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Self-Fueling Boat Sets off From Paris on 6 Year World Trip

posted by martyb on Sunday July 16 2017, @04:36PM   Printer-friendly
from the interesting-but-will-it-pay-back? dept.

WaPo and many other outlets
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/self-fueling-boat-sets-off-from-paris-on-6-year-world-trip/2017/07/15/03b2ac7a-6976-11e7-94ab-5b1f0ff459df_story.html

report that a 100 foot (~30m) racing catamaran has had the mast(s) removed and instead fitted with a combo of solar cells and vertical axis wind turbines. It also makes H2 by electrolysis of sea water and can run off a hydrogen fuel cell at night.

Originally designed in 1983, the boat enjoyed a successful career in open-sea sailing races before skippers Frederic Dahirel and Victorien Erussard and a French research institute converted it into the Energy Observer project.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 16 2017, @08:08PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 16 2017, @08:08PM (#539996)

    store it in batteries

    They're not using batteries. They're electrolyzing seawater to make hydrogen. It's in the summary.

    I can see this being used to supplement wind, but not replace it.

    Suppose Solar Impulse had used solar power to supplement a piston engine.

  • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Sunday July 16 2017, @11:26PM (1 child)

    by Whoever (4524) on Sunday July 16 2017, @11:26PM (#540078) Journal

    They're not using batteries. They're electrolyzing seawater to make hydrogen.

    Less efficient than batteries. I assume the primary advantage of using hydrogen is lower weight.

    • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday July 18 2017, @07:08PM

      by VLM (445) on Tuesday July 18 2017, @07:08PM (#541103)

      too light to accumulate in the bilge and blow the ship to bits like gasoline sometimes does.