Green energy and competition collide at Infineon Raceway. We had the honor of attending Accelerating Sustainable Performance 2011, “A Summit for Industry Leaders in Sustainability and Performance”. The day-long event featured speakers from the racing industry, advocates for green energy, and representatives from corporations who share a common goal of making the racing industry sustainable while pushing the limits of vehicle technology. You may think that NASCAR racing and alternative energy come from industries that don’t mix, but this forum showed that we can push the limits and keep it green too. From energy generation, storage, and distribution to marketing and policy, the conversation traversed the entire entire spectrum of energy sustainability.
Infineon Raceway invited us because our team lives through these challenges every day. Solar cells generate electricity; lithium ion batteries store energy; the motor distributes energy to the wheels. We even have to find a way to pay for our technology.
At lunch we saw demonstrations on the racetrack from electric vehicles including the Tesla Roadster and Nissan Leaf. Then they drove an Audi TDI that runs on sustainable fuel from Amyris. We also got to see a super fast electric motorcycle that shows that racing does not have to be fueled by gasoline.
Panasonic interviewed CalSol in an afternoon session about building Impulse. It was great to talk with the sponsor of our batteries about the challenges we face and accomplishments we have achieved so far.
Thank you Infineon Raceway for inviting us to your great event. We hope to be back next year with a solar car (we are sorry Impulse had already been shipped to Australia)!