It must have been in the 80’s that Peter, a German sailor, sailed his way through the creeks and ended here. He bought a piece of land. He cut a way through the mangrove from the land to the creek. There, on a sandbank, he built his 3 floors Lamin Lodge. All constructed with the men from the Lamin community and with the wood from Gambia.
Lamin Lodge
He made moorings for the sailing yachts and a little dock to come with the dinghy. How is Lamin Lodge now?
Have a tour with us!
We hope you will like it.
Let us know at info@fossilfreearoundtheworld.org.
Also, if you want to know where we are now, you can follow us on the map.
We are keen river-sailors. One of the most beautiful rivers in Africa is the Gambia. What makes Gambia so worth visiting? For one, according to the World Economic Forum it’s one of the few countries in the world to meet the goals of the Paris agreement.
(Source: WEF)
Now this statement is a paradox. Gambia simply can’t meet these goals. Their export product is literally and in figuratively: peanuts. China invested in fish meal industry, but the economic and environmental impacts are controversial.[79]
Half of the 2.4 million people lives under the poverty limit of $1,25 per day. The chance a baby dies in its first year is 10 times higher than in Europe. Half the population is under 18 years. They suffer the consequences of climate change, even though they have not caused the problem.
What is the answer to get out?
The government and numerous private initiatives revert climate change, focus on small scale solar power, change the way to produce rice, and keeping cattle. And; Ecotourism.
Ecotourism
Gambia welcomes ecotourism. They want to avoid the mistakes of mass tourism, where a few big companies rule and take the profits home. During COVIV they have revised their strategies. They focus more on small scale tourism, more ecotourism, more African tourism. This will also reduce the ecological footprint of the tourism.
Attracting more regional tourists is important because they buy more local products and services than non-African visitors.
African tourists form a less seasonal so a steadier source of income. For example, during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak, many tourists from outside Africa cancelled trips to The Gambia while Nigerians continued to visit. For Africa the regional travel share is just 40%. This is expected to increase thanks to strong economic growth on the continent and an expanding middle class. The Gambia hopes to catch the new African tourist’s eye. (Source: https://unctad.org/news/gambia-targets-african-tourists-more-sustainable-growth)
“What we need is fair trade and where it is a charity, it should be designed to make us self-reliant economies, not aid or charities that are designed to make us more dependent. Our people must be trained to have the required skills and also make it possible for them to have the markets to sell their products. Tourism, if managed properly, can make this possible. We should link-local production to the tourism market so that tourists will buy, eat and drink what is local”.
Well, this is very much in line with Ya’s way of life.
Gambia is what you could call a ‘river state’. It surrounds the river Gambia, and the state is surrounded by Senegal.
Climate awareness
Plastic and other pollution also hit the shores of Gambia. But Gambia strikes back. The Gambia Ocean Heroes clean up the beaches and actively use social media to raise awareness on pollution.
Young sub-Saharan Africans speak up for the climate, like Elizabeth Wathuti did at COP26 in Glasgow, on this video
Elizabeth Wathuti started reforesting Kenia. In Gambia, a reforestation group started in 2018: Green Up Gambia. Their main goal is to reforest the savannahs in Gambia and bring back the rainforest. This will also stop the continuing desertification of the region, from Morocco all the way south.
Planning on traveling?
Please don’t book an ‘all inclusive’ but book directly and spend your money directly on the locals. Access Gambia gave some useful advice for (future) travellers.
The first ones you can also try at home:
Avoid using an air-conditioner as much as possible and use a fan instead.
Never leave an A/C on when you are out.
Use a shower instead of a bath & avoid turning on or leaving on hot water heaters.
Take all rubbish with you & don’t litter. Buy only large bottles of drinking water & use it all up before buying another.
We visit El Hierro. The smallest of the Canary Islands with only 10.000 inhabitants. It is the most southern part of Spain. And it can be 100% self-sufficient with renewable energy.
Puerto de la Estaca, showing just a glimpse of the windmills in the valley behind the mountains
The island is so far away from the mainland, that no electricity cable was ever laid. The old diesel-fired power station is built near the main port.
