World Solar Challenge
 

Currently taking place in Aus.

The University of Michigan currently in 3rd place for the USA, behind Japan and the Netherlands.


http://www.annarbor.com/news/u-m-sol...lar-challenge/

Why won't they hold such events here in PDX ?

Because they can't find you: no one has a clue what a PDX is?!?!

???

It's right there under the "A"

PDX: Isn't that some kind of exercise regime?

Portland where? Oregon? If so, then there's your answer: Not enough sun. Everyone knows it rains all the time in Oregon -almost as much as in the UK.

I dunno why Lamp lives at the airport. And of course they can't have freaking events on the tarmac: planes have to land and take off and stuff.

That's international discrimination

When I go home at night, to my airport, I get so tired of having to go through security just to get to my kitchen. ;)

Oh, the humanity... bathroom trips are the worst

ESPECIALLY if you're carrying your nail clippers!

Solar discrimination

Yes, solar challenged !

This thread is now back where it started

Well, Darwin to Adelaide is 3,075 km. Dunno how big your airport is, but I think this is probably further. ;)

So far ... delays due to road-side bushfires, the odd enormous truck, and one solar car was destroyed when it's battery caught fire / exploded.

Lead cars expected in Adelaide sometime tomorrow, but it looks like being cloudy.

These solar cars are getting pretty good, if you only want to drive during the day, never carry passengers or cargo, enjoy prolonged discomfort, and aren't afraid of being squashed like a cockroach by a road-train. [/sarcasm]

Really it is about pushing the development of solar panel technology. Which is good, IMHO. There will never be practical solar cars because there just isn't enough energy falling on a car, even if collected at 100% efficiency, to run a car that meets our normal requirements.

A solar powered house, or city, however, is much more plausible.

I think it's also about pushing the technology of high efficiency vehicles. You could add a small, efficient engine and have a hybrid vehicle that could drive at night, on very little fuel.