Marine

Super Nova – world’s first carbon neutral megayacht

Super Nova – world’s first carbon neutral megayacht
The Super Nova 60 features adjustable camber fully rotational wingsails
The Super Nova 60 features adjustable camber fully rotational wingsails
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The carbon neutral Super nova 60 megayachet
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The carbon neutral Super nova 60 megayachet
The open concept decks of the Super Nova 60
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The open concept decks of the Super Nova 60
The Super Nova 60 features adjustable camber fully rotational wingsails
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The Super Nova 60 features adjustable camber fully rotational wingsails
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Looking to claim the environmental high ground at the next megayacht owners potluck get together? Sauter Carbon Offset Design has unveiled what it calls “the world’s first carbon neutral megayacht,” and it could be just what you’re looking for. Harnessing energy from sustainable sources such as photovoltaic (PV) cells, power sailing kinetic energy regeneration and wingsails, the Super Nova 60 is capable of generating enough surplus energy to allow it to cruise carbon neutral for 7,000 nautical miles a year... and it can feed energy back into the grid while docked. Now you can enjoy cruising around the Mediterranean in luxury with an environmentally clear conscience.

Referring to the currently available green technology present in Super Nova, Richard Sauter Head of design at Sauter Carbon Offset Design commented, “Super Nova’s state of the art Green Technology demonstrates that Carbon Neutral Superyachts are not just a futuristic dream, but a present day fact of life destined to become a ubiquitous reality.”

Like the somewhat smaller DSe Hybrid, the Super Nova employs a range of technologies to achieve its green credentials. These include multiple Mercedes Benz BlueTec diesel electric drives providing 1,600kW of power that are supported by adjustable camber fully rotational wingsails, power sailing and wave motion energy regeneration, a 650 square meter solar cell array and a plug-in lithium ion storage system/uninterruptible power supply (UPS) rated at 1,000 Kwh.

The carbon neutral Super nova 60 megayachet
The carbon neutral Super nova 60 megayachet

These systems allow the Super Nova to achieve a 75 to 100 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions when cruising at a speed of 18 knots. Additionally, cruising at an average speed of 8 knots and with the renewable power sources charging the 1,000Kwh lithium ion battery bank, the Super Nova boasts a virtually unlimited zero carbon cruising range.

Further contributing to the Super Nova’s efficiency are azimuth counter rotating contracted loaded tip (CLT) high torque propeller systems, wave piercing Catamaran hi-speed displacement hulls, aerodynamic PV deck spoilers and radar tower canopy, energy efficient equipment with waste heat recovery, and computerized energy management, maintenance and guidance systems.

And if you’re worried performance could take a hit with all this green technology, think again. The company says the Super Nova’s wave piercing hulls feature “self leveling sea keeping hydro & aerodynamic advances that will easily make her the fastest power sailing megayacht in the world.”

The open concept decks of the Super Nova 60
The open concept decks of the Super Nova 60

The Super Nova 60 measures 60m (197ft) long with a beam of 18m and a draft of 1m (3.3ft). It can accommodate 14 guests and a crew of 16. It weighs less than 125tons and has a sail area of over 1,200sq.m. The yacht boasts a cruising speed of 18kts and a maximum speed of over 22kts. When docked and plugged into shore power, the vessel is capable of feeding over 400Mwh’s of electricity back into the grid.

We contacted Richard at Sauter Carbon Offset Design who told us that if you and 50 of your (well-heeled) friends chipped in, it would cost you US$1 million each to purchase the yacht. That would mean you could enjoy the Super Nova 60 for one week a year or charter it for US$500,000 a week – apparently the going rate for a vessel of this type. As Richard points out, after a couple of years you'll have recouped the cost of your investment.

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10 comments
10 comments
gybognarjr
The boat is incredibly stupid, arrogant, misguided effort, reflecting the total falsehood of \"saving\" the environment, perfect for Al Gore and followers. $50 mil buys a few dozen hypocrites, idillic peace of mind to boast other jet-set highway robbers, that they had a small carbon footprint for a week, but for 51 weeks they make as much as 600 family does. Meanwhile people die by the hundreds in floods, starve and become ill for lack of food. To boast about the described \"carbonless\" effort is sickening.
ikarus342000
What a load of superlative crap in such a short story. \"self leveling seakeeping hydro & aerodynamic advance\". Impressive, but can anybody explain. By the way, I am a multi hull designer for over 30 years. There are so many things wrong on this boat I can not belief it. How to you shorten this sails in a strong wind. Vertical solar panels in the wings. What about efficiency of these. 1600 hp diesel engine. No carbon emission. Go back to your drawing board and do not waste your effort with articles with promises you can never achieve with this so called design.
Bernd Kohler, K-designs, The Netherlands
Fabian Rousset
LOL
Chris Hogan
I think the lads at Gizmag are well aware of how stupid this is, hence the tongue-in-cheek reporting. Of course the greenest option is to scrap it before it reaches the drawing board.
Adze
Wealth will always be relative.
Nick Rowney
Well now hold on a minute guys and lets back the horses up. The REAL reason that this is nonsense is of course obvious. IN ORDER TO EARN 50 MILLION BUCKS YOU HAVE TO SCREW THE ENVIRONMENT. As for the boat, someone will buy it and park it up to generate power back into the grid and run it as a tax loss, to offset their gun-running business.
DanMar Dinsmore
The first steps are always a little shaky. With a little compassion and understanding we can see that. There are a lot of innovative design ideas here. And lot could be learned by trying it. Sure they will have to learn about the reducing sail part. And the solar panels need work. Blue Tech is a problem not a solution, it uses much needed fertilizer. And is expensively waist full way To buy cleaner air. They could have used HHO to solve the pollution problem of the Diesels emissions. All in all a good step in the right direction. We all need to start making a step in the right direction to get to where we want to go. Thank you Richard Sauter for a great design. We have crewed many 100 ton Yachts with more than 2-1600HP engines designed with out a care about the environment. Richard Sauter`s design would be way better and give hope for a cleaner future.
Russell Miller
I have a boat that has unlimited cruise range at ~8kts; it\'s a sailboat. And I\'m not embarrassed to be seen with it because it\'s not hideous like this beast. What a waste of time.
jsada
Recouping the investment I used to be the manager of a $30,000 per day for rent, luxury yacht, that originally cost US $ 21 million, for several years The monthly money burn rate was in the order of US $175,000 to US$225,000 Nobody ever manages to rent them out more than 90 days per year There is no way anybody can ever recoup their \"investment\" They are simply toys for very rich grown up people \"As Richard points out, after a couple of years you\'ll have recouped the cost of your investment.\" ha, ha, ha

Hugues Boyenval
Hello, I am a french designer who imagine ships of the future, you can see them on : http://wagane.free.fr .
I should be very happy to meet Richard of Sauter Carbon Offset Design to present to him my new windmill turbine mainly studied for electrical boats. That\'s a vertical axix windmill wich is abble to product 15kw/h for a 12m/s wind and 60 kw/h for a 25m/s wind. You can see the vidéo on :
http://www.youtube.com/user/wagane30?feature=mhum#p/a/u/1/L_AsiwcMCVk
How can I do please ?