nov 02

Saving Energy on Board

Red Led Port LightEnergy efficiency on board

As with any project, there are many aspects that are important to make the whole project successful. Building a boat that can be powered solely by renewably generated energy is no different. Everything has to work together to make sure the boat can sail for as long as desired while being comfortable and save at the same time. Unfortunately many of these aspects are conflicting.

For example, it would be most efficient to create a very light boat. But this means that you have to remove as much as possible. But to make a boat comfortable and safe, you want to add things like a fridge, toilet and rescue equipment. As this will add a lot of weight to the boat, more energy is needed to sail for the same time.

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okt 11

Interesting observation about renewable and nuclear energy

Nuclear Power Plant

Nuclear Power Plant

As you might have noticed, I added some Google Adds to support this website. Every time you click on an add on my site, I receive a couple cents. I use this to maintain this website and hope to cover the cost this year. So you know what to do to get me a buck or two…

Last weekend I showed my website to a friend. I was happy to hear that he liked it and thought that the site looked nice. But when writing about renewable energy for boats, it is a little strange to see ads for nuclear energy and another random add for Good Ideas from Statoil, the Norwegian National Oil Company’s public relation page. I have to admit, it is a pretty good page. And you can learn quite a bit too, so go check it out.

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sep 28

Frysian E-Power Challenge 2011

Frysian E-Power Challenge

Last Sunday I spent the day in Sneek to watch 21 one electrically powered boats compete in the Frysian E-Power Challenge. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t too good and I didn’t envy the guys and girls sitting in their boats sailing around Friesland for more than 4 hours. I wanted to see this E-Power Challenge to see what the different possibilities of electrical sailing are at the moment. It was great to see the variety of boats that were participating.

Frysian eChallenge

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sep 18

Frisian E-Performance Challenge – Update

Winner Dong Solar Challenge

I had a great day in Sneek today watching all the electrical boats. There were 21 boats competing for the title of fastest e-powered boat. I will post a longer review about the day with some photos in the next couple of days. The photo you see here is the winner of the Dong Solar Challenge 2010, which used to be called the Nuon Solar Challenge. This boat did not compete today. It is a requirement for the competing boats that they are on sale and the public can buy the same version. This is clearly not the case with this one, as it was specifically constructed for the solar challenge.

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sep 16

Book: Electric Propulsion for Boats

Electrical propulsion for boats

A nice book about electrical propulsion for boats. You can buy the book at Amazon.

Yet another book that is not dedicated to renewable energy for boats, but that can help you to install electrical propulsion on our boats. This is the first step to a boat only powered by renewable energy. The author, Charlie Mathys, has many years of experience with designing various boats and propulsion methods. He describes both his successes and the things that went wrong to make sure that you as the reader will not make the same mistakes as well.

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sep 15

Frisian E-Performance Challenge

Stifting Elektrysk Farre Fryslan
Sunday 18th of September
As the title suggests, this is a challenge for electrical boats to see how long and how far electrically powered boats can go. They want to show the public what is possible with electrically powered boats. The race starts at 12pm and the boats are expected to be back in about 4 hours. The 10 fastest boats will receive a variety of prizes worth 15,000 euro.

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sep 06

Ecolution

Ecolution

Ecolution


Ecolution is the creation of Wubbo Ockels. After traveling to space he decided that the earth deserves better, so he built a boat that doesn’t need any fossil fuels, can sail all year long, all around the world. If you have the money, you can order one too!

Have a look at the Ecolution Website or read this review in the Dutch nautical magazine Nautique.

aug 27

A Day At The Beach

Amazing Video! If only the Dutch beaches would be like this one. Well, a bit later in the video, it does look a lot like the Dutch beach/weather.

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aug 26

(No) Renewable Energy for my Boat

I have a boat and I love it. It is an old rescue sloop which I have had for some years now. In the years that I have had it, it has been seriously changed and re-worked. It looked so different when we first saw it, that we didn’t even realize that the original hull was that of a sloop. The superstructure was, well, weird for a boat. This boat was, so we realized later, clearly built by someone who did not have much boating experience. The wood work was technically ok, it did include some very nice details. It would be a very nice construction, if it was a closet or a walk in wardrobe.

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aug 18

Really? — updated —

To show how little is being written about this topic, renewable energy for your boat or ship, you should try to Google “renewable energy for boats”. Of course I am very happy with this result, but I am shocked to be on the number one spot in Google after only a couple short weeks. That means that there is really almost nothing written or published about renewable energy for boats. Or perhaps the SEO for my blog is just great.

On the up side, this strengthen me even more to write about it and discover the possibilities. Where do you want quietness and fresh air more than when enjoying nature in your own boat?

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aug 15

Book: WordPress for Dummies

WordPress for Dummies

WordPress for Dummies

I use WordPress for this website and I always love to have a real book when working on these things. I hope this book, Buy this book at Amazon, which is actually 8 books in 1, can be useful for you when you want to explore the many possibilities of WordPress. At the moment WordPress is easy to quickly setup, but if you really want to get the most out of it, you really need a bit more information.

Or just shoot me a message if you have any questions.

 

Buy this book at Amazon.

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