The old diesel-station near the main port, Puerto de la Estaca
The most logical source of renewable energy on El Hierro is wind power. Even in the protected harbor the wind is blowing. For the island, a Nature 2000-reserve, it was also important to choose a source that does not interfere with the landscape. And although the trade wind is pretty reliable, the energy supply needs to be constant, not depending on when the wind blows, .
So, besides the five wind turbines with a total capacity of 11.5 MW, they built two water reservoirs. One at sea level and a second one at an altitude of 700 meters. All left over energy, generated by the wind mills, is used to pump water to the upper reservoir. When there is no wind, the water will flow from the upper reservoir to the lower one through the hydroelectric power station, where turbines generate the electricity needed on the island also when there is no wind.
Tucked away
When we approached the island, we hardly saw the windmills.
Can you find the tips of windmills between the mountains? They turbines are situated there where the wind usually accelerates.
The 5 windmills are set in a valley. They are catch all the wind accelerating along the mountain ridge, and can be low enough not to dominate the landscape. Also, the water reservoir has a cleverly and respectfully located. It lies in a natural basin. The pipelines lie out of sight in a valley. So, all installations fit in the natural environment.
The company is proud of this achievement and welcomes visitors. Even though the combination of wind- and hydropower seems very innovative, it’s all existing technology, like on Ya. The pumps are standard and you see the turbines in many other hydroelectric power stations around the world.
Since the plant operates from 2015, and delivers an increasing part of the island’s energy by this combination of wind and hydropower. Only if there is too little wind and the water level in the upper reservoir is too low, the company will fall back on the old diesel generators. The company is constantly improving the management of the installations. Interesting: the island’s energy mix is publicly accessible. It helps well in cutting down the usage.
Awareness
What we really like about this initiative, is that Gorona del Viento not only invests in generating energy. It also invests in awareness. On their website and in their talks on schools., they stress the importance of saving energy. Not only by distributing LED-light bulbs, but also by mentioning the bigger issue: water. Almost half of the fresh water on the island is produced in desalination plants. The production and distribution of water accounts for approximately 45% of annual electricity consumption. So logically, they also stress the importance of saving on water consumption.
The Council walks their talk and talks their walk by preaching about reduction and to use only what you need. Just as what Ya is showing.
For their efforts, in June 2021, Gorona del Viento El Hierro, has won the second place in the RESponsible Island Prize. The jury liked the energy generation, the commitment to clean transport, and the awareness-raising campaigns. It has demonstrated that a reliable power supply can be generated from renewable energy, even if it comes from intermittent sources, in order to give stability to the network. “This is a pioneering project that is now inspiring other territories”.
After 7 years our lead acid traction batteries were at their end. Their effective capacity was still 22.5 kWh, about 50% of their original 55 kWh. This is still enough to live comfortably, but this would quickly become less, so it was time for a renewal.
On the left a common size lead acid battery of 800Wh, right an LFP battery of 1200 Wh. Half this size would be sufficient to replace the 800Wh lead acid. So it is effectively 4 to 5 times lighter.
In our last article we checked the alternatives. We compared lead acid to Lithium Ferro Phosphate (LiFePo4 , or LFP) batteries. We had to conclude that:
The overall storage efficiency is 25% better
You can discharge them till 10% of their capacity.
They are 3X lighter, take 5X less space, are inherently safer, have near zero maintenance and the environmental impact appears to be lower.
The durability is roughly two times longer.
Always thought these LiFePO4 were way too expensive? We made a cold analysis and shaped it in a business case.
Business case Lead Acid versus LiFePO4
This business case about Lead Acid traction batteries versus Lithium Ferro Phospate batteries is based on:
Storage durability
Storage efficiency
Maintenance costs
Safety,
Sustainability and other future risks for our children
First, we pick the right LFP battery bank:
What we need is an electrical energy buffer of about 20-25 kWh. Say 22.5 kWh effectively.
It would be nice if the new batteries would last longer than 10 years.
Just like the lead acid batteries, the LFP must be A brand, delivered by a reliable company, with warranty and service after purchase.
