As often happens when I go surfing the internet, I run across something completely unrelated to my original search. Today I ran across fuel cells for marine use. I gather from reading about them they are a new way to recharge your onboard batteries that is much more efficient then current methods like gensets, solar panels and wind generators. After much searching I haven't be able to find how much they cost or anyone who sells them. Does anyone have and more information or comments on them. Here are some links: INFO: http://www.smartfuelcell.de/en/presse/c041217.html FAQ: http://www.max-power.com/fuelcell/faqs.htm
Marine Fuel Cells
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fuel cells
the latest Sail magazine has an artilce on fuel cells and mentions the name of a company who is currnelty making these cell. Sorry I can't remenber the companies name but if you pick up the Sail magazine you can get the company's name. A couple of sailboat builders are testing these fuel cells. It certainly sounds promising.
the latest Sail magazine has an artilce on fuel cells and mentions the name of a company who is currnelty making these cell. Sorry I can't remenber the companies name but if you pick up the Sail magazine you can get the company's name. A couple of sailboat builders are testing these fuel cells. It certainly sounds promising.
Great idea who's time has almost come!
This is really great technology. I hope that I live long enough to see the techology mature and the price come down. Althhough I had read about it elsewhere, I was not aware that it was now commercially available. According to the Q&A on the max-power website, the unit is currently priced at 5000 EURO or about $6,600 USD. Power output is estimated at 100Amps in a 24hr day. The manufacturer compares it with a 2 KW generator running 2 hrs. a day. The fuel cartridge apparently will last about 3 or 4 days of continuous use assuming that you are not running your engine at all. There is no mention of how much a fuel cartridge costs. Hm! No thru-hulls required but apparently must be in a ventilated area. Looks like a great product, but I'm afraid that it will be few years before they are available and affordable for the "rest of us". Jon McClain
This is really great technology. I hope that I live long enough to see the techology mature and the price come down. Althhough I had read about it elsewhere, I was not aware that it was now commercially available. According to the Q&A on the max-power website, the unit is currently priced at 5000 EURO or about $6,600 USD. Power output is estimated at 100Amps in a 24hr day. The manufacturer compares it with a 2 KW generator running 2 hrs. a day. The fuel cartridge apparently will last about 3 or 4 days of continuous use assuming that you are not running your engine at all. There is no mention of how much a fuel cartridge costs. Hm! No thru-hulls required but apparently must be in a ventilated area. Looks like a great product, but I'm afraid that it will be few years before they are available and affordable for the "rest of us". Jon McClain
Try this link
http://www.fuelcellstore.com/cgi-bin/fuelweb/view=NavPage/cat=30 Coleman was also putting out one called airgen. It is designed for computer backup power. I think it was delayed because of parts not available.
http://www.fuelcellstore.com/cgi-bin/fuelweb/view=NavPage/cat=30 Coleman was also putting out one called airgen. It is designed for computer backup power. I think it was delayed because of parts not available.
Go to this month issue
of popular mechanic(or science?). There is company will offer a total self sufficient(a big ????????? to me) fuel-cell system for sailboat. You can have one if you had hit jack pot recently.
of popular mechanic(or science?). There is company will offer a total self sufficient(a big ????????? to me) fuel-cell system for sailboat. You can have one if you had hit jack pot recently.
