“A plan by Apple Macintosh computer billionaire Steve Wozniak and former American astronaut Buzz Aldrin to drive a monster 4WD to the South Pole next Christmas is drawing flak over environmental concerns,” Stuff.co.nz reports. “The Apple co-founder is claiming the trip will be ‘research’ because the Hummer H1 Alphas – a civilian version of the US military’s high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle (HMMWV or Hum-Vee) – will be powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.”
“The plan was outlined by documentary film-maker and electric car enthusiast Chris Paine at the 2007 Detroit auto show, after Mr Wozniak released some details in July last year at Stanford University,” Stuff.co.nz reports.
“Paine said he will film the Zero South expedition and that it will be a ‘race’ between vehicles variously running on bio-fuel, the hydrogen fuel-cell, and on electric batteries,” Stuff.co.nz reports. “Paine, who recently promoted electric vehicles with a documentary called Who Killed The Electric Car?, said the vehicles will run to the South Pole and back in an effort to prove that alternative fuel vehicles can tackle the harshest of conditions.”
Stuff.co.nz reports, “The engineers preparing Mr Wozniak’s Hummer are reported to have received advice from California’s Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, which has experience running hydrogen-powered buses.”
“But the expedition by Mr Wozniak, from America’s McMurdo Station in New Zealand’s Ross Dependency to the South Pole, has also caused concern among environmental lobbyists who see it as a stunt by rich technology enthusiasts based in California,” Stuff.co.nz reports.
“Alan Hemmings, senior fellow in Antarctic studies at Canterbury University, has already raised concerns over the plan amid increasing commercialisation of the continent,” Stuff.co.nz reports. “Mr Hemmings said the group’s planned drive to the pole was ‘part of a much wider problem’ in regulating tourism to Antarctica, where visitor numbers are expected to jump to reach 50,000 tourists and support crew next summer. In 1990 the number was only about 2500.”
Stuff.co.nz reports, “Nick Baggarly, an executive director of the Zero South expedition, told the Associated Press newsagency that his group’s trip was not tourism and that it opposed tourism in Antarctica ‘or exploitation of this precious area. This exhibition does not promote tourism,’ he said in the email. ‘Its purpose is to create enlightenment opportunities that will inspire a new generation of scientists, engineers and explorers.'”
Full article here.
@Botvinnik:
It is indeed. I guess I was being a bit harebrained myself.
Personally, I doubt that many environmentalists would really be all that upset about this proposed trip. A lot of the time, too, journalists will often dig up a fringe opinion to put into a story that otherwise doesn’t have much drama. (e.g. Read most of the MSM stories about global warming, they always found some pretty strange people who deny that the earth is even warming, at least they used to do that prior to about 6 months ago.)
It should be a useful real-world study of how fuel cells work in a very harsh setting. It actually could also have some application to space exploration. If a lunar lander or excursion vehicle were hydrogen powered, would there be any problems with temperature maintenance in the fuel cell? (I think the Apollo era excursion vehicle was battery-powered.) I suspect that the fuel cell will be able to generate enough energy to keep itself warm, but you never know until you’re driving your hydrogen-Hummer across the west-Antarctic ice sheets and you suddenly get a flat tire. I HATE when that happens.
@head
Are you serious? Are you REALLY worried that in 250,000 years spent rods will be an issue?
Tell you what… I’ll bet you that in that amount of time, the problem will be solved. If I’m wrong, I’ll pay you in 250,000 years – with interest, no less.
Well, at least you discredited yourself quickly. Liberals always do that the moment they open their mouthes.
-Denny Crane
Hydrogen is for suckahs. One ocean liner/tanker or one airliner throws more carbon into the air in one trip than all of New York’s cars in a year. You can look it up.
I met Buzz once a few years ago at the NASA center in Houston.
I know he was the second guy on the moon and all, but I thought he was kind of a prick.
@the othe rsteve jobs ‘ I also carry a 45-auto on me, a 9mm-auto in my car, and a shotgun in my house. I love red meat, and Ronald Reagan.’
Jesus H…you carry a 45 -auto on you?….This is a major difference between the US and the rest of the world
Sick…..
“Woz, Buzz. Buzz, Woz.” (handshakes ensue)
In a related story, Boz Scaggs and Barbara Streisand will join in on the trip to “down there”.
Woz, Boz, Babs and Buzz are hoping to have a wing dinger of a time.
Uma and Oprah were not available for comment. Or sex.
