New eco ferry uses wind and solar to get you to the Rock -- and hopefully back
By Tim Stevens 
posted January 22nd 2009 10:17AM
posted January 22nd 2009 10:17AM
[Via Inhabitat]
posted January 22nd 2009 10:17AM
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Hornblower? Only a "y" away from been an impressive name.
In a way, our 'discovery' and exploitation of oil was a little like the picking (and biting into) the fruit in the garden of eden. We set ourselves on the wrong foot. Imagine if we had more closely followed nature and started out by developing and powering our machinery using solar energy - gradually refining and making more efficient the solar cells, so our whole economy and lifestyle ran off that big orange thing in the sky - instead of that dirty messy war starting expensive to extract stuff down below.
Perhaps it is time for (an oil) change we can believe in?
Oil is a gift of nature. How is it bad to use what nature produces?
Thats a bit short sighted wonderkid...
You do realize that oil is the catalyst of any develpment of solar or wind. Consider the extensive plastics needed to build solar panels and turbines. We couldn't have have solar without oil.
Whatever happened to sail boats? Did we loose that technology?
What's a sail?
see: http://cache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/sail_01_16/s01_15663769.jpg
required:
I saw that :D
I would love to sail between some windmills
Boats using wind to power them? Wow, welcome to the technology revolution guys! :p
@kjb434: I hope that was a joke! I won't patronize you (for all I know, you're very young), but a few facts: 1. The black soot on the windowsil of every town or city dwelling I have lived in is enough evidence of it's filth. 2. It's bi products on the whole are detrimental to living things, from plastics to smog (the latter linked to item 1.) 3. It is often located in parts of the world where for various reasons, extracting it causes death and destruction. (Google Nigerian oil pipline explosions and/or fires.) 4. It may be efficient (it is), but it is ONLY used because at the time it was first discovered, it was usable right away - for burning in lamps. 5. The fact it is natural means nothing! So is arsenic and cyanide and various poisonous plants. Not to mention dangerous animals. There are many paths to the same objective, we simply need to begin on a new one. And it is the view of this Engadget reader/poster that solar (with a mix of wind and hydro) is the way forward.
You should see the poisons that creating solar cells, fiberglass resins for blades etc produce, not to mention the damages of hydro-electric. There is only compromise.
They already have wind-powered boats. They're called sailboats.
Cheaper rates, yeah right, when was the last time you saw a rate go down for anyone who switched to Green power...
Pull out the diesel, put in stationary bikes connected to the prop and make the tourists work for their visit!
Think of the quads those folks will have after churning through the choppy waters of the Bay.
Continuous power output of average person = 0.25 horsepower
Maximum passenger capacity = 160 persons
Total power from all passengers = 40 horsepower
Motors installed in boat = 800 horsepower
So the passengers could provide one twentieth (5%) of the power needed at best.
Nice but you should clarify which "The ROCK" it's going to. You see where I live is also called "The Rock" affectionately by people all over Canada. We were here before Alcatraz so they shouldn't be allowed to use it.
I'm going to "write" a letter. Oh for those that don't know, Writing is when you use a pencil and put your thoughts on something called "paper" , then send it in the "Mail"..
The difference being that a vast majority of people worldwide know that "The rock" refers to Alcatraz. Where mostly only the people in your town know that when they say "The rock" they are actually talking about home
yea but your from Canada, so that dont really count.(HA HA that was a joke) I live on that man made island pictured behind the boat. the rock well Ive lived here 4 years and never been there, maybe next week? besides when sean connery says the "ROCK" you know your in California, right? If a genie came down and asked me what my three wishes were I would own treasure Island have an inpenetrable wall built around it and have sweet , sweet access to either Oakland or SAN FRANCISCO upon my whim. so I agree FU+k the rock lets go treasure Island! whoo hoo!
Bill
It would be cool if the ferry took passengers to The Rock, then the winds died and the sun set. The passengers got stranded and had no way to get home. Days went by and cloudy, calm skies hung over the bay. The Skipper, Mary Ann (hotter than Ginger, BTW), and the Professor all got angrier... and hungrier... and soon resorted to cannibalism. The lone survivor - Mrs. Howell - went insane, disrobed, and ran around the island wearing only a "I Survived Alcatraz" souvenir baseball cap while attempting to skewer some endangered lizard species with a spear made from an abandoned lobster trap.
While producing ear-splitting, incoherent shrieking, she scales the guard towers and discovers - on the other side of the island - another dock where an ordinary tourist ships are coming and going all day long. She apologizes and every lives happily ever after.
Ahh I live on that island in the background! :) Yerba Buena Island REPRESENT!!!
