Bertrand Piccard, one of two Swiss pilots who made the first circumnavigation of the world in a solar-powered aircraft, Solar Impulse, has said he wants to meet Donald Trump after the inauguration to highlight the falling costs of renewables compared to fossil fuels.
Piccard, CEO of Solar Impulse SA, believes that investing in clean energy is key to creating jobs and growth, while Trump has criticised solar and wind energy as being too costly.
“If they want to make America great again they will need to use clean technologies and renewable energies,” Piccard said. “You will not have growth with old technologies,” he added.
“I’m also an entrepreneur like him,” Piccard said. “I flew around the world on solar power because it’s possible. I built a company, found the money and technology to do it, so I think if you speak a language of the entrepreneur, you can show him where the new business is.”
The solar-powered flight, which covered more than 40,000 km and finished July 26, 2016, had its technical control centre in Monaco.
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