In the years of usage, we saw the capacity of our Lead Acid batteries decreasing in a curve. In year 7 we had effectively 22.5 kWh. Still enough, but time for a change. LFP is much more durable; the capacity loss would make a same curve, but it stretches over more years. This is an estimate.
The LiFePO4 batteries will decrease to an estimated 70% after 12 years. So, if we still want to take 22.5 kWh, we need to start with new batteries of 100/70% X 22.5kWh = 32.1 kWh effectively. So far for the durability.
Storage efficiency
It costs energy to ‘push’ the electricity into the battery, and again to ‘pull’ it out. Check the last article for the full explanation. If we take the energy out of an LiFePO4 battery, it costs some 2% of the energy.
If you have an LFP battery containing 32.1 kWh, you lose 2% if you want to empty it. From a lead acid battery you would lose 10-15%. This is due to the different internal resistance.
So, if you have 32.1 kWh in your LFP battery, you can only get out of it: 98% X 32.1 kWh = 31.4 kWh. From a lead acid that would be 28 kWh.
The LiFePO4 and Lead Acid traction battery compared.
Effective storage
If you buy a battery, you find the Ah of kWh number on it, which is the nominal storage capacity. This is the total storage capacity, if you would empty the battery to 0%. This is theory! Never do it, you damage your battery! A good traction lead acid can go down to 20%, and an LFP to 10% of its nominal value. We call this the effective storage capacity. Because that is what we want to have.
Discharging a battery more than the specified percentage, damages the battery. A lead acid traction (“wet”) battery is especially made to allow a deep discharge, till 20%. But an LFP battery can be discharged till 10%. So, you have more storage.
Like we did with our lead acid (or at least till year 6), we like to stay on the safe side and intend never to discharge to the very minimum. So, we prefer to take an extra margin of 15%. So, we take 85% out of it as maximum.
So, if we want an effectivestorage of 31.4 kWh in our LiFePO4 battery, we need to buy one with a nominal value of: 100/85 X 31.4 kWh = 36.9 kWh
The results
We found a 42.5 kWh (nominal) battery bank for 16000 Euros, including transport within Europe. It still is about 15% too large, but that is what we found on the market. This extra is no wasted money. Check the ‘durability’ graph and it means the batteries will last an extra year before they reach the minimum of 22.5 kWh.
So, this battery bank will last an estimated 13 years.
We could get the batteries a lot cheaper in China, but our hard condition is an A-brand, with an effective warranty and a tailor-made service. We found that at EV Europe, www.eveurope.eu (generally working business to business).
There were many extra costs (see next paragraph: Starting from scratch….), but now we deal with just the comparison of the renewal of an LFP versus lead acid battery bank.
On maintenance, there is nothing really on costs. You just plug in the charger to the shore power every three months and the battery management system will do the so called ‘balancing’.
It is possible that you have a bad battery. Then, just like with A brand lead acid batteries, you can exchange it for a new one for free (pro rato per year).
Exchanging the lead acid batteries for new lead acid batteries would have cost 9500 Euro, including the transport. The carrying of the batteries is so heavy, that I presume you need to hire a lorry, a strong man, et cetera. This costs money. On the other hand, we could get 500 Euros for the old batteries. In our case this money evens out the carrying/handling costs.
There are some maintenance costs. In every harbor, we plugged in to shore power, because it was best for the batteries. We did a three months acid (density) check of al 24 2-volt batteries and added the demineralized water. This is just a dirty job, costs you a T-shirt sometimes due to the acid, and you need an annual 25 Euro for the demineralized water to top up. So, the maintenance costs are peanuts.
Costs per year to renew the batteries are then:
Lead acid batteries. 9500 Euro for 7 years, make 1357 Euros per year.
Lithium Ferro Phosphate. 16000 Euros for 13 years, is 1230 Euros per year.
So LFP costs 127 Euros less per year, so they are even a little bit cheaper than lead acid.
The extra advantages are: near zero maintenance, best safety (fire; toxics). And last but not least: a potential smaller environmental impact, which is good for the life of your children and grandchildren.
