Pinoy-made solar car to compete again in int'l race

To parade the benefits of solar energy, a Filipino-made solar car will run in the 3,000-kilometer World Solar Challenge in October – the second time the Philippines will compete in the bi-annual race. Improving on the designs of two previously-manufactured solar vehicles, the car named Sikat II will try its engine on a race track that spans Darwin to Adelaide in Australia. The vehicle runs on solar energy converted into electricity, doing away with the non-renewable and often atmosphere-polluting petroleum. Sikat II —to be designed and built by 22 engineering students and seven teachers of the De La Salle University-Manila— boasts of a “faster" capacity than that of its predecessors, Sinag and Sikat I. With a two-kilowatt motor, Sikat II will run at a top speed of 110 kilometers per hour, and weigh in at less than 180 kilograms. Sikat II weights in at less than 180 kg —110 kg lighter than the Philippines’ first solar car, Sinag, and at least 20 kg lighter than the first version of Sikat. “Sikat II is a testament of Filipino creativity and ingenuity, talent and technological capability in tapping clean and renewable sources of energy such as solar power," said the Philippine Solar Car Challenge Society, Inc., which helps in managing the production of the solar vehicle and its participation in the race in Australia. The debut run of the first solar car Sinag did not leave Filipinos disappointed, finishing 12th among 40 participants in the World Solar Challenge in 2007. In 2008, a solar-powered car also managed to complete a ‘round-the-world trip with the chief United Nations climate official, Yvo de Boer, on board. "These new technologies are ready," then said 36-year-old Swiss schoolteacher Louis Palmer. “It's ecological, it's economical, it is absolutely reliable. We can stop global warming." — TJD, GMA News