For those of you who are motor racing fans you will have seen Jensen Button and Brawn GP being crowned as Formula 1 Drivers Champion and Constructors Champion on Sunday.
And for those of you that think Formula One racing surely could not show any kind of environmental commitment, you would be wrong.
As you may know, Brawn GP and Jensen Button were formed when Honda pulled out of racing for financial reasons. When driving for Honda, Jensen Button was one of the first drivers to use revolutionary KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System).
So what is KERS?
Simply put KERS, stores energy lost during braking/slowing down and then allows this energy to be converted back into power for the car. This is done by either storing the energy in a fly wheel or by using a battery. This means that the energy can then be used to improve fuel efficiency and therefore reduce the carbon footprint of the vehicle.
So did Jensen Button win using green power?
Actually no – the KERS system was not used by Brawn GP for technical reasons but, Lewis Hamilton won a race this year for the first time in a car equipped with KERS.
The main point is that Formula One racing is now taking an active part of developing green technology for the future that, if successful, will ultimately be adopted by road cars.