CNN reported on a man named Bertrand Piccard who is developing the first solar powered aircraft. Unfortunately, the aircraft isn't perfectly fit yet to carry loads of passengers, right now just the pilot. However, the future seems bright for this new invention. With a 200-foot wingspan and weighing less than 4000 lbs. (the weight of a mid-sized car) this aircraft was "designed entirely with energy conservation in mind", using about the same amount of energy that the Wright Brothers flying machine required in 1903.
The science behind this masterful machine includes "four motors containing polymer lithium batteries and a heat management system designed to conserve heat at high altitudes. Coupled with an on board computing system that gathers and analyzes flight management procedures".
Nevertheless, this new development is a great inspiration for developing new methods of energy conservation for the future. What do you think?
11 comments:
I think it's great that new technologies are being developed that are safer for the planet. This should have a huge positive impact once it is finished since people always need to travel around the world now a days and they use so much gasoline. This could also help us cut our need for oil around the world so we can stop spending money in other countries and focus on our financial problems. I wonder how much farther solar power is going to go.
Seeing as how the sun is a perpetual resource, I think that this is a great idea. Something that the video said that I found very insightful was that many of the decisions that we make are "short-term" and that it is not very sustainable. I find this venture very interesting, but I do not think that it will be a feasible idea for commercial airlines for at least a couple more decades. I think that the Solar Impulse Project really set a precedent for other companies to take advantage of the sun to make other oil-guzzling machines sustainable. I think that the only downside to this is that it is made in Switzerland and not the US so it wouldn't really help the US economy , but the decrease in potential fossil fuel burning makes up for it.
I believe that this will not be possible as long as the price of airplane gasoline stays low enough that the airline companies stay within their marginal cost. Also, this will be a hard technology to sell at first because people will be skeptical about the safety of these new aircrafts and therefore will not have strong incentive to switch to this substitute good. Before watching the video linked in the post, I was worried that I would die flying through a cloud. Regardless, I think that this will happen near the end of the century as there will most likely be a greater demand for independence from oil.
Not much to say here. If Solar Impulse is able to make the a solar commercial aircraft efficient and economically viable enough in the long run to beat out using jet fuel, then we could be flying in sun-powered jets in the near future. Plus, I imagine first class tickets to be cheaper.
While the idea of a solar aircraft is super cool, I have to agree somewhat with Sam that its not going to have a huge effect on environmental impact or airline prices for a very long time. Even though solar technology has come a long way, its just not practical to imagine that a cost efficient, passenger carrying, solar plane will be available for quite some time.
...but its still way cool.
The practicality of this is questionable. Although it is great that it is eco friendly, its one thing to have a pilot flying around, actually using this in the place of gasoline powered planes will take awhile. This is the kind of thing that is more useful to the military than for general use at this point. Still its good to see progress towards a better future for the planet.
While this is a rather interesting idea, it will take a while for it to be able to be massed produce for the public, and then people will have to switch from current gas-powered cars/hybrids to the "solar impulse". Also, if this becomes more commonly used by the public, won't there also be training needed to operate the solar impulse?. Nevertheless, if this becomes a reality, the solar impulse will have a positive impact on the environment, not to mention it will be pretty cool having people flying around (through an aircraft), but just like there is the chance for a car accident, the same applies to the solar impulse. Another issue would be whether or not there would be specific "roads/highways" for them.
I think that solar planes are a great solution to decreasing dependence on fossil fuels for jets. By using the energy of the sun, planes would no longer need to keep refueling. They could stay in the air for much longer periods of time instead of having to make stops on the ground. Also with more energy efficient planes, tickets would be a lot cheaper as mentioned earlier. Ticket prices wouldn't have to compensate for the amount of money spent on jet fuel. I see this as very beneficial for major airline companies, especially for American Airlines who recently declared bankruptcy. A major problem the company faced was extremely high jet fuel prices when compared to other companies thus causing them to lose a lot of money. Solar energy looks like the way of the future.
I think this is an ingenious idea and major props to the Solar Impulse project for initiating the transition to solar-powered aircraft. Although I do agree with the those who commented above about the skeptical stance that the public will take on this project and the very possible delay between the creation of such an aircraft and actual human flight on the aircraft, I think that, in the context of the dizzyingly quick expansion of technology in the modern day era, I don't think people would be as scared of the "unknown." I suspect that, if this endeavour were to proven successful, the airline industry will immediately change their system to focus on solar-powered aircraft and we can soon expect to be flying with the energy input of the sun. Another convenience that is well worth noting is that because solar-powered airplanes won't need to carry millions of gallons of aviation fuel, the possibility of a fire as a result of a plane crash is eliminated. Thus, although this new technology cannot completely eliminate the chance of crashes, it will certainly reduce the potential harm and danger that can come from these crashes.
The benefits of solar-powered aircraft are manifold, as previous commenters have stated, but I'm skeptical about its availability, at least for a few years or even decades. Judging from the trials of other industries, converting airplanes will take huge start-up costs that both government and corporations are reluctant to pay. Given our national debt and political pressure, what hope we have for the future lies in private corporations willing to sacrifice now for the long run.
I agree that this would be a great innovation towards reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. As I was looking around the Solar Impulse website, I found that it is highly unlikely that solar-powered commercial planes will be available anytime soon. The site said that the energetic density of the batteries is the main limitation because they heavily affect the mass of the whole plane. And if they were to double the storage capacity of the batteries, it would only yield for 1 more person allowed onto the plane. We definitely have a long way to go until these planes become commercialized.
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