Planes and boats and trains. Solar power hopes to take the renewable energy lead in getting us, and everything we need, where we want to go in emission free style!
Solar's triple threat this week:
Planes.
Solar Impulse 2, the largest solar-powered aircraft in the world, landed early Saturday in New York City On the 13th leg of its 'round the globe journey-
"It was symbolic to fly over the Statue of Liberty being free from fossil fuel," Borschberg and Piccard the Impulse's pilots and visionaries. The 27,000-mile journey is being powered by 17,000 solar cells built into carbon fiber wings that have a 236-foot (72-meter) wingspan. "Our goal with this flight is for a clearer and more efficient world"
Boats: Solar Voyager launched from Gloucester, Massachusetts, at the beginning of the month, and is headed toward Portugal. It is the world’s first autonomous surface vessel to cross the ocean, and the first to do it on solar power alone.
Isaac Penny and Christopher Sam Soon built Solar Voyager from scratch, with only the solar panels and some standard motor parts. The 18-foot boat is the size of an ocean kayak,has an aluminum shell, it's upper surface is given over to solar panels, 280 Watts worth. Below deck are 2.4-kWh batteries to run at night.
Trains: Indian Railways ‘Solar Mission’, to reduce dependency on fossil fuels, has begun coaches fitted with solar panels which will initially power all the electrical appliances inside a train. The goal is to power transit entirely in the next couple years. Every coach has 12 solar panels on the rooftop each producing 300 Watts and will be able to generate 3.6 Kilowatts of electricity.
The future of transportation is sunny!
