Environment

World's First Super-Green Superyacht - Plans Unveiled

by Samir Joshi | July 27, 2009 at 10:44 am

317 views | 51 Recommendations | 4 comments

Global Warming. Ice Melting. Oil Resources uncertain. Yes, we do live in such times where concerns over environment are growing not every year but everyday.

Transportation is regarded as one of THE major polluters in the world and I think most of us would agree with the fact. However, we are so much dependent upon non-renewable sources that we cannot imagine life without them.

Transport will have to be greener, cleaner and environment friendly. No or minimal use of fossil fuels.

A student in the UK has come up with such a plan for a Super-Green Superyacht. It may seem far fetched and a concept. But as it is very famously said - "A journey of a million miles begins with a single step." We have to start somewhere then why not with this. Newer and commercially viable ideas will come up but we must start somewhere!

Good luck to all of us and Good luck to mother nature!

A 23-year-old British student has designed a "super-green superyacht" built using only sustainable materials, which produces virtually no carbon emissions.

Story Highlights

A 23-year-old British student has designed a super-green superyacht

Runs on either solar power from 600 m2 of panels or wind energy from giant "wings"

Produces virtually no emissions and is made entirely from sustainable materials

Designer now in talks with potential owners to have "Soliloqui" built

"Soliloquy's" unique eco-luxury design allows the boat to run on two different sources of sustainable energy by incorporating 600sq/m of solar panels on the exterior of the boat and giant rigid "wings" that function like sails.

Although the 58-meter boat has yet to be built, it would be able to run either on wind energy via the wings, solar power supplied by the panels or a combination of the two.

An equivalent-sized superyacht burns anything between 250 and 600 liters of marine diesel per hour, depending on speed and fuel efficiency, and emit three times that in CO2 emissions. Some of the biggest SUVs on the road burn around 20 liters fuel per hour.

Both the panels and wings on the "ever-evolving" vessel can fold up or completely stretch out depending on which energy source is in use, changing the yacht's shape.

"I wanted to prove that eco-luxury no longer has to be an oxymoron and doesn't have to make a yacht more expensive," designer Alastair Callender, a life-long sailing fanatic, told CNN.