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: 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".