Eleanor Babcock
12/12/15
UNFCCC Week Two!

The final week of UNFCCC means negotiators are high strung to reach agreements by the end of the week. My focus for this blog post will be on an exciting innovation regarding my specified topic, sustainable aviation. My classmates came back this week with lots of information to share on their topics and on the topics for those of us who did not attend Paris. A classmate in my cluster group on sustainable development brought back information on solar powered airplanes, perfect and relevant to my topic.  The airplane was displayed at a museum in Paris.

This innovative technology is called the Solar Impulse project. Their goal was to create an aircraft solely powered by the sun. This aircraft is the first solar powered plane able to be flown at night. Solar Impulse partnered with a company called Solvey, an international chemical group who develops innovative and advanced materiales which aid in the development of sustainable technology. This particular solar powered plane has the wingspan of a typical aircraft, weighs as much as a typical car and is powered without a drop of fuel.

The first around the world test flight by the second prototype of Solar Impulse was scheduled for last March to July 2015. Andre Borschberg was the pilot of this plane and successfully flew the prototype around the world. He was interviewed at COP 21 and gave insight at to how flying the plane and creating the plane went. Borschberg is using the plane as a means to communicate moving forward. He believes that climate change is no longer a question of the present, but has a focus on moving forward which is why this plane has so much potential in future technology. This attitude and excitement about innovative technology is what we will need once an agreement on the global temperature limit is made. This will be important for action and implementation of technology and energy.

 Photo Courtosy of Ellie Debliek

Further Reading: http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/cop21-interview--reliving-the-tension-of-solar-impulses-round-the-world-attempt_100022397/#axzz3u7nGbTqW