A few years ago, Louis Palmer, a Swiss school teacher made an historic trip around the world in an electric car that he powered via solar electricity generated by a solar PV system he trailed behind the car.

Now, SolarWorld, one of the world’s leading solar panel producers, is trying to best that accomplishment. It’s worked to co-build a solar-powered car that has PV integrated into the body of the vehicle rather than in a trailer behind it, and which it is hoped will become the first solar car to circumnavigate the globe.

The two-seat SolarWorld Gran Turismo started its 21,000 mile global journey in October in Australia before moving on to New Zealand. This past week, it arrived in the United States where it will travel on solar electricity alone 3,774 miles from California to South Carolina.

Snow on solar panels

A giant snowstorm hit the Denver, Colo. area, making for huge snow piles in our neighborhood.

Snow on solar panels

A view of our house, surrounded by big snow piles, before I head up to clear snow from our 5.59 kW solar system.

Snow on solar panels

A ladder and a Mr. Longarm are the tools I generally use to clear snow from our lower 13-panel string.

Snow on solar panels

The view looking down from the ladder that I stand on while clearing snow from our solar system.

Snow on solar panels

After about 20 minutes, I hadn't made much progress on removing the two-feet of snow that fell on our solar system.

Snow on solar panels

Deep, heavy snow snapped the squeegee right off the Mr. Longarm angle adaptor.

Snow on solar panels

Luckily, I had another Mr. Longarm angle adaptor. But it turns out I didn't need it.

Snow on solar panels

See the tiny hole in the snow drift at the center top? That drift broke our Mr. Longarm extender.

Snow on solar panels

Some of the tools that Mr. Longarm sent me several months ago.

Snow on solar panels

A Mr. Longarm brush attached to a special extender for solar systems worked pretty well.

Snow on solar panels

Before I got up on our roof I cleared snow and ice off a patch of roof and waited two hours until the sun had completely freed it of snow and ice.

Snow on solar panels

Our neighbor's house has a 5.1 kW solar system -- but it's totally covered with snow here.

Snow on solar panels

Meanwhile, after more than an hour of snow-clearing, half of our 5.59 kW system is producing electricity.

The Denver, Colo. area just got walloped by a snowstorm that dumped about two feet of snow on us – and on our 5.59 kW solar system.

That means that yours truly was out there this morning after the storm had drawn to a close trying to shove snow off our lower 13-panel string with a Mr. Longarm (our upper 13 panels aren’t reachable, even with a Mr. Longarm).

It was very tough going, especially considering that a drift about three-feet deep had formed on the upper part of this 13-panel string.

I put this customized bumper sticker on our car more than 2 years ago.

Are you as fed up with people who text while driving as I am?

I pray every day that my family and I don’t get taken out by some selfish idiot who thinks it’s okay to surf the web while steering (or trying to steer) a several thousand-pound metal box around at 75 mph.

I also pray that if anyone is going to be taken out by the texting/surfing driver, that it happens in this order: 1) the driver who’s texting; 2) anyone who argues that the freedom to text/surf and drive is worth dying for.

Of course, the world isn’t just, or fair, and so it doesn’t usually happen like that. Instead, thousands of innocent, non-texting/surfing drivers/passengers end up as the victims of others’ stupidity.

[Credit: Vineyard Power Cooperative]

Martha’s Vineyard, one of Massachusetts’ best known tourist destinations, will soon have a solar canopy complete with EV charging stations.

Vineyard Power Cooperative (VPC) is in the first phase of a project to put two rows of solar electricity parking lot canopies in the parking lot in between two stores, Cronig's and Healthy Additions in Vineyard Haven, reports the Martha’s Vineyard Patch.Com site.