In-land Water ways

In-land Water ways

On the seas and inland waters as well as along their banks there are only a few connections to public electricity mains. People who live on inland waterway crafts, sailing boats, space stations and houseboats, are dependent on batteries, just as the owners of electrically propelled boats. But batteries sometimes discharge and must be replenished. One of the most elegant solutions for this is solar electricity. Solar modules on a ship can charge the batteries on the spot - cleanly and efficiently with free energy from the sun.

Solar electricity plants are reliable and durable. There are ever more areas of application for solar electricity, due to lowering prices and improving technologies. Right now we have Photovoltaic modules which are set in the roof of the ship.

There are number of tourist destinations all over the world including India that offer boat riding in calm waters such as lakes, back waters, bird sanctuaries, etc. Most of these boating programs use conventional boats that operate using diesel engines, which are fuel guzzlers causing air and noise pollution and disturbance to the local habitat endangering the ecological balance of the surrounding areas.

Tourism Industry is already over utilizing the natural resources for their own benefit without much of consideration of preserving them. Considering a great demand of Eco Tourism solutions in Asia especially in India, GRS India has designed and developed a solar powered passenger boat that is launched as production series.

Provides Reserved Buoyancy
Reduces Pitching motion in rough waters
Filled with foam to prevent dangerous intake of water in case of damage
Increased water clearance (Freeboard) to improve stability

The solar boat helps reducing the water, air pollution by eliminating the usage of HSD. Running solar boats helps to maintain un-spoilt natural habitats, as they produce no emissions, are quiet and travel efficiently, with little water disturbance or wash. The boat is an ideal product for "Responsible & Sustainable Tourism" at wild life & Bird sanctuaries, where sound of motor boats are serious threats to the ecology. When compared with conventional boats used for similar purposes we can see that other than environmental benefits this product offers a quick payback as well.

Hospitality sector is one of the most energy intensive sectors and is in great need for eco tourism solution to reduce their total emissions and energy consumption. There are almost 30 major lakes in India where boating based tourism programs are offered at present. All these lakes are dealing with pollutions related issues and boating is one of the major contributors to these issues. Replacing Solar Power boat is an immediate solution to some of these issues.

India’s first solar ferry is getting ready to be launched shortly. The ferry, with a capacity of 75 passengers, will not pollute water and air, be silent for the passengers and the environment and have little operational expenditure as it will not require any fuel.

The ferry would be 20m long, 7m wide and have a maximum cruising speed of 7.5 knots. It would work on 40 kW propulsive power. Although the solar ferry costs more than the regular diesel ferry, it leads to substantial savings in operational cost. As per the manufacturers, the ferry has a break-even of six years. The benefits of lesser pollution and protection of environment would be in addition. The traditional diesel boats emit huge quantities of carbon dioxide into the environment. If such ferries are a success, they have the potential of changing the environment of the inland waterways in Kerala. Watch out for the date of launch.

A significant part of the carbon dioxide initially sequestered by terrestrial ecosystems moves into inland waters and is then released to the atmosphere.
Scientists previously have made only occasional measurements of emissions from waterways, most often during calm, daytime conditions & have used these measurements to make broad estimates for 'waterways' contribution to regional or global emissions. They missed nighttime emissions and periods between field samplings.

The researchers used a sophisticated system that measures atmospheric eddies, called an eddy covariance system. It was powered by solar panels and batteries.
The researchers surprise that during the day, when air temperatures are warm, water layers in the reservoir are stratified and carbon dioxide from microbes in the lake bottom cannot escape. Colder nighttime temperatures allow for mixing of the water and for higher emission rates. Wind from storms also creates mixing and an opportunity for carbon dioxide to escape.