Solar-powered boat offers London lake cruise

 All aboard! Solar-powered boat offers London lake cruise
LONDON, England (AP) -- It is slow and travels only a short distance, but
builders of the Serpentine SolarShuttle say it is the most advanced
passenger ferry on British waters.  Britain's biggest solar-powered boat
debuted Tuesday on a lake in London's Hyde Park, opening what its developers
hope is a door to the future of solar-powered transportation.  The
Serpentine SolarShuttle -- powered entirely by the sun -- cruises at 5 miles
per hour (8 kilometers per hour ) and carries 42 passengers.

Beginning Saturday, operators will offer one-way tickets for the half-mile
(one-kilometer) cruise at 1.5 pounds (U.S. $2.75, euro2.20) per child and 3
pounds (U.S. $5.50, euro4.40) for adults.

Julian Nichol, 8, from Montreal, Canada, was among those admiring the new
craft, and thought the short journey would be no drawback. "Everyone can
walk around the lake if they want, but not everybody can go on this boat,"
he said. The 48-foot-long (14.5-meter-long) shuttle has 27 solar panels on
its roof, and the energy generated by the sun is enough to keep the boat
running.
"This is the most technologically advanced shuttle in the world right now,"
said Designer Christoph Behling, who also designed the world's largest solar
boat in Hamburg, Germany. "It is made of entirely stainless steel, which
means it never gets old. It will pave the way for future boats and trains
and other means of transportation," Behling said.

Its maximum journey distance is 82 miles (132 kilometers).

Almost no pollutants are given off during the trip because the shuttle has
two silent engines -- meaning there are no carbon emissions and it is also
charged fully by the sun. Even on those dark, rainy days everyone associates
with London, Behling said there will be enough sun to keep the ship running.
It is expected the boat will save nearly 5,000 pounds of carbon-dioxide per
year, compared with a diesel boat of a similar size, according to Gavin
Gomes, a spokesman for Sputnik Communications, a London-based energy
company. When the ferry is idle, surplus electricity generated by the solar
panels will be fed back into the national transmission network.

The Serpentine SolarShuttle cost 230,000 pounds (U.S. $421,000, euro335,000)
to build -- 20 percent more than a diesel boat of a comparable size, Behling
said. He is now working on a 300-passenger solar-powered ferry to run on the
Thames, and hopes it could be ready in 2008. A 60-passenger solar-powered
train for London's Battersea Park is also in the works.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/07/18/solar.boat.ap/index.html

 

Debuted???

What does that mean?

Mary
England

 Mary Fisher wrote:

I think in this context it means "maiden voyage"

Mark

 

Ah - like the debutantes! I remember it well :-)

Mary