It floats, but will solar “Loon” fly?
I’ve got a Clean Break column in today’s Toronto Star about a local “technoenvironmentalist” who has designed a solar-electric pontoon boat from scratch and hopes to sell it commercially by next spring’s boating season in Ontario. I’ve taken a ride on “The Loon” and she’s a smooth, steady ride. Not very fast, but when all you want to do is bop about on a quiet lake, you can’t beat the cheap source of power — a combination of grid and sun.
Considering oil just surged past $70 a barrel — translating to more than $1.25 per litre of gas at marina pumps — and considering many lakes in Ontario and other jurisdictions now forbid gas-powered boats, the Loon may appeal to many.
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper. Tyler can be reached at tyler@cleanbreak.ca