Design will be displayed at the World Future Energy Summit January 18-21, 2016
Following its debut at the COP 21 Climate Change meeting in Paris, the design for Peace Boat’s Ecoship – the world’s greenest cruise ship – will be displayed at the World Future Energy Summit on the world’s stage at Sustainability Week in Abu Dhabi
The plans for this whole-system, future-ready 55,000 ton cruise ship, which optimizes the use of renewable energies in the marine context, has been developed by a world-class team of over 30 engineers, scientists and thinkers from the fields of ship-building and cutting-edge eco-technology (including renewable energy, architecture, biophilia and waste management). The Ecoship Project is the brainchild of Peace Boat, a Japan-based NGO, which has been running educational voyages for peace and sustainability since 1983.
With a stunning hull form inspired by the whale, the vessel’s renewable energy features include 10 retractable solar-panelled sails and retractable wind generators. It will be equipped with a future-ready hybrid engine that will run initially on LNG but will be able to integrate bio-fuels and other clean fuels as they become available. Together with its projected cuts of 40% in CO2 emissions and impressive energy efficiency, Peace Boat’s Ecoship will be the flagship for green technology in passenger shipping, serving as a model for cruise operators worldwide.
“Peace Boat’s ecoship project is a pathbreaking attempt in sustainability in the shipping industry…[it] displays a perfect combination of improved energy efficiency and renewable sources of energy.” Said Professor Tomas Kaberger, former Director of the National Swedish Energy Agency.
In bringing the Ecoship Project to Abu Dhabi’s Sustainability Week and the World Future Energy Summit, Peace Boat seeks to develop synergies with actors in the new energy field and expects to draw inspiration from the pioneering work of Masdar:
“We’re eager to contribute to Masdar’s ground-breaking work on energy leadership beyond hydrocarbons, and we admire its holistic vision in integrating business together with educational and sustainable development. The global shipping industry is currently one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, but we believe the Ecoship will capture the public’s imagination on what is possible at sea and challenge for change, in the same way that Masdar City is challenging thinking on land.” Said Yoshioka Tatsuya, Founder and Director of Peace Boat.
The Ecoship as a transformational solution for world energy will also be embodied through its activities. It will sail for Peace Boat’s around the world educational voyages carrying 5000 people per year; host exhibitions of future energy and green technology in up to 80 worldwide ports annually; and serve as a floating sustainability laboratory able to contribute to research on the ocean, climate and green marine tech.
This awareness-building imperative is paramount for Peace Boat, which has Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations and serves as an official messenger for projects including the UNISDR Resilient Cities Campaign. Peace Boat was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008 and has sailed on over 80 voyages, carrying more than 60,000 people to over 100 ports in 80 countries.
"Peace Boat's Ecoship sailing the oceans and cooperating with communities in port will be a wonderful symbol of the interconnectedness of peace and sustainability." Said Wanjira Mathai, Director of the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace & Environmental Studies.
Peace Boat Ecoship’s Booth is in Hall 7, no. 7236 of the World Energy Summit Exhibition. Video and Q&A sessions will be held at 2pm and 3:30pm daily, or upon request.
A Tech Talk by Founder and Director Yoshioka Tatsuya will be given at the Exhibition at 11:30am on January 21.