.N. climate meeting in December 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"Here at the conference, we are talking about reducing emissions by 10 or 20 percent," Palmer said. "I want to show that we can reduce emissions by 100 percent — and that's what we need for the future."

Talk about Water pollution

Water is typically referred to as polluted when it is impaired by anthropogenic contaminants and either does not support a human use, like serving as drinking water, or undergoes a marked shift in its ability to support its constituent biotic communities, such as fish. Natural phenomena such as volcanoes, algae blooms, storms, and earthquakes also cause major changes in water quality and the ecological status of water. Water pollution has many causes and characteristics.

Water pollution categories

Surface water and groundwater have often been studied and managed as separate resources, although they are interrelated.[1] Sources of surface water pollution are generally grouped into two categories based on their origin.


Point source pollution
Point source pollution refers to contaminants that enter a waterway through a discrete conveyance, such as a pipe or ditch. Examples of sources in this category include discharges from a sewage treatment plant or a factory, or a leaking underground storage tank. The U.S. Clean Water Act (CWA) defines point source for regulatory enforcement purposes.


Non-point source pollution
Non-point source (NPS) pollution refers to diffuse contamination that does not originate from a single discrete source. NPS pollution is often a cumulative effect of small amounts of contaminants gathered from a large area. Nutrient runoff in stormwater from "sheet flow" over an agricultural field, or metals and hydrocarbons from an area with highly impervious surfaces and vehicular traffic are sometimes cited as examples of NPS pollution.

The primary focus of legislation and efforts to curb water pollution for the past several decades was first aimed at point sources. As point sources have been effectively regulated, greater attention has been placed on NPS contributions, especially in rapidly urbanizing or developing areas.


Groundwater pollution
Interactions between groundwater and surface water are complex. Consequently, groundwater pollution, sometimes referred to as groundwater contamination, is not as easily classified as surface water pollution.[1] By its very nature, groundwater aquifers are susceptible to contamination from sources that may not directly affect surface water bodies, and the distinction of point vs. nonpoint source may be irrelevant. A spill of a chemical contaminant on soil, located away from a surface water body, may not necessarily create point source or non-point source pollution, but nonetheless may contaminate the aquifer below. Analysis of groundwater contamination may focus on soil characteristics and hydrology, as well as the nature of the contaminant itself.