In a few weeks time the ESG will be welcoming a special visitor to Gibraltar, along with his green vehicle and environmental exhibition. Xavier van der Stappen, and his cameraman, will be travelling 12,000kms from Copenhagen, all the way south to Cape Town, stopping at 25 countries along the way, including Gibraltar.
The aim of the trip is to promote renewable energy choices using the car as a prime example of how this can work. Xavier will bring along a 20 panel exhibition on issues like housing, mobility, energy and climate change. He will be visiting many Universities and Cultural centres on his way to South Africa where he expects to arrive amidst the expected media circus covering the opening of FIFA World Cup 2010.
On April 7th Xavier will be exhibiting his car and panels in Casemates between 11.00am to 4pm. The event will be attended by Minister for the Environment, Ernest Britto. A 60 minute feature film on a previous trip also promoting green energy will be broadcast on a loop at the Nature Shop, Casemates. Entry to film will be free although donations will be appreciated.
The ESG are pleased to be part of this exciting project and would like to encourage everyone in Gibraltar to take the time to visit this one off- one day exhibition and film and meet Xavier. His visit is during the Easter holidays so we would love to see parents and young people stopping by at some point during the day. Please look up www.coptocap.org for more information.
Background on vehicle and project profile
Xavier’s 2 seater, three wheeled vehicle is powered by various means; lithium polymer batteries, solar panel, dynamos and wind turbine and reaches 90km per hour with a 400km distance capacity. He will be travelling with his camera man and will be capturing his journey and the countries he visits for a future documentary.
This is not the first such trip Xavier has attempted. In 2009, he successfully piloted another prototype vehicle from Paris to Dakar (see www.parisdakaroil.org) covering 6000km, again promoting awareness of alternative technologies and the ‘think globally, act locally’ message.
Xavier van der Stappen is from Belgium and is a freelance reporter and film maker and headed the audio visual department of Medicin Sans Frontieres. Xavier is also an anthropologist and has written 15 books so far. He speciality is the relationship between man and nature in Africa and has exhibited jointly with various African Educational Ministries promoting the use of new technologies.
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