Canadian Rep
Paul At max-power.com/network you can find reps worldwide. In Canada it is Rekard Marine in Vancouver. B.C. Ph 1-604 325-5233 or michael@rekard-marine.com Let us know what you find. Bill
Paul At max-power.com/network you can find reps worldwide. In Canada it is Rekard Marine in Vancouver. B.C. Ph 1-604 325-5233 or michael@rekard-marine.com Let us know what you find. Bill
Fuel Cell Myths
Fuel Cells taken alone are quite efficient although in operation they are, in fact very similar to modern diesel engines with an overall efficiency of around 40% when all the parasitic losses are calculated such as heat loss, air compressor losses, etc. Have a look at <http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?section=article&storyid=730> for a more detailed discussion. But that is just the start. Unless you happen to have a hydrogen well in your back yard you must consider the production of hydrogen in your calculations and it turns out that, for the moment, commercial hydrogen is produced by "reforming" hydrocarbon fuels - usually methane (natural gas). This does two things: it requires power and heat and it produces carbon dioxide so that the fuel cell is not a "non-polluting" device. Its carbon dioxide emissions are just hidden and never discussed by the fuel cell promoters. Hydrogen is pretty expensive and bulky stuff. Check the price of hydrogen in your area and the number of tanks required to store an amount of energy equivalent to your current diesel fuel tankage. The energy density of high pressure hydrogen storage is less than a fifth of diesel fuel. In other words you'll need a hydrogen tank farm more than five times the size of your current fuel tank. I have a good friend who was responsible for getting diesel fuel to a remote village in Alaska for electric power generation. The Department of Energy offered to give the village a free fuel cell. The fuel cell would get its hydrogen by "reforming" diesel fuel. The problem turned out to be that the total annual use of diesel fuel would actually increase using the fuel cell. And my friend's problem would have been increased by the fuel cell. He declined the offer. Now it is possible to make hydrogen by dissociating water into its components using electricity. But where does this electricity come from? Coal, oil, natural gas or nuclear energy! And the thermal efficiency of fossil fuel burning power plants is (you guessed it) around 40%. This means that you start off losing 60% of the energy (just as you would in your diesel power plant) you lose a modest amount of power in the dissociation process and then lose 60% of the remaining power in the fuel cell. Of course hydroelectric dams, wind farms and solar cells could be used but the environmental consequences are not too good. The Altamont Pass wind farm in California has killed over a thousand birds including more than 100 eagles. You will probably be able to find the new one in Nantucket Sound in a fog by following the trail of dead seagulls in the water. THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH! There is a much more interesting possibility for small power plants aboard boats - the Sterling Engine running on bio-fuel. There is already a Sterling Engine electric generator made by Whispergen in NZ I think (I have no connection to the company). The Sterling Engine is an external combustion engine and can use almost any heat source. One running on bio-fuel (biodiesel or just corn oil) can provide very efficient power and does not add carbon dioxide from the fossil reservoir as the carbon in the bio-fuel was recently extracted from the atmosphere by plants and using it for fuel is just recycling it and does not add to the greenhouse effect. Fuel cells are not more efficient than modern diesel engines and they are not non-polluting when you consider the entire fuel cycle. Finally, they are very expensive.
Fuel Cells taken alone are quite efficient although in operation they are, in fact very similar to modern diesel engines with an overall efficiency of around 40% when all the parasitic losses are calculated such as heat loss, air compressor losses, etc. Have a look at <http://www.evworld.com/view.cfm?section=article&storyid=730> for a more detailed discussion. But that is just the start. Unless you happen to have a hydrogen well in your back yard you must consider the production of hydrogen in your calculations and it turns out that, for the moment, commercial hydrogen is produced by "reforming" hydrocarbon fuels - usually methane (natural gas). This does two things: it requires power and heat and it produces carbon dioxide so that the fuel cell is not a "non-polluting" device. Its carbon dioxide emissions are just hidden and never discussed by the fuel cell promoters. Hydrogen is pretty expensive and bulky stuff. Check the price of hydrogen in your area and the number of tanks required to store an amount of energy equivalent to your current diesel fuel tankage. The energy density of high pressure hydrogen storage is less than a fifth of diesel fuel. In other words you'll need a hydrogen tank farm more than five times the size of your current fuel tank. I have a good friend who was responsible for getting diesel fuel to a remote village in Alaska for electric power generation. The Department of Energy offered to give the village a free fuel cell. The fuel cell would get its hydrogen by "reforming" diesel fuel. The problem turned out to be that the total annual use of diesel fuel would actually increase using the fuel cell. And my friend's problem would have been increased by the fuel cell. He declined the offer. Now it is possible to make hydrogen by dissociating water into its components using electricity. But where does this electricity come from? Coal, oil, natural gas or nuclear energy! And the thermal efficiency of fossil fuel burning power plants is (you guessed it) around 40%. This means that you start off losing 60% of the energy (just as you would in your diesel power plant) you lose a modest amount of power in the dissociation process and then lose 60% of the remaining power in the fuel cell. Of course hydroelectric dams, wind farms and solar cells could be used but the environmental consequences are not too good. The Altamont Pass wind farm in California has killed over a thousand birds including more than 100 eagles. You will probably be able to find the new one in Nantucket Sound in a fog by following the trail of dead seagulls in the water. THERE IS NO FREE LUNCH! There is a much more interesting possibility for small power plants aboard boats - the Sterling Engine running on bio-fuel. There is already a Sterling Engine electric generator made by Whispergen in NZ I think (I have no connection to the company). The Sterling Engine is an external combustion engine and can use almost any heat source. One running on bio-fuel (biodiesel or just corn oil) can provide very efficient power and does not add carbon dioxide from the fossil reservoir as the carbon in the bio-fuel was recently extracted from the atmosphere by plants and using it for fuel is just recycling it and does not add to the greenhouse effect. Fuel cells are not more efficient than modern diesel engines and they are not non-polluting when you consider the entire fuel cycle. Finally, they are very expensive.
