SolarButterfly to land in United States this summer

Seeking climate-change solutions, the SolarButterfly sustainability tour is landing in the United States this summer. The solar-powered butterfly is a 30-foot-long tiny house in the shape of a butterfly, which charges the electric vehicle it tows.

The SolarButterfly is focused on reaching millions of people, alerting them to the companies and individuals that are integral in transitioning societies away from fossil fuels toward clean-energy technologies. Presently on a four-year journey around the world, the SolarButterfly plans to identify, record and publicize at least a thousand climate-protection pioneers and their solutions.

The tour was initiated by Swiss environmental activist Louis Palmer who, 15 years ago, was the first person to circle the world in a solar-powered car. The symbol of a butterfly going through its transformation is a metaphor for his message: “While global warming is a big threat for the future of human beings, the solutions actually already exist. We want to show that lots of fantastic clean solutions are available, which create jobs and save money. A transition of our society, like a butterfly, is very well possible.”

Since the start of the tour on May 23, 2022, in Geneva, Switzerland, the SolarButterfly has traveled more than 17,000 miles and visited 27 European countries. Nearly 140 projects have been reviewed so far, suggesting that global warming is on people’s minds. Some projects include a solar-powered vehicle that never needs to connect to the grid to charge its batteries; a fossil fuel-free steel plant; and a group that has produced a search engine, which already has millions of visitors, that provides information on how to reforest the planet.

After a winter break, the SolarButterfly began again from its hometown of Lucerne, Switzerland, on April 3, visiting known pioneers in the United Kingdom. After that trip, the SolarButterfly will be shipped to Halifax, Canada, and continue its travels from there, across the United States and Central America to Panama by the end of the 2023.

Figure 1: The SolarButterfly is equipped with a uniquely designed large solar panel array that unfolds into giant butterfly wings.

Maxon USA, a corporate sponsor of the project, will be hosting the SolarButterfly and crew on July 28 at its Taunton, Massachusetts facility. Local political leaders, schools and the public are invited to attend between 10:30 am and 12:30 pm. During that time, guests will be able to tour the SolarButterfly, which is equipped with a uniquely designed large solar panel array that unfolds into giant butterfly wings (Figure 1). It incorporates a kitchen, bathroom and living room and accommodates a crew of up to five people. The vehicle is the first to be built largely out of Ocean PET—plastic bottles gathered at sea and then processed for reuse. With more than 900 square feet of solar panels, the vehicle produces enough energy to travel up to 150 miles per day.

The SolarButterfly crew is searching for additional hosts, such as companies and universities, in cities between Halifax and Panama where it can charge its batteries during the day, meet climate pioneers and be open to the public.

According to the planned route, the next phase of visits the SolarButterfly will make include five continents finishing in Paris on December 12, 2025, just in time for the 10th anniversary of the United Nations Paris climate agreement. The itinerary and time frame will be:

Switzerland–Germany–United Kingdom, April–June 2023

North and Central America, July–December 2023

South America–Europe–Asia, March–October 2024

Australia–Africa–Paris, January–December 2025

LONGi, a solar-technology company, is a key partner for the project where the company makes its own contribution to green-energy transformation and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A variety of other companies are helping to fund the SolarButterfly project, including maxon, Brugg Group, ELMA, myclimate, 3A Composites Core Materials, Geser Fahrzeugbau, Komax, Kyburz, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, OPES Solutions, Schindler, 3A Composites Mobility, Lucerne Business Development and Jim&Jim. Other costs for the four-year journey will be raised through crowdfunding.