How this hydrogen-powered vessel creates its own energy 

Where do you want the Energy Observer to stop next?

Pretty cool, I did a video about a solar powered catamaran last year and this ship addressed just about every “what if...” from the comments.

I like that they store the extra solar energy as hydrogen to run a fuel cell generator. The sails let you get the extra speed from windy days as well. Very nice. I think something like the Solar 60 could benefit from the hydrogen storage technology.

That's an awesome ship and great application of renewable energy. I'd love to see that tech used to make cities more environmentally friendly

I happen to be walking by the pier when I saw you guys filming and boarding the ship. Cool to see the video and know that I wasn’t far away 😁

Hatsoff to the engineers

I think this is a perfect setup to live full time on the water.

Very cool future we have ahead of us if we can leverage renewable energy.

this is very well thought ship with fully utilized every bit of renewable energy, big applaud to those designers/engineers behind this ship design.

This is absolutely genius and we need more of this, and more appreciation for green technology in general!

This is more like a spacecraft than a ship

Great piece, Andy...definitely an eye-opener. Very interesting idea. Thanks!

I think this tech would be awesome in a cruise ship because I like cruising and hydrogen power could be more dense than battery’s if at high enough pressure allowing a traditional 7 night cruise with sea days or a trans Atlantic cruise

That is absolutely brilliant, I'm intrigued as to how the money was found to produce it.

It looks and sounds very cool

Wow, This technology is mind blowing. I am so glad that this is finely moving forward. Hopefully next coming years we will see this technology applied everywhere, in the cars, in homes, in airplanes pretty much every where the source of energy can be used and replace the high cost energy that is in use right now, and the best part about this is ecofriendly and super low cost. Thank you so much you folks not just for doing such an amazing job in research but sharing this with us, sharing it with the public. Simply Amazing, Big Thank You!!!!!

This is really cool

This is a great ship I love the fact that they use solar panels to generate energy and also the way they store the excess energy as hydrogen

How cool is that? It's wonderful to see environmental friendly vessels and such be used.

This vessel is interesting how it has so many functional solar panels. What a great idea!

Nice video Cnet, appreciate your works and please post us similar content in near future. The hydrogen and fuel/solar cell powered ship is remarkable, I hope these technologies are applied to be used in near future in aviation, land vehicles, boats/yachts. Perhaps it would ascend and fly in the future using such or newer technologies. =))

Very efficient ship! Wow!!! Independent energy!

Sails on a boat make so much sense. I went from Canada to Guatemala barely starting to motor. Solar energy for the electronics and necessities, sail moves you through the water.. Maybe sail will make a comeback?! Solar is on its way!

Not only is this ship beautiful it's an amazing piece of clean energy-powered technology. The solar panels actually add to the ship's aesthetic in my opinion. I'm blown away by how much energy the panels generate and just how durable they are too! I feel like this kind of tech can be applied to plants that can use osmosis to create other resources. There is so much possibility with this!

What an incredible innovation! And they answered every question I had right down to how do you even work on the ship when there are solar panels covering the entire thing? I always thought solar panels were fragile, but it's cool that they can use them to harness energy while still being able to walk on them.

Well I never thought Id say it, but that is my Dream Vessel! Would love to scramble over it, and go away for a week or 10!

Amazing design. The backups are so genius, with the multiple sources of wind, solar and hydrogen energy. I am so fascinated and impressed with these projects, even though it really is preparing us, and maybe even manifesting, the reality of Water World every day. Can they desalinate for drinking water from the hydrogen production too?

Great concept idea. Would like more information on how the boats materials are recycled and disposed of after their usage has ended. Especially the solar panel material.

So dope! I’m assuming they don’t need a gofundme…

Very cool folks!! Congratulations on a gorgeous creation!!! D

How much did it cost to build?

Amazing machine

That thing is awesome!!! 👍

Nice job!

Baller Baller shot caller!!!! This boat is super awesome great innovation moving everybody forward

I just got mindblown! This is so freakin' cool! Keep it up Toyota!