rough comparison
Gary: So just what is it you find “more interesting” about the “WhisperGen” (Stirling Engine) (as opposed to a regular Portable 1kW Yamaha Gasoline Generator #EF1000iSC): ie: Characteristic ~ WhisperGen ~ Yamaha Gasoline Cost ~$? ~ $669 Output ~ 800w ~ 900w Run Time ~ 5.33 Hours/Gal. Diesel ~ 8 Hrs/Gal. Gas (18 Hrs/Gal @ ½ Load) Weight ~ 198 Lbs ~ <28 Lbs Size ~ 18 x 20 x 26" ~ 18" x 9" x 14" Noise ~ 55 dBA @ 40" ~ 47 - 57dBA @ ?”
Gary: So just what is it you find “more interesting” about the “WhisperGen” (Stirling Engine) (as opposed to a regular Portable 1kW Yamaha Gasoline Generator #EF1000iSC): ie: Characteristic ~ WhisperGen ~ Yamaha Gasoline Cost ~$? ~ $669 Output ~ 800w ~ 900w Run Time ~ 5.33 Hours/Gal. Diesel ~ 8 Hrs/Gal. Gas (18 Hrs/Gal @ ½ Load) Weight ~ 198 Lbs ~ <28 Lbs Size ~ 18 x 20 x 26" ~ 18" x 9" x 14" Noise ~ 55 dBA @ 40" ~ 47 - 57dBA @ ?”
Interest
The Sterling engine is as efficient as the gasoline burner and it can burn bio-fuel instead of fossil fuel. It operates at atmospheric pressure so it doesn't make NOx like the gas burner (unless you have a catalytic converter on your generator which I doubt). Finally I don't like to have gasoline aboard because of its low flash point. [I know this is crazy since I have a propane stove but that's just me.] Of course the Sterling engine is currently more expensive but it isn't technologically more complicated than the Yamaha so mass production would bring the cost down. Remember Gord we were talking about new technology, specifically about the foolishness surrounding the fuel cell bubble. For my money the old diesel is still on top and when we get one that runs on 100% biodiesel I'll be a very happy camper. Now if only somebody made a hand cranked 1000 watt bio-fuel diesel genset.
The Sterling engine is as efficient as the gasoline burner and it can burn bio-fuel instead of fossil fuel. It operates at atmospheric pressure so it doesn't make NOx like the gas burner (unless you have a catalytic converter on your generator which I doubt). Finally I don't like to have gasoline aboard because of its low flash point. [I know this is crazy since I have a propane stove but that's just me.] Of course the Sterling engine is currently more expensive but it isn't technologically more complicated than the Yamaha so mass production would bring the cost down. Remember Gord we were talking about new technology, specifically about the foolishness surrounding the fuel cell bubble. For my money the old diesel is still on top and when we get one that runs on 100% biodiesel I'll be a very happy camper. Now if only somebody made a hand cranked 1000 watt bio-fuel diesel genset.
Garry you are correct
I think (maybe) the answer is Nuclear "fusion" plants (safer than older technology fission) producing the needed Hydrogen and then building an infrasture across the states (like our Fossil Fuel distributions)to get it out to people
I think (maybe) the answer is Nuclear "fusion" plants (safer than older technology fission) producing the needed Hydrogen and then building an infrasture across the states (like our Fossil Fuel distributions)to get it out to people
Solar energy hooked to a Sterling engine???
Has anyone tried using the sun as a heat source for a Sterling engine driven generator??? The sun puts out a lot of heat!!! I can't walk barefoot on my deck or dock summer afternoons without burning my feet. Our solar shower has made water that was too hot to use for showering. It would be really cool to use a freznel(?) lense to heat a Sterling engine for electricity to run the refrigerator. Using the heat of the sun to make cold beer sounds great to me. Heck get a bigger unit and run the air conditioner guilt free.
