Solar Butterfly takes off from Durban to continue global warming journey

The Solar Butterfly, the world’s largest solar-powered vehicle which started its journey in 2022 to raise awareness of global warming, left South Africa from the Durban port on Thursday.

Shaped like a butterfly, it is covered in solar panels which generate the energy needed for its operation and is towed by a Tesla Model X 100 electric vehicle on its four-year trip around the world.

Director Louis Palmer told TimesLIVE the educational tour in SA, which began last month, ended at Hartley Road primary school in Durban where more than 1,000 pupils were addressed.

He said the SA tour was “fantastic”.

“Many universities and schools invited us and we connected with like-minded individuals, people dedicated to finding solutions to combat global warming.

“As for our first impressions of South Africa: incredibly welcoming and helpful people, truly some of the best we've encountered. We've had no problems at all,” he said, adding that SA has “lots of potential for cheap solar energy”.

“Electricity could be produced in this country for much cheaper than coal. We would love to see such a transition from coal to solar energy,” he said.

The tour began in May 2022 at the UN in Geneva and will span six continents, visiting 90 countries by December.

The ultimate goal is to reach the UN Climate Change Conference in South America in 2025, marking the 10th anniversary of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

“When I was a child, 40 years ago, our teacher already told us about global warming and its consequences. I always thought that our society and our leaders would do something about it. Today I am not only disappointed but also concerned, so I decided to do something” Palmer said.

“Climate change is a problem that concerns all of us. Everyone of us has a choice of either being part of the problem or part of the solution.

“The whole world is full of solutions. It’s crazy that we have money for all kinds of things on this planet but the solutions to stop global warming simply don’t prevail.

“I think global warming is just not important enough for many people — and political leaders. We want to give attention to positive examples and raise awareness about the solutions. We are on an educational tour.”

He said a butterfly is a symbol for transformation.

“It starts life as a caterpillar. A caterpillar depends 100% on the ground. Same with us humans. We are also depending on everything in the ground, like petrol, coal and gas. But the caterpillar can do the unthinkable: it can transform itself into something beautiful that becomes independent from the ground.

“What the caterpillar can do, we human beings can do, too. With clean energy and technology, we can become independent from fossil fuels.”

In 2007 and 2008, Palmer completed the first world circumnavigation with a solar powered vehicle, the “solar taxi”.

“There I learnt, if you take a striking vehicle and if you have a positive message, then you will get lots of attention for your mission. With the solar taxi we reached the attention of 770-million people worldwide.”