It claims to be self-sufficient and emission-free. Have the makers of the Energy Observer—an adapted race boat converted into a green-energy vessel—solved the energy problem of entropy? Have they ended the pollution consequences of fuel use?
No, not exactly. But the new vehicle may still be a step in a positive direction. Combining renewable energy sources to power transportation without pollution is becoming a reality.
The Energy Observer was conceived of in 2015. Racing skippers Frederic Dahirel and Victorien Erussard put their heads together. The two shared a vision for a “green” boat. Erussard says he is “passionate about new technologies.”
The boat will soon begin a six-year trip around the world. It is powered by a combination of solar and wind energies plus a hydrogen fuel cell system. It burns no carbon-based fuels—not even on cloudy or windless days. Erussard believes this “diversity of renewable energies” is key to the boat’s success. “If there is no sun or wind, or at night, we have the option to draw in our hydrogen reservoirs,” he says.
A hydrogen fuel cell creates energy by electrolysis. Electricity forced through water molecules breaks them into hydrogen and oxygen—and further releases electrons from the hydrogen, producing energy. There is no pollution. Unlike a battery—which uses chemicals stored inside it to produce electricity—fuel cells won’t run out. As long as the boat can draw water from a river or ocean, it can access the hydrogen it needs to produce power. Stored energy from the wind or solar sources get the process started.
The $5.25 million boat will set sail in France from Brittany port and stop first in Paris. An additional 100 stops across 50 countries are planned as it circumnavigates the globe.
Florence Lamber is director of the CEA Liten research institute. The institute devised the boat’s energy system. Lamber says the Energy Observer is a good example of what energy networks will look like in the near future. The best designs will combine renewable natural energy systems with hydrogen storage, she believes.
In 2003, U.S. President George W. Bush supported the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative. It proposed making emissions-free power sources for transportation a reality by the year 2020. Could the Energy Observer be evidence that the future…is now?