Has anyone tried using the sun as a heat source for a Sterling engine driven generator??? The sun puts out a lot of heat!!! I can't walk barefoot on my deck or dock summer afternoons without burning my feet. Our solar shower has made water that was too hot to use for showering. It would be really cool to use a freznel(?) lense to heat a Sterling engine for electricity to run the refrigerator. Using the heat of the sun to make cold beer sounds great to me. Heck get a bigger unit and run the air conditioner guilt free.
Fusion and Solar
The Dept. of Energy has been working on a fusion reactor for more than 50 years without success. So have the Russians. (It has, however, kept hundreds of physicists gainfully employed in burning up our tax dollars.) Fusion reactors aren't necessarily clean. They irradiate the dickens out of their containment vessels and make a lot of waste. In addition they don't run on hydrogen - they run on tritium which is made in fission reactors by capturing neutrons (from the fission reaction) on hydrogen. It is worth noting that fission was hypothesized by Hahn and Meitner in 1939 and demonstarted the same year. Enrico Fermi made the first successful nuclear fission reactor in December 1942 and the first US nuclear power plant went into operation in Shippingport, PA in 1957 (actually the first power reactor started in Obinsk, Russia in June of 1954).Why it is taking the DoE so long remains a mystery. A hydrogen transmission network will have many problems. The worst is the process of hydrogen embrittlement in which hydrogen atoms diffuse into steel and make it brittle and subject to sudden fracture. Hydrogen can not be safely transmitted in the current natural gas pipeline system for this reason. Hydrogen is also very diffusive and loves to leak out through almost any container. Don't even think about liquid hydrogen which combines the opportunity to freeze to death with the possibility of blowing yourself up. By the way, hydrogen is no more explosive than natural gas which is piped into a lot of homes. Solar has been used to run Sterling Engines and they make useful power sources for remote locations. Google "Sterling Engine" and you will get a bunch of hits for interesting web sites.
The Dept. of Energy has been working on a fusion reactor for more than 50 years without success. So have the Russians. (It has, however, kept hundreds of physicists gainfully employed in burning up our tax dollars.) Fusion reactors aren't necessarily clean. They irradiate the dickens out of their containment vessels and make a lot of waste. In addition they don't run on hydrogen - they run on tritium which is made in fission reactors by capturing neutrons (from the fission reaction) on hydrogen. It is worth noting that fission was hypothesized by Hahn and Meitner in 1939 and demonstarted the same year. Enrico Fermi made the first successful nuclear fission reactor in December 1942 and the first US nuclear power plant went into operation in Shippingport, PA in 1957 (actually the first power reactor started in Obinsk, Russia in June of 1954).Why it is taking the DoE so long remains a mystery. A hydrogen transmission network will have many problems. The worst is the process of hydrogen embrittlement in which hydrogen atoms diffuse into steel and make it brittle and subject to sudden fracture. Hydrogen can not be safely transmitted in the current natural gas pipeline system for this reason. Hydrogen is also very diffusive and loves to leak out through almost any container. Don't even think about liquid hydrogen which combines the opportunity to freeze to death with the possibility of blowing yourself up. By the way, hydrogen is no more explosive than natural gas which is piped into a lot of homes. Solar has been used to run Sterling Engines and they make useful power sources for remote locations. Google "Sterling Engine" and you will get a bunch of hits for interesting web sites.
Good post Garry
I never said I knew the answers to this....LOL So what do we do? Just keep going along and using up the fossil fuels until they are gone ? (and did I hear one so-called expert say that at the rate we are going it will be used up by the end of the century) Seems like Nuclear energy (of some sort) to generate other power (electrical) is the only alternative we have today. We been messing with Solar and it just doesn't seem to have the total power output the world needs and not so sure wind does either. of course there is conservation, but that would mean a drastic change in modern consumerism -- wonder how many americans are ready for that but I'm ready to chuck it all and just sail my boat
I never said I knew the answers to this....LOL So what do we do? Just keep going along and using up the fossil fuels until they are gone ? (and did I hear one so-called expert say that at the rate we are going it will be used up by the end of the century) Seems like Nuclear energy (of some sort) to generate other power (electrical) is the only alternative we have today. We been messing with Solar and it just doesn't seem to have the total power output the world needs and not so sure wind does either. of course there is conservation, but that would mean a drastic change in modern consumerism -- wonder how many americans are ready for that but I'm ready to chuck it all and just sail my boat
"first nuclear fission reactor in Dec 1942"
Isn't that how we got the reactor "byproducts" for the needed "materials" to create the first Atomic Bomb bombs we dropped in WWII?
