Dubbed the "Solar Impulse of the Seas," the first boat to be powered solely by renewable energies and hydrogen hopes to make its own historic trip around the world.
A water-borne answer to the Solar Impulse—the plane that completed its round-the-globe trip using only solar energy in July—the Energy Observer will be powered by the Sun, the wind and self-generated hydrogen when it sets sail in February as scheduled.
The multi-hulled catamaran is in a shipyard at Saint-Malo on France's west coast, awaiting the installation of solar panels, wind turbines and electrolysis equipment, which breaks down water to produce its component elements, hydrogen and oxygen.
"We are going to be the first boat with an autonomous means of producing hydrogen," says Frenchman Victorien Erussard, who is behind the project—confidential until now—with compatriot Jacques Delafosse, a documentary filmmaker and professional scuba diver.
The round-the-world trip is projected to take six years.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday September 14 2016, @05:08PM
Green powered ships? Clipper ships. Fast bastids - they raced each other from Asian ports to Western ports, trying to get those seasonal goods to market ahead of the competition. Wasn't it Vespucci who circumnavigated the world first, in a green-powered ship? Amerigo Vaspucci? The Americas got their name from him. The man didn't burn any coal, no gas, nothing like that. Maybe a little tallow for lighting, and some wood in the cook stove.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday September 14 2016, @05:22PM
The ship in the article has also circumnavigated the world Vespucci style:
FTA: The vessel itself has a storied past.
The catamaran won the Jules Verne trophy, for a team sailing non-stop round the world, in 1994.
I can't tell from the article whether they have removed the sails or whether the energy collectors are in addition to sails.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Wednesday September 14 2016, @06:04PM
From the drawings on their website (not linking, script mess), no masts, just solar panels.
The irony of taking a sail-powered thing, replacing the sails with electronics, panels and motors, and calling it green, must be lost on them.
There's gotta be a way to power a boat slowly with automatic rigid sails (small ones if you don't have a skipper to anticipate a capsize). That would feel greener and still allow solar-powered motors for quiet days.
Related: I had a chat with a lady writing the software for kayak-size boats powered by the amplitude difference between the top of a wave and a few metres down. That sound like a nice, if pretty slow, way of getting unlimited power.
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Thursday September 15 2016, @03:20AM
Why not combine the old with the new? Have a traditional sailing ship for when the winds are good and allow your (hopefully) high capacity batteries to relax and recharge. Then when the wind dies, use your fancy solar powered engine to put some nice knots down.
SoylentNews is Bacon! [nueskes.com]
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Wednesday September 14 2016, @05:47PM
Unrelated, did anyone else hear Lord Percy from Blackadder II announcing 'I have obtained pure green!' when they read the headline?
sudo mod me up
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2016, @05:59PM
No, but I did hear Samuel Johnson muttering "Sausage?" when I read your comment.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday September 14 2016, @07:21PM
Unrelated, did anyone else hear Lord Percy from Blackadder II announcing 'I have obtained pure green!' when they read the headline?
No, but I do know he's had a fear of the sea ever since he was savaged by a turbot.
(I didn't know what a turbot was for years, but I still found that line hilarious)
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2016, @08:34PM
It took Francis Drake three years to go around the world. These guys will do it in six. I'll take Drake's three years plus variability over a dependable six years most of the time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2016, @11:22PM
It goes twice as fast when the turbot button is depressed.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday September 15 2016, @01:01AM
Unrelated, did anyone else hear Lord Percy from Blackadder II announcing 'I have obtained pure green!' when they read the headline
"I have forged a nugget of the purest Green my lord"!
Also "Big, blue wobbly fing, what mermaids live in".
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday September 15 2016, @12:57AM
I think Magellan was first in 1519. Well not actual Magellan, he was killed in the Philippines, but his expedition.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @05:27AM
"We are going to be the first boat with an autonomous means of producing hydrogen" is the claim. Ships from late in the 19th century could have made producer gas for lighting. Whether they really did, I've no idea.