Lord of the Ring | Sun Is The Future

Posts Tagged ‘Lord of the Ring’

2 April

Turanor, The Power of the Sun, Is The World’s Largest Solar-Powered Ship

Dear Friends, Visitors/Viewers/Readers,

(Please click on red links below)

Do you remember the post I posted about Turanor of PlanetSolar, the First Solar-Powered Boat Circumnavigating The Earth, 2010-2012, on June 15, 2012 at Sun Is The Future ? The Turanor was constructed early in 2008 by PlanetSolar in Kiel, Germany, in partnership with the University of Geneva. Dr. Pascal Goulpie, co-founder of PlanetSolar said, “The boat is thirty-one meters long.

MS Turanor of PlanetSolar built in Kiel, Germany

View of the bow of Turanor, showing the three hulls

We have 537 square meters of solar panels on the deck, and the solar panels are powering everything on board. There is no other source of energy on board and we have built this ship to demonstrate what can be done with solar energy.” The crew members of Turanor is led by Captain Gerard d’Aboville and the maintenance team led by Fanch Henry. Turanor still holds the title of The World’s Largest Solar-Powered Ship and embarked on a world tour from the south of France this year in late March (last weekend, as a matter of fact) in 2013, departing from La Ciotat for its second expedition that will take it to the Caribbean, the east coast of USA, and back across the Atlantic. The Turanor will be conducting scientific experiments on climate change by sailing along the Gulf Stream’s ocean current. Scientists on board intend to collect new data that will allow us to better understand oceanic and atmospheric processes in the Gulf Stream and in the North Atlantic.Its crew will also be collecting floating plastic waste. The ship is able to use a “filtering scoop” that can collect 8 tons of pollution. However, since the ship is being powered by solar energy exclusively, there will be no pollution emitted that would corrupt the data being collected. The ship is a traveling experiment, technicians in Switzerland will be monitoring the boat via satellite and data obtained from its around the world trip will be used to improve the boat’s technology.

If you’re visiting Sun Is The Future for the first time, please allow me to introduce you to The Turanor (from J.R.R. Tolkien’s saga Lord of the Ring, means The Power of the Sun), in the video clip below:

For more detailed PlanetSolar 2013 itinerary, please go to: www.planetsolar.org For its technical details, please go to: http://www.planetsolar.org/the-boat For a look of its crew members on board of MS Turanor PlanetSolar during its around the world tour, please go to: http://www.planetsolar.org/expedition/onboard-team-en For a look of its on shore crew, please go to: http://www.planetsolar.org/team/onshore-crew .