Isn't that how we got the reactor "byproducts" for the needed "materials" to create the first Atomic Bomb bombs we dropped in WWII?
Tom, I think that reactor was in Chicago
The one that made the bomb material was at Hanford Washington. Gary, are you there?
The one that made the bomb material was at Hanford Washington. Gary, are you there?
WhisperGen with Stirling Engine
See the link. I found this in a old article and contacted them about my own interest. It is really quite facinating what it will do. At $12,000 USD a few years ago, a bit pricy tho. Rick D.
See the link. I found this in a old article and contacted them about my own interest. It is really quite facinating what it will do. At $12,000 USD a few years ago, a bit pricy tho. Rick D.
animals and humans have a history
of using a resource until it is used up!!! Whales were slaughtered until it was no longer profitable. Then we had to find another oil for lamps. Buffalo were the only source of felt until they disappeared. Same with old growth forests ,basically logged until only a few remnents remain. Cod is a recent tragic example of using a resource until it is completely depleted. Bush showed his concern for future generations by refusing to extend fuel mileage standards. The same with the artic national wildlife refuge...use it up ...NOW!!!! a 100 years from now it won't be needed. The oil saved by increasing the MPG standards would be much greater than ANWAR and some future generation would have the option of going there if conditions mandated more oil. It is crazy to encourage a 100# woman to drive a suburban!!! She would look more stylish in a neat little high MPG sports car. I love trucks but it is crazy for someone to commute from suburbia in a 12 mpg 4 wheel drive truck. Trucks are made for work!!! Unless you are a rancher hauling livestock etc why drive a gas hog???? My little toyota tacoma more than satisfies my requirements for off roading and hauling stuff. I have no gripes with people who need a truck. I used to need one to haul horses. But we had a guy who drove a F-250 with the wide extra wheels. He only used it to pull a jet ski!!! My biggest problem with nuclear is the waste. Where do you put something so that it will be safe for 100,000 + years??? Just look at the problems now imagine if a large proportion of our enery came from nuclear. The age of the SUV and monster truck is coming to an end!!!! We can end it now voluntarily or later when gas shortages make driving a hog unaffordable for most. Just like whaleing there were only so many whales and once they were down to a certain low number the whalers had to quit!! Tom
of using a resource until it is used up!!! Whales were slaughtered until it was no longer profitable. Then we had to find another oil for lamps. Buffalo were the only source of felt until they disappeared. Same with old growth forests ,basically logged until only a few remnents remain. Cod is a recent tragic example of using a resource until it is completely depleted. Bush showed his concern for future generations by refusing to extend fuel mileage standards. The same with the artic national wildlife refuge...use it up ...NOW!!!! a 100 years from now it won't be needed. The oil saved by increasing the MPG standards would be much greater than ANWAR and some future generation would have the option of going there if conditions mandated more oil. It is crazy to encourage a 100# woman to drive a suburban!!! She would look more stylish in a neat little high MPG sports car. I love trucks but it is crazy for someone to commute from suburbia in a 12 mpg 4 wheel drive truck. Trucks are made for work!!! Unless you are a rancher hauling livestock etc why drive a gas hog???? My little toyota tacoma more than satisfies my requirements for off roading and hauling stuff. I have no gripes with people who need a truck. I used to need one to haul horses. But we had a guy who drove a F-250 with the wide extra wheels. He only used it to pull a jet ski!!! My biggest problem with nuclear is the waste. Where do you put something so that it will be safe for 100,000 + years??? Just look at the problems now imagine if a large proportion of our enery came from nuclear. The age of the SUV and monster truck is coming to an end!!!! We can end it now voluntarily or later when gas shortages make driving a hog unaffordable for most. Just like whaleing there were only so many whales and once they were down to a certain low number the whalers had to quit!! Tom
But Tom,
Old growth forests and whales are not oil. At our present rate of consumption, Kuwait has enough oil to supply the world for 400 years. The US has enough natural gas to exceed the worlds oil energy supply . The problem for consumers isn't SUVs, it's the fact that these energy sources are hidden out of sight, so that only the producers have access and can control the market. I don't know how old you are but back in '73 the oil companies said the world would run out of oil in 13 years. And that included Alaska crude. Result of that spiel? They raised the price. Then everyone talked about alternative energy sources. Then the oil price stabilized enough to make the alternatives too expensive to develop. About 15 years ago, Nova on PBS had an episode about what to do with the space shuttle. It couldn't be justified for launching satellites. They learned from the scientific community that the shuttle was perfect for building an orbiting solar power generating system. All of the needed technology existed and would free us of the need for foreign oil, or ANY oil. Great episode. One of the best the Nova team ever put together. The result was a lowering of oil prices until the idea faded. Oil is not the enemy, it's corporate greed. I sure don't agree with opening the Alaska Wildlife Preserve now, for drilling. But I agree even less with letting oil company's MERGE. The reason we got all these companies in the first place was because one or two suppliers monopolized the industry and controlled the price. And they were running out of whales.
