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This is great and points to how solar in some cases already can facilitate continuous operation without the need for refueling of planes, boats, cars, you name
by stareatgoats 5y ago
This is great and points to how solar in some cases already can facilitate continuous operation without the need for refueling of planes, boats, cars, you name it. Expect this to grow as battery and solar cell tech develops further.
My favorites atm are the yachts that are capable of sailing just about anywhere in the world without a drop of fuel. The price is prohibitive, but considering that you might not need a house anymore it is actually getting close to possible for a reasonably senior tech employee.
[full disclosure: no affiliation]
https://www.azura-marine.com/aquanima-45/ https://www.azura-marine.com/aquanima-45/
https://www.silent-yachts.com/silent60/ https://www.silent-yachts.com/silent60/
- wingworks 5y agoThese guys spent the night on the Silent-Yachts one a ~month ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIte4FNI0U0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIte4FNI0U0
- Tepix 5y agoWhy wouldn't you use the wind energy also? It's a lot of fun, readily available and a lot cheaper…
- jjcm 5y agoFrom the images on the site it looks like it deploys a sailing kite in addition to the solar powered engines.
- KineticLensman 5y agoOh hi jjcim. Another cool research project from where I used to work. [0] Back in the day, the development building had a great view of the runway during the Farnborough air show and my pals on the Zephyr project would give me a shout if anything interesting was taking off. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_Zephyr https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_Zephyr
- Retric 5y agoSails have several major downsides, most notably they take up a lot of deck space and cause a boat to tilt to the side. If you’re regularly sailing long distances it’s much faster but top speed isn’t that big of a deal when your living on the boat full time. Other options like kites and wind turbines can work well but they all all significant upfront costs as well as ongoing maintenance issues. Spending that same money on a bigger boat gets you much more space, and of course a generator can give you redundancy or higher top speeds.
- Fiahil 5y ago> Sails have several major downsides[..] Yes, but it makes less noise.
- Jeff_Brown 5y agoAlso less disturbing to the ecosystem below than a prop.
- adgjlsfhk1 5y agoa sail (especially when luffing) is really f**ing loud
- pbhjpbhj 5y ago>top speed isn’t that big of a deal when your living on the boat full time.// If you're living on your boat 365 then I imagine avoiding severe weather becomes more important?
- Tepix 5y agoOn average liveaboards are sailing around 10% of the time. Most of the time if bad weather is approaching they will just stay in a safe location.
- bumbada 5y agoThis is the reason Weather reports and forecast are so important for people on boats. Most people living in boats actually live on ports and don't get very far from the coast most of the time.
- oefnak 5y agoThe second link of the parent comment describes a optional automatic parasail tug.
- rektide 5y agoanyone else think it would be super damn fun building solar floating homes like this?
- mariusseufzer 5y agoI'd be down haha - When do we start?
- agustif 5y agoIf sea levels keep rising a lot of coasting could be like this. In the netherlands they have flaoting houses in the canals, but stationary AFAIK
- bserge 5y agoThere's a couple living on a cheap ass floating tent/home (it literally uses barrels to float) in Sweden I think. Pretty cool. Also narrow boats in England are cheap and rather nice. Could start there. https://youtu.be/jljkK9HMa44 https://youtu.be/jljkK9HMa44
- pjc50 5y agoYou definitely want to try an English narrowboat before you start. I know people that have done this; it's romantic, but at its least romantic you're living in a not very well insulated damp trailer.
- notahacker 5y agoI'm on board mine now! I guess the theoretical benefit of the seagoing version is your roof space isn't constrained by the size of English locks so you might actually be able to fit enough solar to power the vessel. That and find good weather...
- pcardoso 5y agoA local company does this, but they are intended to be mostly stationary. https://www.waterlilyboats.com https://www.waterlilyboats.com
- mattlondon 5y agoI've always been kinda fascinated by this solar yacht concept. I wonder now with post-covid remote working options and starlink if you could actually make it work. I do wonder though if sailing the ship is basically a full-time job in itself (navigation channels? Docking at foreign countries? Getting food etc?).
- zdragnar 5y agoI thought starlink didnt work for mobile connections? I.e. that it had to be registered and operated at a fixed address. That said, unless you are able to drop anchors, I am guessing that you would spend most of your working hours at a dock or with a partner piloting instead.
- Mountain_Skies 5y agoStarlink has to abide by the laws of whatever jurisdiction you are in. There's not many technical reasons why they can't provide roaming service on the seas but there are issues such as if you dock in a country that prohibits Starlink service, they're going to want some system in place to reject your packets. That shouldn't be too difficult but resources must be allocated to making it happen. They probably have other things on their plate now that are a higher priority.
- rtkwe 5y agoThey've said that the base station will be able to roam at some point in the future and right now it's because they don't schedule the service on an ad-hoc basis so if you're base station isn't in it's expected area it won't get service.
- baybal2 5y ago> I thought starlink didnt work for mobile connections? It will not work either far away from the shore.
- noitpmeder 5y agoAgain I have to believe this is only a temporary restriction.
- Stevvo 5y agoYou know, sailing catamarans are a thing, right? Wind is more consistent than sunshine.
- stareatgoats 5y agoSure, I know sailing catamarans well (via Youtube vids mostly admittedly). But I switched drooling focus when these things started appearing- I suspect they will eventually displace many if not most other boat types (albeit not in my lifetime), possibly using hydrogen (not battery packs) as energy storage. Sunshine is not required if I understand it correctly. No wear and tear on the sails, not dependent on winds to go from point a to b, more like driving than sailing, except no pollution, no noise.
- titanomachy 5y agoWow, the "Silent Yachts" one has a "fully automated towing kite"! That's not something I've ever encountered before, very clever. Removes the need for an annoyingly tall mast and probably saves a lot of weight as well.
- contingencies 5y agoA mast provides a predictable center of lift in the boat on two axes, easy to control, handles high winds elegantly. Kite? Not so much. Also, try sailing in to the wind with a kite. May be possible, but very, very slow going. Traditional sail plans strike a balance between functionality at all points of sail, ease of handling and safety. They also have downwind sail options.
- Stevvo 5y agoOne advantage of a kite sail is you have more surface area for solar panels and those panels are not going to shaded by the sail while underway.
- mod 5y agoI find it quite strange that on the Azura landing page they don't have even one photo of a yacht. Just renderings.
- Aeolun 5y agoThey also have a price, which was nice. It looks like shit though. The other yacht looks much nicer.
- pomian 5y agoMost sea going sailboats, and many others, are perfectly capable of sailing around the world, without any fuel. Solar panels are only needed to charge batteries, that are only needed if you want the extras: GPS, radio, other communications. 2 panels and 2 batteries are good enough for most boats, for 1 to 4 persons, traveling for anywhere around 1-2 months across the seas. The limitations are water, and food storage. The solar and batteries are good for years, easily up to 5 years. Humans need other things though. It's not the boats or the technology its the price that limits. (You can buy an ocean cruising bust for 20k USD, easy.) But, it is a life style commitment!
- zapdrive 5y agoFood can be stored longer by refrigeration, which requires power. Similarly water can be desalinated, which again requires power. Solar & batteries can help with both of these.
- jacquesm 5y agoOn a typical sailboat space is very much at a premium, even de-hydrated foods occupy quite a bit of room.
- jacquesm 5y agoThat's the entry fee. And then the real cost starts to roll in. There is a reason so many Youtube channels and Patreon accounts are being used to fund otherwise unviable life-styles of people sailing full time.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- Abishek_Muthian 5y agoSolar yatchs are cool! Considering loitering is a very important goal for military drones, I expect them to be using solar power extensively too.