Marcelo da Luz has a dream. A lofty one, but a dream nonetheless.

“I want to save the planet,” da Luz proclaimed as he and his crew busily prepared a strange, almost otherworldly vehicle. This vehicle, da Luz believes, is the key to doing just that.

Da Luz is the designer, mechanic, driver and catalyst for the Power of One (xof1), a project whose objective is to develop and build a solar car that promotes the use of clean and sustainable energy.

Da Luz is currently in the process of establishing a new world record for distance traveled by a solar-powered vehicle. He and his xof1 team made a quick stop in Florence on Monday, Jan. 19, before heading down to their eventual destination, Los Angeles.

The xof1 team started their record-setting journey in Buffalo, New York, went up to the top of Canada and across to Alaska before heading south. According to da Luz, they broke the record Oct. 30 in Victoria, British Columbia, and decided to keep heading south, further extending the record.

The record itself is a side-note, da Luz said. The real purpose of the journey is to ...

...read more of this article in Saturday's Siuslaw News.