Leave your money on the bank, or put it in your bilge?
After so many years of low inflation, we have forgotten this economical phenomenon. But right now, as we speak, in 2021, the inflation has passed 4%. This means that people buying the lead acid batteries for 9500, will pay 9880 Euro a year later, and the year after again 4% extra on that, each year on. And you don’t get 4% interest from your bank. Given the growing demand on batteries, it is most probable that the battery prices will grow with an annual 4%.
So, you’d better buy your durable goods now, as much as you can and as durable as you can. This means, with LFP in your bilge you are better off.
In our case the LFP batteries last 13 years, the lead acid only 7 years. When there is inflation on batteries -which is to expect- it saves money to invest in the most durable ones, so the LFP.
Even if the LFP batteries would cost the same, or a little bit more, they are worth investing in it. Because the investment in a durable good, saves more and more money in the following years.
So, if you have a bit of money, ask yourself: shall I leave it on the bank devaluating, or put it in the form of batteries in my bilge, working for me?
Starting from scratch means: investing in LFP is safer
Up to this point, we discussed the costs of the renewal of a battery bank. But if you think of a complete, new installation and think that lead acid is ‘cheaper’, then check the difference between ‘cheap’ and ‘low initial costs’ first, and don’t cheat yourself. Here is our experience.
We had 5000 extra costs to change the bank from lead acid to LFP. These costs were:
Initial costs. A battery management system (BMS) for Lithium batteries, plus a lot of cables, connectors, et cetera. All together 3000 Euros. For lead acid this has cost us 1000 Euros. So, the initial extra costs for LFP are 2000 Euro.
Replacement costs. 1000 Euro on costs for assistance, to get the lead acid out, and the necessary engineering assistance you need to integrate it in the existing electricity system. These costs are a pity, because it was also spent to the engineering necessary when we installed the lead acid…
Replacement costs for Ya. 1000 kg of lead, to be replaced for the lead acid batteries as internal ballast for the ship’s stability. This costs 2000 Euros. But this is only in the case of Ya, with its center board (no keel).
So, the initial costs for LFP will be 2000 Euro more. Over the 13 years this is 2000 Euro : 13 yr = 153 Euros per year. Add this to the 1230 Euro for the renewal, makes: 1230 + 153 = 1373 Euros for a total replacement of LFP batteries and cables and BMS.
Also, for the lead acid batteries there is some money needed for assistance to get these heavy lead acid batteries in? Think of a lorry, and handling costs of the (in our case) 1.4 ton. Let us say this is 500 Euros, which is initially, and let us spread this over many decades, to be on the safe side. Let us only count 10-15 Euros per year for that, so that makes 1357 +16 Euros = 1373 Euros, just as much as the annual costs for the LFP.
Here under the total picture with the inflation incorporated.
If we count the initial costs and the renewal costs, the annual costs will be about the same. One thing: there is inflation, most probable on batteries. Then you save money to invest in the most durable ones, so the LFP.
Conclusion
LiFePO4 and lead acid batteries will cost annually the same. If we have inflation, the durable LFP will gain advantage.
Till so far the short term costs. On long term, for our children and grandchildren, we have to take into account all cleanup costs of environmentally dangerous goods we leave behind. Lead and sulfuric acid then, has no future at all, we even don’t have to count that out.
So even if you do prefer the more expensive lead acid batteries, then please take the sustainable development into account. Do you like children? Then, give them a better future and don’t produce more toxic waste than strictly necessary for your life.
Businesswise or sustainable, for both the recommendation is:
Rethink or refuse: do you need the batteries at all? If yes, then:
Reduce:
use only what you need and buy the smallest amount.
take LFP because it leaves the smallest environmental impact
This is the first of 4 articles about LFP on the Ya. This is about the why. The Lithium Ferro Phosphate batteries (also called LiFePO4, or LFP) have so many advantages over the conventional batteries, that we recently changed our system and installed them on “Ya”.
If we could do it all over again, we would have installed them right away. Not only because they are lighter, smaller, safer, cleaner, have a higher storage efficiency, they are more durable and require less maintenance. But also, because they have the future.
