A solar-powered plane aircraft called solar impulse-2 took off from the Emirates, heading east to Muscat in Oman in what is planned to be a world tour.
Over the next five months, solar impulse-2 would skip from continent to continent, crossing both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the process.
The plan is stop off at various locations around the globe, to rest and to carry out maintenance, and also to spread a campaigning message about clean technologies.
Monday’s leg to Oman would cover about 400km and take an estimated 12 hours.
The project has already set a number of world records for solar-powered flight, including making a high-profile transit of the us in 2013.
The round-the-world venture is altogether more dramatic and daunting and had required the
construction of an even bigger plane than the prototype, solar impulse-1.
It’s a deep-breath moment in the history of technology as Solar Impulse soars to the skies.
The price of solar electric panels fell 70% in recent years and costs are expected to halve again this decade.
Deutsche Bank forecasts that, based on current fossil fuel prices, solar would produce power as cheaply as gas in two thirds of the world before 2020.
In the UK, the solar industry thinks it could compete with wind within 18 months and with gas in the near future while in the USA, solar jobs already outnumber coal jobs.
The solar revolution was sparked by government subsidies, which attracted venture capitalists to fund innovation and created a huge market that Chinese manufacturers are battling to exploit.
The solar boom is a huge help in the battle against climate change, but scientists warn it’s not nearly enough. And we must find ways of storing that mighty but capricious power, and making it work with the grid.