I think I'm missing something here. When do they use the wind turbines? Because if you use the engines to power the boat, then the boat's movement will create airflow which will turn the turbines. You could just tap power out of the batteries much more efficiently. And if you don't let the turbines spin while under way, they create a bunch of drag that you have to overcome.
Offhand it sort of seems like one of those old cartoons where the coyote points a fan at a sail he's attached to a skateboard.
This looks...odd to me. Someone explain what I've missed.
The use the movement of the boat to create the airflow that turns the wind turbines that charge the batteries that power the engines that move the boat that creates the airflow that turns the wind turbines that... and so on and so forth.
Simple eh?
REPRESENT!
Puleeze. The vertical wind turbines are driven by...the diesels, pushing the boat throught the water...and air. Sure if there is a wind blowing AND the boat is standing still THEN there is some free energy, but anytime the diesels are pushing the boat through the air (as well as the water) and its resistance, the vertical wind turbines are making MORE resistance and making the diesels work harder to push.
Oh I get it....the turbines will run an electrically-powered prop which will push the boat which will make the boat go faster, which will spin the wind turbines faster which will produce more electricity to make the prop spin faster, which will....
FINALLY! perpetual motion PLUS.
Ok the shot of the ship is in SF Bay with yerba buena/ Treasure island in the background. thats my home, the Bay Bridge you see is my driveway!
On a different note, San Francisco has plans underway for the future of treasure island. In its scope is to make the island envirnmentally friendly and limiting vehicles used to/ from the island. the only mass transit to from the island is MUNI, a San Francisco bus system. No BART(BAY AREA RAPID TRANSIT, light rail / subway system), no ferry. It would be awesome to have an alternitive mass transit for the working families of Treasure Island/Yerba Buena to go to Oakland or San Francisco via ferry. it would be like taking the intention of wanting to make the city greener one more step closer to realizing the goal and making the residents happier at the same time. a little more serious than making tourist feel as if they did there part.
Bill
Treasure Island: Muni bus stop in the dark
Jonathan Curiel
Sunday, December 7, 2008
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WHAT'S NOT WORKING: DAY 1
Images
The Muni bus stop on the south side of Ninth Street just ...Claudette Ford, public works director.Jared Blumenfeld, interim San Francisco parks manager. View Larger Images
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Treasure Island bus stop: For six months, Hector Lara has worked on Treasure Island, and for six months, Lara has encountered frustration when - at night, after work - he goes to catch a Muni bus back to San Francisco. The bus stop that Lara uses, which is located on the south side of Ninth Street just east of Avenue E, has no light, so Lara and other passengers have to wait in the dark. Exacerbating the problem, says Lara: The stop has a marking on the pavement that reads "Coach Stop," but no Muni insignia on the nearby pole. He says drivers of Muni's 108 line will occasionally (and inadvertently) bypass the stop's nighttime passengers. "We'll wave (the driver) down with our cell phone light or something," says Lara, whose concern was relayed to both Muni and the Treasure Island Development Authority. Mirian Saez, director of island operations for the authority, says it had previously identified the stop as needing a light, but that this "would require the extension of electricity to the site and the installation of a new pole. (The authority) concluded that a more cost-effective solution would be to relocate the bus stop 100 feet west of its current site to the intersection of Ninth and E," where there is a streetlight. In fact, the authority has already contacted Muni about having the transit agency move the stop to this light-friendly location. In the meantime, the authority is planning to add more lights along 9th Street as part of a street-light program that's set to begin next month. Muni is also aware of Lara's concern, and spokesman Judson True says the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency "is working closely with (the authority) to improve Muni service for Treasure Island residents and visitors."
Ok back to San Francisco? Treasure Island is part of San Francisco! this point is missed when everytime its time to shop for common items like gasoline, groceries or a pharmicist, you have to burn gas and add traffic to an already busy bridge into the city. We need a a drug store and supermarket and gas station on the island. we also need to allow bussiness to prosper on the Island providing services like an automotive repair center. Island creationss is awesome but we need more down home services available to the residents of treasure Island as well as for the commuters on the bay bridge.
One last thiong entry rtamps from and to the bridge are horrible and ask for accidents everyday, untill they are fixed, at the very least sighns should be posted for short merges headlights or dedicated lanes to avoid death.
thats it thats all Bill on TI
Wouldn't it be greener for the boat to simply run on hydrofoil, not to mention the extra trips it could get in per day because of the extra speed? I have always wondered why we don't have more large hydrofoil ferries...is it because they have to go TOO fast for the bay's speed limit?
Steam engines to operate with modern understanding of heat transfer, they would work to heat a media that has a lower boiling point of water. this would allow the use of fuels not considered when not needed to create the intensive heat needed before. if the heat requiredis low enough the heat needed could be supplied from sources such as solar complimented by the heat generated by the friction of the motor itself.
Go Stanley Steamer!
Bill