March 28, 2008

Wave powered boats

With the world running out of fossil fuels this has left many leisure activities ok for now, but with a future that is less predictable. One such activity is travelling by sea, ships and boats use up huge amounts of fuel and apart from sails there is not really any other viable power source for ships and boats of all sizes.

However there has been a breakthrough using what may be a very unlikely but at the same time practical solution which could change the way that boats and ships find power. This application would harness the power of the sea, with wave power making the news recently it is only natural that someone should try and harness it for use in sea travel and transportation.

A Japanese man Kenichi Horie is building a wave powered boat, made from aluminium this boat has been fitted with a unique wave powered system. There is a fin which moves up and down with the power of the waves, this motion then drives the propellers, which sounds simple enough. The boat is due to take the Suntory Mermaid II on a journey from Japan to Hawaii to prove its worthy of being an eco boat.

Source [Gas 2]