Let’s save our beautiful blue planet. Great to see this technology at work.

Obviously the cruise ships and trans liners would make an impact. Neat product and the autonomy is amazing. Great luck to all humans. Looks like we may need it.

This at least says something about hydrogen. Hydrogen fuel cell might be poor on passenger cars but more compelling for larger applications

That is amazing!

It's great to see this legendary catamaran (ex-ENZA NZ) get a new lease of life after it was so close to being scrapped. It was once the fastest boat to sail around the world in 74 days in 1994 by Peter Blake and RKJ.

Such a cool boat

I think this tech is being used in a fantastic application, and scaling the technology up would be a great next move. Imagine a large cargo ship or a cruise ship entirely running on power it generates themselves. Every one of those ships is burning tens of thousands of gallons of fuel every day, and at any given moment there are likely tens of thousands of those ships operating. Talk about cutting down on carbon emissions. We could make solar a more practical option as a primary source of energy by using massive solar farms to make electricity during the day, and store the energy as hydrogen in coastal facilities that operate much like a desalination plant for making fresh water. Perhaps we could even make energy barges that float just a tad offshore, connected to the power grid through undersea cables, that act as both hydrogen generation/storage facilities and as large solar platforms. They could be made out of decommissioned hydrogen cargo ships like the ones I talked about earlier, that way were getting a bit more life out of those ships before we just scrap them. This of course wouldn't be without its drawbacks, just like any other energy solution. The water around the areas with these plants might become over-salinated, causing the area in the immediate vicinity to become less hospitable to marine life. Perhaps we use the salt taken from the water in the hydrogen creation process and use it to supplement and maybe eventually replace the salt mining industry? Salt taken from the ocean would be just as usable as salt mined from the earth, A sodium atom and a chlorine atom stuck together is the same thing regardless of where it comes from. Less mining in general would be a good thing for the environment.

i love how he calls those tiny little thinys massive sails😂

Love the tech and concept. I do find the not so energy conscious appliances in the galley a little comical

And they say batteries are king and hydrogen is obsolete. What folks like these don't seem to realize that when it comes to dense energy storage over the long run, hydrogen utterly destroys batteries, that literally leak energy sitting still and running nothing, whereas a cylinder of hydrogen that isn't leaking significantly will keep that energy for much longer.

I hope someday they make a production version of this boat. I would love nothing more than to live on a solar-electric-hydrogen catamaran and sail around without using any fossil fuels. The tech could be used for sure on larger shipping vessels (which would have to be redesigned of course), and some Australian company is already building a solar-water electrolysis unit for residential properties. I'm a fan of this solar/electric/hydrogen future!

It would be great to scale this tech up to run large cargo ships. Salt water is easier to split since it conducts electricity better than plain water.

WOW...amazing. Would be awesome to have containerships or even cruise ships like that...

I would love to be on that boat. I have sailing experience. Big Coal and Oil buisnesses have a near monopoly on power and utilities in the US. This isn't going to change any time soon. They forgot to mention that the sails were developed by Jauc Cousteau the famous deep sea explorer.

Great concept. Now apply it for the general public (ferries, buses, container ships). Currently I see this for the rich and famous driving costs up, turning the technology into a luxury item.

That's exactly what you need. You need solar panels absolutely everywhere.

The sails alone are futuristic of sailing already.

Amazing stuff... Whoever said that this couldn't be done BEHOLD.

This is so cool

Nice video 👌

Beautiful creative minds coming together to set our societies on a sustainable and renewable future 🤙🦘

Super cool!

Tanker ships could use this if the maintenance cost is low & speed can be maintained. Work ships fill their deck with cargo.

This is so cool...

I am looking at it right now moored off of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii!

SO VERY COOL

Brilliant. 👌👌👏👏

I'm not sure where I'd want the Energy Observer to stop next. It seems they already have a pretty good schedule. I am curious to see more of the travels and see how this results in changes in what we use for energy in our future. I love that it could work fine in a variety of temperatures and regions, that's pretty impressive!