(Left) End 2013 the lead acid battery bank was installed. (Right) Hadrian lifted all 24 60 kg batteries out in 2021. Hadrian has a strong back. I have a bad back, but I could easily install my LFP batteries by myself.
LiFePO4 batteries are lighter and smaller
We replaced the 24 60 kg lead acid batteries for 48 LFP batteries. The lead acid bank was weighing 1420 kilogram, the new LFP bank weights less than 300 kg, including BMS and wiring. This is 5 times lighter.
The big red battery is the lead acid, the little black/blue battery is the LFP one. For each big lead acid battery, with a volume of 25 liter, we replaced two of the little LFP batteries, together 5 liters. This saves 5 times the volume.
Lithium stores the electricity more efficient and effective
A lead acid battery has resistance to take energy. It simply costs energy just to put the electricity in, for example from a charger. 15% (with new batteries) to 20% (when older) of the electricity put in, converts to heat. The charger has to ‘push’ it into the batteries. So, 80-85% of the created energy will be stored. And again, if the electricity must come out for a device, it takes another 15 (new) to 20% of electricity.
So, the storage efficiency of a lead-acid battery is 83% X 83% is about 70%. For example, if you generate 10 kWh for your lead acid battery during the day, you will only get 7 kWh out of it in the night.
A lithium battery takes the electricity in easily and gives it just as easy to the consuming devices. There is hardly resistance, you will lose not much more than 2% to bring it in, and 2% to get it out. This makes an overall storage efficiency of up to 95%. So if you would replace your lead acid for LFP, you could take the LFP 25% smaller and you have the same energy to consume.
Storage means: bringing it into the battery from an energy source, and getting it out to a consumer device. The energy efficiency of Lithium is 25% higher.
The storage of a Lithium battery is also more effective. The best traction lead acid batteries, can be discharged till 20%. But the Lithium Ferro Phosphate battery can go to 10%. It is 90% effective.
Next to the 25% extra on efficiency, the LFP battery can also be discharged 10% more.
So, if you replace lead acid for LFP, you can buy a 25+10% = 35% smaller capacity on the effective storage of the original lead acid, and you have the same amount of energy to consume.
LFP is safer
LFP (Lithium Ferro Phosphate) is not Lithium Ion or Lithium Polymer (LiPo or LiPol). These types are used in your mobile phone, or in electric cars, and they can start burning spontaneously. The problem is even bigger, because, even when the fire is extinguished, it is self-igniting. Now, electric cars with an extinguished fire, are immediately put in a big container with water, to cool it down for days. It is weird that the governments are OK with Lithium Ion, especially in big amounts, such as in cars. Never ever put it on your ship, because at sea you can step from board only once, and there are no emergency services for a quick salvage.
This fire test video shows the difference between Li-Ion, LiPo, and LFP.
With LFP on board, the battery bank can only continue burning if you keep on putting energy into it. You stop the input; it is self retarding. So, when at sea, it is safer than any other energy storage medium, such as Lithium Ion, gas, petrol, diesel, or lead acid batteries.
About the lead acid. The hydrogen coming out of open traction batteries can explode. The sulfur acid can ignite and burn on higher temperature. And the sulfur acid (H2SO4) is dangerous by itself. When a battery bursts or explodes, the damage made by this acid to its environment is gigantic.
Sustainability potential
We know that diesel, petrol and other combustives are the worst on sustainability, because all of it comes into the environment. The biggest part as CO2 causing the climate change, but also much NOx and SOx, leading to acidification.
The A brand lead acid batteries recycle between 98 and 99 %. So about 14 to 28 kilo of lead and/or sulfuric acid of our old battery bank ends up in the environment. That is a lot, because lead is a heavy metal, so very bad to the environment, and sulfuric acid is as well.
About Lithium, the best thing is that we use about 1/3 of the weight compared to lead acid. The properties show that Lithium should have the potential to create a smaller environmental impact then lead and sulfuric acid. But we don’t know yet about the environmental care taken for Lithium. These batteries are new, and the sustainability number is still unclear. (source )
LFP battery maintenance 1 minute per 3 months
The traction lead acid batteries are always open batteries, you need to add demineralized water on a regular base. The batteries need to be equalized, to keep them in good shape, every 3 months, you have some hours of work on it. Nothing compared to a diesel of petrol engine, but still.
