by Alex Brooks
Retired RPI professor David Borton spoke to a full room on Thursday, January 21 about solar energy in general, and about the solar powered boats that he has created in particular. He began by talking about global energy needs, calculating the global need for energy and the potential solar energy available, and finding that there is way more solar energy available globally than we need – it’s just a matter of harvesting it and making it available in the forms needed.
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He discussed the virtues of passive solar houses, and the economics of roof top solar panels. He particularly pointed to the potential of community solar projects, in which a group of local citizens share a large solar installation. This makes solar energy available to those who for one reason or another can’t mount panels on their own roofs.
Boston also discussed his adventures building solar boats. He began simply, putting a solar panel on a canoe with an electric trolling motor. He then built a very nice 25 foot wooden boat powered by an array of solar panels mounted on the roof, with batteries for power storage.
His most recent project was a 40 foot boat which can carry 12 tons of cargo, which demonstrates that larger boats can be effectively powered by solar energy alone. He calls this boat Solar Sal, and he has been running it through the Erie Canal to demonstrate its ability to carry cargo with no expenditure for fuel. He said it can go about 50 miles at night on a full battery charge, although he doesn’t often run it at night. He carried four tons of cargo for a paper mill on a demonstration voyage. During this trip it was cloudy and rainy, and he found he had to pay attention to the level of the charge of his batteries. In this situation he found that by reducing his speed from five knots to three knots, he was able to charge the batteries as fast as he was draining them.
When asked if solar powered cargo transport along such waterways as the Erie Canal is commercially feasible, he said there is a long way to go before it will be commercially viable, but there is no technical reason why it can’t happen. He said he expects solar powered boats to be developed first for pleasure boats, and only later for larger commercial boats. [/private]