Orcelle: The clean queen of the sea

This is not exactly “news”, but I read about a concept ocean-going vessel today that is based on sound environmental principles and doesn’t leave a toxic legacy behind it. (First seen in the Times back in 2005).

It is the ship of the future – powered by the sun, wind and waves. The futuristic vessel has no conventional engines, uses no fossil fuels and releases no harmful emissions into the atmosphere or pollution into the sea.

The first ship to use the technology will be a cargo vessel that will transport up to 10,000 cars from Britain to Australia, New Zealand and other countries. If successful, it will be used on passenger ferries and cruise ships.

The wave energy is harnessed by 12 dolphin-like fins on the ship’s hull, while sun and wind energy is collected by three giant, rigid, fin-like sails covered in solar panels.

The sails and fins will also help the ship to cruise at a speed of 15 knots and stability will be provided by the pentamaran hull – a slim monohull that will have two smaller support hulls, known as sponsons, on each side.

Once harnessed the sun, wind and wave energy will be combined with hydrogen and stored in fuel cells.

You can read more at Wallenius Marine. They won the Thor Heyerdahl environmental award this year too.

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