Powered by solar and wind energy, a 60-foot ferry which can carry 100 passengers recently took its inaugural cruise in Sydney Harbor.
It's not a high-speed ferry (top speed 12 knots) but the propulsion system's creator claims it is the world's first, true non-polluting passenger vessel.
Designed by Robert Dane, a country doctor from New South Wales, the vessel's guts include a rotor which turns a propeller, and pivots on solar sails. Everything else is electronic.
The tilting sail panels, which are placed on top of the ferry, absorb sunlight and wind.
Dane said reflections off the water aid in compounding solar energy's cumulative effects.
He's filed patents for the vessel in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and Turkey.
Source: Wired News
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