Marine Electronics
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Besides preparing the largest solar vessel to circle the globe, PlanetSolar (Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland) is also preparing a mass scale environmental message to go with it. And the message is simple; boats produce six percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions, a full 1.4 billion tons a year. And PlanetSolar has the technology to stop it.
As part of PlanetSolar’s world public relations program, the space-age solar ship will take that message to nearly every major port in the world. Additionally, the organization is planning to take its message to the schools. To date the organization has given exclusively “children’s” publicity in France, to Sept autour du monde. According to PlanetSolar, Sept autour du monde will cause a stir in France. As part of the program, educational publicity is also planned for town halls and colleges. Media to be used include books, cartoons and websites. College and high school students are also reported to be a major focus of the media campaign.
The global voyage of PlanetSolar’s ship will be the centerpiece of the environmental publicity campaign. And with the ship will come its two pilots, Raphaël Domjan and Gérard d’Aboville’s. Besides commanding the ship across all seven seas, they are expected to also play the role of hosts for the world tour.
Although exact details of which ports the ship will dock at have not been revealed, reports so far indicate that the world tour will include stops at Hamburg, London, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
It is anticipated that the two skippers will spend a good amount of time in the Mediterranean, where skies are sunny and there are plenty of interested boaters. Monaco, home of many luxury yachts, will most likely not be forgotten in the itinerary. The ports along the China coast will probably also see the solar sails of PlanetSolar. China has already shown a strong interest in equipping its freighters with solar sails, not only to reduce the environmental foot print of its freighters, but also to reduce fuel costs.
Also getting out the message will be PlanetSolar’s partners, which include investors, government organizations, cities, and lots of high tech companies.
The high technology companies that helped design this landmark solar boat include Autodesk, one of the world’s leading CAD software companies. SunPower (San Jose, California) is one of the lead vendors. It supplied the high efficiency solar cells. Commenting on SunPower’s solar cell technology was SunPower Senior Director Jorn Jurgens. He noted that the catamaran is powered by 38,000 of SunPower’s latest high-efficiency solar cells; solar cells that have an efficiency rating of 22 percent, considered the most efficient solar cells available. He also noted that “The solar boat will be available for public display during each of its stops, offering an educational opportunity to all visitors.”
Other companies, government agencies and organizations that have been involved in the Planetsolar project include Suppleres Horus Networks Sàrl, Knierim Yachtbau GmbH, Alcan Composites Core Materials, Rio Tinto, Polaroid Eyewear, drivetek ag, The French Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Territorial Development, Ifremer, the Sustainable Energy Campaign, myclimate, and Rivendell Holding AG.
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