Our own Sustainability
The AfricAlive expedition has been set up as a motor expedition from the beginning. But while the quest from Delft to Cape Town is by motor the most adventurous, a motor cycle is not well known for its sustainability. And while we have investigated the possibilities to have more sustainable means of transportation, our options were very limited. We had only four months to pull it all together, which made time our worst enemy.
Plans to go on alternative fuels, like bio-ethanol, were dismissed, because availability was a big problem and having a tank car drive all the way with us was not sustainable either. Technologies like solar energy were for an expedition like this not suited, because of limited power and reliability. That’s why we chose to go for the proven concept of the combustion engine. Fuel was available (almost) everywhere and concerning time and money it was simply the only option.
Although we are aware that we do not have infinite amounts of fossile fuels and we are adding to use of it, but we compensate for all our carbon dioxide emissions through the planting of trees. In this way we do not contribute to an increase in greenhouse gasses and thus our contribution to global warming is zero. We realised this compensation in cooperation with the Compensatiepolis, one of our sponsors. The Compensatiepolis is a car insurance in which the carbon dioxide emissions are compensated without having to pay extra for it.
Besides this we have six solar panels mounted on our roof, which charge our two batteries. Next to our ‘regular’ car battery, we have a second battery, which is charged by solar power only. This battery is connected to a 220 V transformer which we use to charge all our electrical gear, like laptops, harddisks and cameras. This has proven very useful, because we can now – depending on the condition of the road – work while we are driving.
We have also contacted a few companies which produce a solar backpack,
a backpack with an integrated solar panel, which can be used to charge
electrical equipment you wear on you, like MP3 player and cell phone.
In this way the motor bikers could also supply their electrical equipment
with sustainable energy. Problems with delivery and an upcoming introduction
of a new version left us however without backpacks.