I love this story I saw in The Times yesterday about a french woman Peggy Bouchet who is going to make a world first attempt to cross the atlantic in "solar powered sail ballon."
This brilliant idea combines solar power with an innovative carbon keel, the "chien de mer" that will allow her to sail almost directly into the wind. It is also powered by wind turbines. It can make 17mph and will fly between 150 and 300ft above the waves. The journey is expected to take 8 - 12 days.
The 3,000 mile journey is from West Africa to the French West Indies. I will watch with interest.
Historically our propulsion machines have relied on one primary power source maybe with an inferior back-up for short term use. We seem to be entering a world of dual or triple powered machines, in this case solar and wind working synergistically or the Prius with its synergistic drive.
You can see a video of the Windream One in action here.
I think I've found a new hobby.
Images source: Theolia
0 comments:
Post a Comment