LiFePO4 batteries have a Battery Management System taking care of all this. No refills, nothing. The only thing you do is take one minute every 3 months to push the plug of the charger into an 230 Volt outlet. The battery bank will be charged to 99%, and in the last percent the BMS will run a balancing routine. This balancing keeps them all on the same voltage level, so you don’t have the risk of overcharging or discharging one too much.
GRAPH PLUG IN OUTLET
Once in a quarter you put the charger plug in an outlet and the BMS will top up the bank and balance all cells. That’s it.
Durability
The durability of a battery means how long it lasts as an electricity storage. By using it, a battery loses a bit of its storage capacity. At the end of its life, it will use more and more electricity by itself.
The best condition for a lead acid battery (all types: traction, AGM or gel) is to keep it full, on 100%. They last long if you start an engine with it, and immediately charge it back to 100%. Like with cars. That way, the battery can even last for over 10 years.
The worst thing is, to empty it. That shortens its life dramatically. Deep cycles will also shorten the life a lot.
But its life also shortens when it is used just a bit all the time and it (hardly) ever is on its 100%.
Actually, the best is not to use a lead acid battery, or short, or sporadic.
On the Ya we oversized our battery bank in the first place, hence we prevent real deep cycles, so giving it the chance for a longer life. But, the inherent problem on Ya is that the lead acid bank was seldom fully charged, as it is the energy buffer. The meter generally showed a percentage between 60 to 90%. So, we committed a continuous light ‘abuse’ to the battery bank.
And we noticed this. Over the years, the batteries contained less and less energy. It was going down faster each year. In the seventh year, the battery bank contained effectively about 25-30 kWh instead of the original 55 kWh. It was still enough for getting us comfortably to Portugal and Spain, but we considered renewing them, because this deterioration process goes faster and faster.
Then we checked the LiFePO4 batteries, and we saw two interesting properties:
Lithium Ferro Phosphate likes to be not full. Then they will last longer. Just what we want.
The estimated life is generally accepted for 10 years and they would then contain 80% of their storage capacity. And from then the storage capacity will lower in a curve, just like lead acid does, and it is widely agreed that at 20 years your LFP battery should be considered dead. Like our lead acid batteries in 7 years.
The storage capacity of our Lead Acid batteries decreases basically a curve. In year 7 we had effectively 20-25 kWh. Still enough for us, but time for a change. LFP is generally accepted as much more durable. The estimation is that the storage capacity loss would show in a comparable curve, but more stretched.
Conclusion
We thought first that LFP batteries were way to expensive. But:
The storage efficiency is 95%, versus the 70% of the lead acid. And you can discharge them till there is 10% left so an extra 10%, compared to the 20% of lead acid.
They are lighter, smaller, inherently safer, and the environmental damage appears to be lower.
The durability is roughly two times longer.
This 35% better storage efficiency means: you need 35% less battery capacity than for lead acid.
The double number on durability means that the price per year would be lower.
So, is Lithium Ferro Phosphate really so much more expensive? All together, we were tempted to check the prices.
Next week we show the result in a sort of business case.
We met Matteo and Corinne in the laundry of Puerto Calero, Lanzarote.
“Are you the sailors from that electric boat?” “Yes, Peter did a fossil free circumnavigation from 2016 to 2018.” “Really? Matteo did a fossilfree circumnavigation in 2014!”
Wauw! This is an incredible coincidence that we now meet. That night, we ate Corinne’s splendid melanzane alla parmigiana, with tuna caught by Matteo. The video of Matteo’s circumnavigation made Peter and Matteo exchange their experiences.
Matteo departs from Rome and starts his fossil free, solo, self-sufficient circumnavigation. Zero stops, passing Cape Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn. Watch the impressive video.
The similarities are striking.
