SlowHands
07-27-2009, 10:27 AM
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/2/AmericanFlag.jpg Eschewing earth, wind and fire, an intrepid sailor plans to circumnavigate the world in a 60 foot solar-powered boat. (http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/07/solar-boat/#more-10296)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/solarboat.jpgKeith Barry - WIRED (http://www.wired.com) - 07/22/09
I'd love to do something like this! --Ed.
Eschewing earth, wind and fire, an intrepid sailor plans to circumnavigate the world in a 60 foot solar-powered boat.
Backed by the Peoples Projects Foundation, Anthony Howarth is building the Solar Circumnavigator to raise awareness about environmental issues and give the world a “solar power wake-up call.” According to Howarth, the boat will have “no internal combustion engines, no sails, no wind generators and no fuels of any kind onboard,” a restriction that includes cooking fuel.
Howarth expects to begin building the boat later this year, with the voyage taking place in 2010 or 2011. Should the Circumnavigator get in the water before Planet Solar, he even has a chance at being the first to accomplish a round-the-world journey powered only by the sun.
Howarth told Wired.com the Circumnavigator would feature cells with 30 percent efficiency that self-orient towards the sun — allowing for output 50% greater than a fixed solar array. The cells will power a DC motor driving six fixed-speed propellers that will be activated in pairs as needed. More power? More propellers. According to Howarth, the multi-propeller setup is more efficient than variable-speed propulsion.
The boat will be made from lightweight, renewable plywood that Howarth says is “as light and effective a boat building material as fashionable non-renewable composites.” The wood-is-better philosophy follows the lead of the Global GreenCat — a prototype boat (pictured above) created by Howarth in 1995 but abandoned due to what he called “a general lack of concern about environmental issues and resultant lack of support.”
He wouldn’t show us any photos or renderings of the Solar Circumnavigator because he worries someone would steal his design.... http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/07/solar-boat/#more-10296
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/solarboat.jpgKeith Barry - WIRED (http://www.wired.com) - 07/22/09
I'd love to do something like this! --Ed.
Eschewing earth, wind and fire, an intrepid sailor plans to circumnavigate the world in a 60 foot solar-powered boat.
Backed by the Peoples Projects Foundation, Anthony Howarth is building the Solar Circumnavigator to raise awareness about environmental issues and give the world a “solar power wake-up call.” According to Howarth, the boat will have “no internal combustion engines, no sails, no wind generators and no fuels of any kind onboard,” a restriction that includes cooking fuel.
Howarth expects to begin building the boat later this year, with the voyage taking place in 2010 or 2011. Should the Circumnavigator get in the water before Planet Solar, he even has a chance at being the first to accomplish a round-the-world journey powered only by the sun.
Howarth told Wired.com the Circumnavigator would feature cells with 30 percent efficiency that self-orient towards the sun — allowing for output 50% greater than a fixed solar array. The cells will power a DC motor driving six fixed-speed propellers that will be activated in pairs as needed. More power? More propellers. According to Howarth, the multi-propeller setup is more efficient than variable-speed propulsion.
The boat will be made from lightweight, renewable plywood that Howarth says is “as light and effective a boat building material as fashionable non-renewable composites.” The wood-is-better philosophy follows the lead of the Global GreenCat — a prototype boat (pictured above) created by Howarth in 1995 but abandoned due to what he called “a general lack of concern about environmental issues and resultant lack of support.”
He wouldn’t show us any photos or renderings of the Solar Circumnavigator because he worries someone would steal his design.... http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/07/solar-boat/#more-10296