September 13, 2008	Saturday	Ramazan 12, 1429

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 12: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took ‘Solartaxi’ — a fully solar-powered car — from his home in New York to the UN headquarters on Friday morning to underscore his deep concern over environmental changes.

Mr Ban’s green commute was part of his efforts since taking office to raise awareness about climate change and to promote environment-friendly technologies.

The ‘Solartaxi’, which is sponsored by Switzerland, is currently in New York on a worldwide journey that included a stop in Bali, Indonesia, last December for the landmark climate change negotiations.

The journey is slated to conclude in Poznan in early December to coincide with the Polish city hosting the next phase of the international talks on measures to respond, mitigate and adapt to global warming.

Louis Palmer, the Solartaxi’s driver and developer, said he was on a mission to illustrate that solutions existed to deal with some of the problems caused by climate changes.

“As climate change doesn’t stop at borders, it’s a global problem and the UN is playing a central role in the fight to stop global warming.”

Last month Mr Ban began the “Cool UN” initiative at UN headquarters to limit the use of air-conditioning and heating, slash greenhouse gas emissions and save money.

The thermostats in most parts of the landmark secretariat building were raised by five degrees from 72 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit during August, and the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems were shut down over the weekends. This initiative has since been extended until mid-September.