Solar Power and the Future of Clean Energy

After circumnavigating the globe, a plane landed in Abu Dhabi yesterday after a year-long journey. The ‘Solar Impulse 2’ became the first plane to fly around the world using no fuel. Solar Impulse, the company behind the plane, engineered it to run on solar power alone. This incredible trip marks another important milestone in the global sustainability effort.

At THRIVEX, we are interested in how clean energy, especially in cities, will affect our lives. Of course there are electric cars, sustainable buildings, and even electric trucks, but integrating clean energy into our core infrastructure gives us the opportunity to truly change how cities operate.

Now that people have successfully flown a plane around the world using solar power, what’s next? According to Bloomberg, Solar Impulse has already begun planning to use their technology to develop a new, improved fleet of drones:

Solar-powered drones could be used in communications and weather-forecasting, pilot Andre Borschberg said in a phone interview from Abu Dhabi, where the solar plane landed on Tuesday. Companies, including existing sponsors like Abu Dhabi’s Masdar, are interested in the project, though he ruled out uses for the defense industry.

‘‘We will make an unmanned version of the plane,” said Borschberg, who took turns at the controls with Bertrand Piccard to circumnavigate the globe in a journey that started March 2015 and spanned 43,041 kilometers. ‘‘It’s a bit early to say who is involved, but there’s a lot of interest.”

According to the article, Facebook and Google are interested in investing in the field, which is a strong sign of validation. Clean energy is crucial to the future of cities, and our team is excited to play a small part.