Louis Palmer, environmental adventurer

Louis Palmer (born in1971, Budapest, Hungary) is an environmental adventurer, who already at the age of 11, dreamt of circumnavigating the world in a solar powered car. In 1994, after graduating as a schoolteacher, he crossed Africa on a bicycle, and in 1996 and 1998, he crossed the USA and South America with an ultralight airplane to see the human impact on the environment. He has also been involved with several other projects in Asia between 2001 and 2003, particularly with philanthropic work in Afghanistan, where he built a school. Finally, in 2004, he started to realise his childhood dream and began to build a solar powered car, together with different universities and companies in Switzerland. In 2007, Louis Palmer embarked on his epic journey around the world with his so called, "Solartaxi", in Lucerne. He covered 54 000 km across 38 countries in 18 months with the “Solartaxi”, which earned worldwide attention, as he inspired world leaders and an estimated 750 million people with his global circumnavigation. In 2008, Louis Palmer became the first person ever to drive around the world in a solar powered car, and for this, he received the European Solar Price in 2009. In 2010, he was the tour director of the “ZERO Emissions Race”, the first race around the world with 100% electric cars. With this project, and his powerful message that: “Yes, we can change from fossil fuels to renewable energies and these new technologies are affordable, reliable and ecological”, he inspired millions of people around the world again.