Old growth forests and whales are not oil. At our present rate of consumption, Kuwait has enough oil to supply the world for 400 years. The US has enough natural gas to exceed the worlds oil energy supply . The problem for consumers isn't SUVs, it's the fact that these energy sources are hidden out of sight, so that only the producers have access and can control the market. I don't know how old you are but back in '73 the oil companies said the world would run out of oil in 13 years. And that included Alaska crude. Result of that spiel? They raised the price. Then everyone talked about alternative energy sources. Then the oil price stabilized enough to make the alternatives too expensive to develop. About 15 years ago, Nova on PBS had an episode about what to do with the space shuttle. It couldn't be justified for launching satellites. They learned from the scientific community that the shuttle was perfect for building an orbiting solar power generating system. All of the needed technology existed and would free us of the need for foreign oil, or ANY oil. Great episode. One of the best the Nova team ever put together. The result was a lowering of oil prices until the idea faded. Oil is not the enemy, it's corporate greed. I sure don't agree with opening the Alaska Wildlife Preserve now, for drilling. But I agree even less with letting oil company's MERGE. The reason we got all these companies in the first place was because one or two suppliers monopolized the industry and controlled the price. And they were running out of whales.
400 years!!!
Hi Fred; I don't believe that there is enough oil for 400 years. I do believe that we will have to fight for oil. China with it's booming economy is beginning to import more and more oil. They just signed a deal with Venezuela and another deal with Iran. So the USA shoulder to shoulder with China in the middle east!!!! But Venezuela is a big supplier to the USA!!!! we already fought one war to liberate Kuwait's oil and another to control Iraq's oil. Will we fight a war to protect Venezuela's oil??? There are about 1,300,000,000 people in China if they all want SUV's the price of oil will really go up fast. Then there are the 1,600,000,000 people in India wanting a higher standard of living. Where will they get their oil??? We won't even talk about Europe and Japan. I had two nephews fighting to liberate Kuwait's oil. Watched my sisters cry as their sons went off to war. Anyway geopoliticaleconomical talk isn't as interesting as sailboats. Sorry for the detour. As for me if I need to repower my pearson I will consider electric. A bank of batteries and solar and wind generators. Probably a little honda generator just in case it's cloudy and the wind isn't blowing!!! It would seem very possible to power a small fishing boat with a large trolling motor two deep cycle batteries and a couple of 100 watt solar panels. No stink and no noise!!! Maybe a small sail??? Naw I want a 200 hp mercury!!!! If I can't catch fish I can at least intimidate the sailers!!!
Hi Fred; I don't believe that there is enough oil for 400 years. I do believe that we will have to fight for oil. China with it's booming economy is beginning to import more and more oil. They just signed a deal with Venezuela and another deal with Iran. So the USA shoulder to shoulder with China in the middle east!!!! But Venezuela is a big supplier to the USA!!!! we already fought one war to liberate Kuwait's oil and another to control Iraq's oil. Will we fight a war to protect Venezuela's oil??? There are about 1,300,000,000 people in China if they all want SUV's the price of oil will really go up fast. Then there are the 1,600,000,000 people in India wanting a higher standard of living. Where will they get their oil??? We won't even talk about Europe and Japan. I had two nephews fighting to liberate Kuwait's oil. Watched my sisters cry as their sons went off to war. Anyway geopoliticaleconomical talk isn't as interesting as sailboats. Sorry for the detour. As for me if I need to repower my pearson I will consider electric. A bank of batteries and solar and wind generators. Probably a little honda generator just in case it's cloudy and the wind isn't blowing!!! It would seem very possible to power a small fishing boat with a large trolling motor two deep cycle batteries and a couple of 100 watt solar panels. No stink and no noise!!! Maybe a small sail??? Naw I want a 200 hp mercury!!!! If I can't catch fish I can at least intimidate the sailers!!!
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