That's a great idea

“PLANET SOLAR-THE SOLAR POWERED CATAMARAN”

Hello, everyone. First of all thank you for coming here today. Let me introduce myself. My name's Ola Nowogrodzka. I'm studying Environmental Engineering at the Wrocław University of Technology. The topic of my presentation is “Planet-Solar: the solar-powered catamaran”. My topic is very important to you because it is about a very special boat and its role in today's world. The presentation is organized into four sections. First I'll talk about renewable energy sources. Next I will present some information about Planet Solar and its advantages. Next, I will say a little about its construction. And after that about its most important cruise.

Let me say some words about renewable energy sources. Today the word „ecology” is known to everyone. Nowadays renewable energy sources are the topic that many people talk about. Renewable energies are sources of energy that come from the nature. Those are for instance: hydroelectric energy, wind energy or geothermal energy. One of the source is also solar energy, which has found many different and interesting uses.

Well, now I'll present The Planet Solar. It is a completely ecological catamaran. It is powered by the solar energy in 100%. Its real name is MS Turanor - this name is taken from “Lord of the rings”, which means “power from the sun”. Currently, it is the largest solar boat in the world, which uses electric power that comes from the solar energy. Raphael Domjan, a Swiss electrical engineer inspired by the great power of the solar energy, decided to build solar-powered ship. The boat total cost was 12,5 million euro, but it is important to remember that it's completely ecological ship, which doesn't need gasoline and it doesn't produce carbon dioxide emission

Now I'd like to talk a little about Planet Solar's construction. The catamaran is covered by 512 m2 (square meters) of solar panels. Those panels charge 6 blocks of lithium-ion batteries. When they are fully charged, the boat has enough power to reach 300 kilometers. Its total power is 93,5 kW. It is completely soundless boat but it's very slow. Its average speed is about 5 knots, which is 9,25 km/h (kilometers per hour). The boat is not very spacious inside but everything works thanks to the solar energy starting from engines. The Turanor is 35 meters long, 24 meters width and 6.3 meters height. It weights about 90 tones. It has 6 cabins and 9 beds. The maximum number of people on the board is 60. Crew consists of 4 people.

Finally, I'd like to say about most important Planet Solar cruise which took place in May 2012, for the first time, the ship powered by the solar energy travelled all around the world. During this expedition, it has reached 60,000 km in 584 days.

To sun up, I think such catamaran is a future of technology.

Thank you for your attention.

Thematic Vocabulary- słownictwo tematyczne

1. electric motor- silnik elektryczny

2. average consumption- średnie zużycie paliwa

3. photovoltaic panels- panele fotowoltaiczne

4. solar-powered vehicle- pojazd zasilany energią słoneczną

5. circumnavigation- opłynięcie

6. climatologist- klimatolog

7. expedition-wyprawa

8. geothermal energy- energia geotermalna

9. pollutants- zanieczyszczenia

10. carbon dioxide- dwutlenek węgla

11. supply- zasilać

12. scientific-naukowy

13. climate change- zmiany klimatu

14. coast- wybrzeże

15. launch- szalupa

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