By Honda Media
March 15 2007

The Honda Racing F1 Team arrived in Melbourne this week and one of the first stops was Albert Park Primary School, where the team's race drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello helped to update the school's lighting system with eco-friendly fluorescent globes. The team's commitment to tackling environmental issues was demonstrated at the school. Firstly the changing of the light globes will save 44.8 tonnes of CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in 2007 - thereby offsetting the team's entire carbon footprint for the race itself more than five times. Also on display at the school was Honda's revolutionary FCX Concept vehicle, the next generation of hydrogen fuel cell car which emits only water.

Honda's FCX Concept.

The development of the hydrogen-powered FCX is an expression of Honda's technological and environmental leadership. A production model of the FCX will be available for lease sales in Japan and the United States in 2008 - and will be widely available when the children from Albert Park Primary School are old enough to drive themselves.

The light globe changing initiative, driven and funded by the Honda Racing F1 Team, will reduce the school's annual electricity use on lighting by approximately 70%, while saving more than $8,000 per year in electricity bills.

"Albert Park Primary School is delighted to be involved in this Honda Racing F1 Team initiative," said David Hatherell, Principal at the Albert Park Primary School. "Their environmental message, in the form of the earth livery, raises important issues globally and that's fantastic. Everyone needs to make lifestyle changes to help environmental stability. At Albert Park Primary School we are very environmentally conscious. Each week we have a school award for the most sustainable class, based on how each child in each class gets to school. It was a program we put in place more than three years ago and I believe it has really helped the children and their parents understand that they can all help make a difference."

"The children here today are being educated in the ways in which the community can make an effort in reducing carbon emissions," explained Honda Racing F1's Marketing Director, Alistair Watkins. "Replacing light bulbs is a simple, but very effective way of reducing electricity costs while helping the environment.

"The Honda FCX provides an insight into the type of vehicle that the children of Albert Park Primary School will be driving, once they’re old enough to get behind the wheel."