Southampton Boat Show Green Energy Awards.
Aug 19, 2010George Clifford
Southampton Boat Show is just three weeks away now. Sandwiched inbetween Cannes and Monaco, it is always a superb event in itself, despite being sometimes thought of as the younger sister of the London Boat Show, due in January 2011.
This year, one of our nation’s great publishing institutions, Practical Boat Owner, is presenting its Green Awards at the show. One award, Boat or Boatbuilder of the past 12 months, is going to Slovenian design house, Seaway, for their reasonably priced Greenline 33, into which, a 1.3kW solar panel 'power plant' has been installed for the option of silent, solar sailing.
Developing eco friendly, reduced carbon emission engines has been an industry concern and diesel-electric hybrid drives are now often available on new yachts and powerboats. Keen interest has been shown for installing Solar PV energy in the building sector and recently a test aeroplane flew under the power of Solar PV panels strapped to its wings!
We will have to see if solar power really will take to the high seas. Even a custom yacht, say, Disco Inferno III or Cookielicious of around 60 – 80 foot long, already twice the length of the Greenline, could find the difference between switching from sail to solar power quite challenging under certain weather conditions . Unless you’re cruising around the Med in high summer, as these bigger yachts always do.
Tags: Southampton Boat Show, Green Energy, Cannes Boat Show, Monaco Boat Show, London Boat Show, Practical Boat Owner, electric hybrid, solar panels, solar PV, custom yacht, Disco Inferno, Cookielicious, cruising the Med.
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