Marine Transport Goes Solar
In a distinct departure from solar energy’s historical use a Japanese based firm is planning to use solar power to propel a ship.This project would involve equipping a freighter capable of carrying 6400 automobiles with a mind boggling 328 solar panel.This ambitious project is estimated to cost $1.3 million and would be used by Toyota Motor Corp for transporting vehicles.
This is a bold attempt that would help in gauging potential roadblocks in commercialization of solar panels.The conditions in water would are different from land based utilities particularly on account of rapid shakes and thrusts due to ship motion.Thus use of solar panels in such conditions may allow for designing shock resistant and durable solar panels.However there wont be any solar powers ships in the sea soon as this system is expected to contribute just .2% of the ship propulsion power.Additionally due to a low power capacity there wouldn’t be any major impact on the carbon emission front too.
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September 9, 2008
interesting. clearly this is an incremental step, but anything to get us moving in the right direction is appreciated.
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