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- Posted:Friday, February 26, 2010
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Solar-powered boat comes to Hamburg
According to the Times, the catamaran - which is being called PlanetSolar and was made by a company of the same name - has a top speed of 17 mph and can fit 50 people on it, which sounds like a pretty good party to me. And what better cause for celebration can there be than the launch of the biggest boat ever to be powered by solar energy?
I'd definitely like to be in Germany to see it, although I'm not quite sure where I'm going to be in May. It was built in Kiel and its official launch is taking place in March, but two months later it's going to be involved in celebrations at Hamburg port, so if you're going to be in that part of the country then, it could be fun to get involved.
I'm not sure you'll actually be able to get a ride on it - although possibly one day in the future - as a crew of two people are planning a world tour in the ship, that has been designed to be both clean and quiet. They're going to be travelling along the equator for around 24,850 miles from April 2011, so if you're jet-setting at about that time, keep a weather eye open for them.
PlanetSolar the organisation itself believes that it is possible to halve carbon dioxide emissions by enhancing energy efficiency and by developing renewable energy sources, the amount of this released into the atmosphere could be reduced by nearly 40 per cent.
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