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Australia's Solar Sailor has come up with a way to make large solar panels that can also act like sails. Put one or more of the sails on a boat and it gets converted into a hybrid -- there's still a diesel engine, but it mostly gets around on wind or sun power.
One of the first boats to make use of the new technology is a tour boat in Sydney Harbour, which has an array of eight small solar sails. "It makes three runs a day and uses a tenth of the fuel," says Solar Sail CEO Robert Dane. Despite the sails being solid, Dane claims they still function like regular sails. The solar panels, which are made with the assistance of a German company, are also lighter than typical silicon solar panels.
Hornblower Yachts in San Francisco is currently trying to get approval for a ferry powered by one of Solar Sailor's sails, and if all goes well it should go into service in 2009. Solar Sailor has also won a contract to deliver a set of sails for a 150-passenger boat in Shanghai, and is working on a contract for four 100-person ferries in Hong Kong.
Whether the technology will come to the UK is unconfirmed, but it's certainly and exciting prospect.
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