Eco high
Having made the first round-the-world trip in a balloon, and in a solar-powered plane, explorer Bertrand Piccard has now a new global quest - promote clean energy.
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Anita Gabriel
ON the "infinite highway of air" (as Wilbur Wright put it, about the desire to fly) Swiss aeronaut Bertrand Piccard has for years let his dreams take flight, literally, in hang gliders, microlights, parachutes, paragliders and hot air balloons.
Now, the explorer with an appetite for adventure that can't be tamped down is hoping the wind from these exploits will carry his next conquest - to cajole more businesses to give up their energy-guzzling old ways and embrace clean technology. The 59-year-old born in Lausanne, Switzerland, who studied medicine and psychiatry, is a worthy one to preach.
Last year, he globetrotted around the world across oceans, hovered over 42,000 km and after 17 stops landed in Abu Dhabi. He had capped a 17-month journey in a plane powered by over 17,000 solar cells, zero fuel - and a mighty dose of valour.
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