Interesting, and keep in mind that the state of art photovoltaics used is "yesterday's technology" today, the cost for the same construction probably has dropped to 1/4 what it was then or replaceable by new at same or higher cost. Very cool.

Bit of a shame they didn't make any mention of the byproduct created by reverse osmosis but either way it's a good start for renewable energy

I think it’s great that the hydrogen will last and be preserved for up to 6 days without any sun or wind and is a great solution.

Brilliant

Looks like Alameda. Windy as heck!

Verry cool

Very cool.

Was this developed by Apple? Owner no need to think, device works by itself ! Really cool!

I love the real-time energy consumption report! As for the rest, super cool but...

Cool!

I don't know how much it cost to build but I like it a lot more than every Mega Yacht in the world

I saw it in Morro Bay. Called the news channel and let them know.

The trailers of 18 wheelers! They'd have less total cargo volume than a standard container would but if used on routes through sunny climates, the shipping company would gain sizable quantities of hydrogen fuel with each trip one would take!

follow up & good to enough & it work!!

Energy losses involved in solar-hydrogen-fuel cell make the fuel cell portion of this the weak link. Wonder if they could get at least as much battery storage from an equivalent mass of the fuel cell powertrain. An atmospheric cryo storage system would be more efficient, with the benefit of extracting atmospheric moisture without the need for desalination.

Way cool.

wow! Wish to know the maximum speed the boat can achieve in normal conditions during sunny days.

Downward facing panels? I think you mean bi-facial. Increased efficiency from utilising sunlight that reflects off the water/ lower white surface back up into the underside of the panel.

Can you go to Australia ,Brisbane if possible would love to see the ship and and show how good renewable energy is 👌

Would have liked to see the battery storage.. Those things weigh so much

Those people who want to live away from people and governments would love to have that.

It's got sails.... that's where most of their propulsion comes from....

Come to Taiwan! Would love to see this ship in person.

Fuel cells for the win

This stuff comes from Space Exploration. Only in Aeronautics can this kind of advanced tech be created.

Great tech demonstrator and science project. Out of the range of realistic until the incredibly high tech electronics on board are much cheaper. That's why simple fuel still is supreme. It's easy and cheap. I'd be interested in the startup costs for a ship like this. Or something for fun sized like a pontoon boat. How would that compare to gas?

Up next: World's first wind-powered ship

OH my gosh! That is so cool! Not only because of what the boat is doing, but it's real life applications. Solar panels that can be walked on? That could be put into a sidewalk to power street lights. If put on a house, they could store energy into the cells. This technology has so many real life (IRL as my son would say) applications. I also think it's cool that there is proof this is recent haha..the masks.

Great video! I am curious, what is the battery energy density that would make the hydrogen obsolete? I read that your current system is around 2.1 tonnes and it holds around 1,300kWh of usable energy. So that is around 620Wh/kg. Is that about right?

Thats a vey wonderful information and the detailed presentation is highly 'detailed information , kudos for sharing such an OUTSTANDING Videos, hats off for putting so much efforts and bring a great Informative video, excellent work done. Claps Claps Claps.....✌✌✌✌✌✌✌✌☀☀☀☀👏👏👏👏👏👏☀☀☀☀☀👌👌👌👌👌👌

It should be able to distill water. You'd have to pick up food except for fish. Avoid hurricanes and you could sail from continent to continent.

👌👏👏👏👏👏🔥❤️ These can, and will, revolutionize daily commute.

“…whether we can make coffee or have a warm meal…” while standing inches away from Hydrogen fuels tanks that could be utilized as stove fuel.

I think we’ve been doing this all wrong. We don’t need one really good and solid source of energy, we need multiple sources of renewable energy, not only is it gonna extend the life of our planet, it also adds more redundancy, allowing you to use all the other energy generation system, even if one fails.

Come to Australia!

I think it's time now to get rid of the dependency on oils...