>”Are you REALLY worried that in 250,000 years spent rods will be an issue?”<
For you to even ask this shows your lack of understanding, as wel as interest in just what can happen before those 250 k years are up …
I mean .. what kind of container will you use to protect your ground water from contamination, in the event your “fool-proof” containter rusts to the point of exposure ?
This could happen in, say 50 years …
But, youre right…who cares ?? you’ll most likely be dead by that time … and the problem will be thrust upon your grandchildren !
Yeah, thats typical Right Wing thinking, all right … Profits at all costs, and the hell with the consequences !!
You sir, have discredited yourself by taking such a stance, and also by making the assumption that someone is a Liberal just because their views differ from your own …
Also typical of the Right Wingers !! …
Probably a good reason the rest of the world respects un, huh ?
Steve Wozniak is a no-talent boob. He happened to be in the right place at the right time to have Steve Jobs lift his meager accomplishment to great heights. A hundred other engineer/hobbyists were capapable of the same offering. I do not see why people glorify this irresponsible Segway-polo-playing fool.
Oh,Thomas…
Oh, Timbo…
@the othe rsteve jobs ‘ I also carry a 45-auto on me, a 9mm-auto in my car, and a shotgun in my house. I love red meat, and Ronald Reagan.’
Thank goodness for guys like you. Honestly, I wish there were more guys like you, you would have been a handy guy to have around a while back at a certain collage campus. Sadly, since no one such as yourself was present a lot of unarmed students has to wait until the wacko turned the gun on himself. I feel safer knowing you are out there.
This mission may actually be very dangerous to Woz because he looks a lot like a big whitte seal. I hope there are no hunters down there.
Just My $0.02
I certainly see no advantage to testing hydrogen-powered Hummers in the Antarctic wilderness. Surely, sufficient data could be obtained in a civilized country in the higher latitudes such as Sweden or Finland or USA or Canada, or even a less civilized nation such as Russia. I’m convinced that Woz’s trip is nothing more than a stunt masquerading as a scientific expedition.
John D,
that is completely and utterly wrong in every important respect:
According to British Airways, a 747-400 plane cruises at 576 mph (927
km/h), burns 12,788 liters of fuel per hour, and
carries 409 passengers when full:
http://www.britishairways.com/flights/factfile/airfleet/docs/7474.shtml
The average annual distance driven per car in the USA is given as
17862 km (11099 miles) in a report which quotes figures from the
International Road Federation:
http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/94713ad445ff1425ca25682000192af2/73f5696b10a8f71dca2569d000164394!OpenDocument
At a fuel consumption of 30 miles per gallon (12.75 km per liter) this
would consume 370 gallons (1401 liters) per year.
So roughly 12 cars, not all cars in New York
Sorry,
got my maths slightly wrong an average trip would be 9 hours in an aeroplane, so its actually about 100-ish cars, which I think is still slightly under the New York car population.
All activity in the Antarctic is covered by the Antarctic Treaty. This treaty is designed to ensure that the Antarctic essentially remains the last pristine wilderness on this planet. This covers all bases (permanent and temporary) as well as cruise ships and other tourists visiting the area.
The rules basically put are “no littering” and “no unnecessary pollution”. All countries with interests in the Antarctic have signed up to this treaty, and it is generally widely respected.
Whilst on the surface of it driving a hydrogen powered vehicle should not pollute, they would still need to be mindful of the “no littering” rule. Additionally since there are no roads to the South Pole, and the ice is full of very deep crevices and hidden caverns there’s a risk that their Hummer would not make it, break through the ice, and then become pollution itself.
There seems to me to be no value besides publicity in performing this jaunt in the Antarctic when compared to other cold locations on this planet. Given the risks involved it’s not too surprising that some folks are concerned.
@McGherkinstein Jones: My mind is made up. Don’t confuse the issue with facts.
(But it’s precious few cars that would get 30 mpg in a city, especially New Spork. Much more likely is 12 to 15, even a four-cylinder, which, being driven by an American, would be an automatic — and not forgetting that the U.S. gallon is miniscule.
Precisely. This is why this “expedition” is a shameless and pathetic “publicity stunt” by pseudoscientists, ersatz engineers, the disaffected rich, and the formerly famous. There is absolutely no legitimate reason to use the Antarctic as a base for cold weather testing. In retrospect, I hope that the majority verdict will be “Antarctic stunt </B>Woz</b> a dismal failure”.
Hope they don’t run over any penguins along the way.