The eye-opening energy self-sufficient super boat
Published on: Wednesday, January 01, 2020
By: Kan Yaw Chong
KOTA KINABALU: An unusual spectacle happened on Aug 19, 2019 – the arrival of an energy self-sufficient super boat - 100-tonne 114-ft long catamaran on a five-year odyssey around the world powered entirely by solar, wind and hydrogen energy!The loud message to Sabah and the rest of the world intended by the owners of Race for Water Foundation is clear:
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Renewable clean energy is penetrating into the energy market around the world, it’s abundant, technology well established and best of all, the main ingredients are free, and just need upscaling and that’s the future the world by and large want.
So it’s here to show the way forward, given the acute population growth and expected soaring energy demand in the decades ahead.
The idea is if it can propel a 100-tonne boat forward for years now, it can move the world forward indefinitely in the future.
Mounted on top of the boat is 512 sq m of photovoltaics or solar panels generating electricity stored in eight tonnes of lithium batteries, producing 67pc share of the electricity enabling 36 hours of navigation range.
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In this way, the batteries are recharged each day and then run down at night to propel the catamaran to make continuous headway.
What about wind?
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The share of wind energy produced by towing a kite 500 metres overhead is 24pc.
In appropriate weather conditions, the kite enables the catamaran to reach a speed of five to eight knots.
Hydrogen is the third component in this portfolio of energy mix.
The share of energy produced from 200kg of hydrogen stored in 250 bottle at 350 bars is 9pc.
The hydrogen, extracted direct from sea water, delivers around 2,600Wh of electricity to power the engine and recharge the batteries enabling an additional range of up to six days at five knots.
Everything is greenhouse gas emission-free – a smart direct attack against the evident global warming that is setting in to roast the planet with burning temperatures (remember Australia is on fire now!).
But if Sabahans think that is exciting, its founder, a brilliant Swiss entrepreneur, Marco Simeoni, came armed with an equally if not more profound message – the advent of a circular economy that will eventually replace and remove the linear economy which has done great damage to the environment, by virtue of its unholistic nature.
A circular economy on the other hand, mimics nature’s zero wastes cycles which are eco meaning harmless to the environment.
As an active cross ocean sailor, nothing shocked Marco more than the five giant gyres mainly of indestructible plastics, particularly the Great Pacific garbage patch or the Pacific Vortex, comprising two enormous masses of ever growing garbage .
Believing nothing short of action is the solution, Marco sold his SwissCom business and mounted his first five-year voyage around the world in 2015 but what surprised him was these so called giant plastic gyres were no longer there but had degraded by ultra violet rays into soups of micro plastics languishing around.
Meanwhile studies by Japan’s Nihon University chemist like Dr Katsuhiko Saido found the so called indestructible plastics exposed to the sun actually breaks down surprisingly fast.
Then bad news is Dr Saido found increasing evidence of infertility from exposure to toxic chemicals such as bisphenol (BPA) and PS oligomer, from degraded plastics and these are getting into most species of fish people eat.
So Marco concluded the solution is not to send big ships into the oceans to collect plastics but to prevent plastics on land from getting into the oceans.
But the smartest solution is to collect and turn the billions of tonnes of plastic wastes into electricity
Yet large, complex and expensive waste management technology may not be the answer but what is practical and cost effective.
For three weeks, Marco invited hundreds Sabahans on board to show a compact container-size local scale technology he had teamed up with Biogreen to promote pyrolysis of plastics, that is , heat plastics at super hot and anaerobic condition of up to 800 degrees Centigrade which can produce high yields of power to turn plastic wastes into colorific syngas which can be used produce electricity , creating sustainable energy just at a place it is needed.
Because the process involves no open burning, it does not emit greenhouse gas.
Since most plastics in their current forms contain many toxic chemical additives to make them soft or hard for commercial purposes, Marco says recycling plastics does not work and the pyrolytic technology to turn them into electricity is the currently the only safe way out.
Beyond that, the industry must work on a circular plastic economy where by deliberate design so the future generations of plastics will be harmless to the environment.
By virtue of this unplanned stopover in KK, Marco had opened the eyes of Sabahans that answers now exist for the vexing plastic waste issue.
However, that eye opening benefit was made possible only because of Marinah Embiricos, who herself had waged an uphill battle against plastics of her own five years by skimming plastics from the sea for recycling, and concluded Marco has a better idea.
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