Skip to main content

Green Energy/Technology: Asia’s largest solar-powered passenger boat Surya

Solar boat makes its debut in Andhra Pradesh – Sci-Tech/Environment – The Hindu

An eco-friendly solar-powered boat was launched on the pristine waters of River Krishna.

  1. There are only a handful of such boats operating on solar power in the country.

  2. The solar boat, facilitating clean and efficient cruise, has been imported from China.

  3. Solar-powered boats get their energy from the sun. Using electric motors and storage batteries charged by solar panels fitted to the roof, these boats can significantly reduce or eliminate use of fossil fuels.

  4. “Unlike 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, the solar boats are uniquely suited to transform light energy into movement.”

  5. The first solar boat designed in India was named Surya, a 25-seater, byKerala-based TeamSustain in 2008. It operated in the backwaters of Kerala ferrying passengers and in 2010, it was included in the Limca Book of Records as Asia’s largest solar-powered passenger boat.

PassengerBoat

Should Government invest in Inland Water Transport?

  • Given a sector turnover of about Rs 110 crores annually, the sector investment in 10th plan (Rs 5,665 crores,) does not appear to commercially or economically viable and this has been continued in the 11th and 12th plan as well.

  • Passenger movements are possible at low cost, but would need faster vessels and good interchange facilities than area currently available.

  • Existence of a driving cargo stream of sufficient volume is required to justify large investments.

  • Technical capability and vessel supply is available in the country and a unified and liberalized policy with regard to IWT and coastal shipping will benefit the sector.

  • In the above backdrop , the government has try to come up with National Waterway Bill 2015 , which talks about a comprehensive inland waterways policy framework .

  • Finally to answer the question, we say that Government should invest in a measured manner, given the considerations of a possible primary driving cargo and specific geographic potential. A tie up with the industrial location policy to drive demand would be essential.

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

India Tech Vision-2035

India Tech Vision-2035 India's technology thinktank under the ministry of science & technology has come out with `Technology Vision 2035' here at the ongoing Indian Science Congress, identifying the challenges ahead and how they can be dealt with through technological interventions while realising the dream of a developed India by the year 2035. The thinktank -Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) -in the vision document lists a technology roadmap for India, giving details of 12 sectors and technologies that in some cases exist but need to be deployed, some in the pilot stage that must be scaled up and technologies in R&D stage. It, in fact, talks about many future technologies, ranging from flying cars, real time translation software, personalised medicine, wearable devices, e-sensing (e-nose and e-tongue) to 100% recyclable materials among others which may be used in different areas to solve day-to-day problems “The trajectories del...
Post a Comment
Read more

Points to Remember for World Geography-AFRICA

Sirocco is a type of hot wind blowing from Sahara  to Mediterranean. Swahili is the oldest surviving African language. The country Zaire has the maximum Hydro- electric  Power  potential  in Africa. The country Djibouti is facing the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. Dar-es-Salam is the easternmost terminus of Tanjara railways which begins from Katanga  mineral  belt. Ostrich is the flightless bird of Kalahari Desert. Ethiopia is the place of origin of coffee. Pretoria is the administrative capital of S. Africa. Nilots are the aborigines of upper    Nile. River Zaire is the only river that crosses the equator  twice. Nubian  desert  lies  in Egypt. The countries Ethiopia and Somalia form  the  Horn  of Africa. High Veld is the temperate grassland of South  Africa. Africa is the most tropical of all   continents. Most part of Kalahari Desert lies in Botswana. The Farmers of the Egypt ar...
Post a Comment
Read more

India’s challenge of securing the seas

Three recent events underline India’s efforts to highlight its growing maritime interests and ambitions in order to secure them unilaterally and in partnership with others. The first was the quiet release of the Indian Maritime Security Strategy (IMSS) titled  Ensuring Secure Seas   in October. The second was the holding of the combined senior commanders’ conference, with top officers from all three services, on board   INS Vikramaditya , the Indian Navy’s latest aircraft carrier and its largest platform, in December. The last and most recent was India’s hosting of its second International Fleet Review (IFR) at Visakhapatnam in early February. While the pomp and circumstance as well as the photo-ops of the IFR, which attracted naval vessels from 50 countries, predictably, created the biggest splash, its significance is best understood in tandem with the 185-page IMSS-2015. Although the document is simultaneously comprehensive, conservative and cautious, it conveys on...
Post a Comment
Read more