Greenheart is a growing social enterprise with big ideas. Design is nearly complete on Greenheart’s first innovation: a new class of sustainable, low-cost, zero-emission sail/solar-powered ship designed to fill current weaknesses and gaps in the global shipping industry. The first new ship of its kind, the S/V Greenheart (“S/V” meaning “Sailing Vessel”), is being developed specifically for those communities marginalized by a lack of capital, that lack access to deep-water ports, and that are unable to cope with rising fuels costs. Our primary objective for this project is to develop a fleet of ships that will return the seas to what they once were for all coastal and island people: an opportunity for growth, connection, and advancement in our expanding global marketplace.
Our mission is to generate and advance green maritime innovations, stimulate global entrepreneurship using open-source design, improve standards of living, protect the environment, and preserve cultural traditions for developing island and coastal communities. We are registered as an NPO in both Japan and Europe (France) with teams and supporters around the world. With the support of stakeholders (rather than shareholders), any and all profits are reinvested back into the design and build of Greenheart ships.
Each Greenheart ship can be used to serve multiple functions, including (but not limited to): cargo, ferrying, fishing, mail shipping, research, eco-tourism, passenger travel, environmental cleanup, disaster recovery, and temporary solar power stations.
Maiden Voyage / Application Testing
Upon completion, the S/V Greenheart will embark on maiden voyage through 20+ major ports of call in a 2-year circumnavigation of the globe. The objectives of this voyage will be to rigorously test the ship’s features and applications, increase awareness of the ship’s benefits and uses, support existing programs with partners, inspire interest in the development of future pilot programs, and promote and encourage global commercial use of renewable energy systems.
We will be working closely with local governments, ports, businesses, and education establishments as we make our way from city to village to city, holding events, coordinating research, training, and school programs, and connecting with local green shipping and ethical trade initiatives.
Additional Activities/Programs
We are in the process of developing pilot projects in the South Pacific, Caribbean, South Asia, and other locations in addition to our maiden voyage. These pilot projects will monitor and evaluate the economic viability of Greenheart vessels in solving a variety of pressing regional and local maritime transport challenges over extended periods of time in collaboration with local and regional partners.
Source: http://inhabitat.com/greenheart-project-the-worlds-first-open-source-solar-powered-ship/
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