Because of the language barrier, both sailors did not know of each other’s existence nor of the similar project they were working on. In both cases, a team of volunteers helped them. A true belief in the power of sailing fossil free and the passion for sailing connects them. Also, the hands-on mentality and the desire to shape their own ocean-worthy dream-ship. Both want to show to the world that it is possible to sail fossil free, even the complete world around. Both have written good books on sailing, in their native language. And for both, good food on board is one of the essences of sailing.
Now for the differences: Matteo built a racer that enabled him to sail around the world solo, completely autonomous and fossil free in 5 months. On board were 2 hens for eggs, fishing gear and his own ‘farm’ for growing vegetables.
Matteo took the route of the maximum wind speeds, avoiding populated areas.
Matteo sailing just north of the Southern Ice Sea, with his fast Eco40 nearly flying over the waves, always sailing with the strong, sometimes storm winds. Meanwhile, one of Matteo’s hens lays an egg (source: video Matteo Marceli)Growing vegetables on board of Eco40 (source: video Matteo Marceli).
Peter built a yacht that enabled him to sail around the world fossil free in a leisure cruiser, with guests, in 14 months. A comfortable life on board for Peter and his guests was possible.
Ya: fossilfree around the world, the so called ‘trade wind route’ with all guests taking part in it.
He took the route of the trade winds. Nevertheless there was the challenge to include a passage through the doldrums, which would normally require, according to the sea man’s books, to ‘take as much diesel as you can”. Which he did not, of course.
On board of Ya, Peter and Matteo exchange the books they wrote.
We are very happy to have met our fossil free fellows Matteo and Corinne and we hope the community of fossil free sailors will grow!
You have a reaction? Please mail info@fossilfreearoundtheworld.org
Porto Santo has a pleasant temperature all year round, there is hardly any rain and the soil is rich in minerals, good for your health. So, except for one air-force base, its main source of income comes from tourism, in the form of buggy power! It comes with nice buggies to rent now. And, with a ‘buggy’factory for a green future.
Effective advertising for Porto Santo Tours on a wall near the beach
Citybubbles are also buggies
The owner of Citybubbles understood what this kind of tourists wants: sustainable transportation.
The proud owner of the ‘Bubbles’ electric cars in Madeira and Porto Santo with one of his cars. And, the electric kick scooter he uses to commute to and from the harbour.
In 2012, when Peter started building “Ya”, the owner of ‘Bubbles’ started renting out small and light, 100% electric, cars in Porto Santo. Buggies. When you rent the car, it comes with an application that includes detailed maps of the island.
Fossilfree sightseeing and shopping in Porto Santo The cars have a capacity for two passengers. And some shopping 😉
The buggy has a range of 60 km, and a top speed of 90km/h. You will need neither the full range, nor the top speed because the island is small and you enjoy it more on a slower speed. But, just to be on the safe side, you can charge your car in lots of (often beautiful) places.
One of the most beautiful places on Porto Santo is the South point, with the rough rocks; the loading station for ‘Bubbles’ is very elegantly tucked away.
Buggypower!
And then, we came across lots and lots of buggies. Buggypower!
You see, the algae plant near the marina appears to be the largest closed-circuit production facility of micro-algae in Europe. They build CO2 capture units. And, they harvest the algae and produce algae-products as a basis for food, feed and cosmetics.
Just a glimpse of the bubbles in the beginning of the process, before the tube turns greener and greenerThe big buggy plant near the Marina on Porto Santo, On the left side you see the different shades of green, meaning the different growing stages.
We already wrote about the CO2-capturing potential of micro-algae. It’s amazing what those buggies can do!
In the last blogs on ‘use only what you need’, on the basics of fossilfree sailing, on cooking, sailing, and on the human factor, we showed how we use only what we need, and how you can do that. It saves about 70 or 80%. Yes, that much! So, we use only little.
Now that the consumption is so little, we can generate our own energy. On our ship we use the three general ways to generate it: solar, wind and hydro energy. This ‘tripod’ gives us the stable energy input we need to stay in balance. Check our Energy Balance, our basis on board. We have never had a shortage. Although it was sometimes not much.
All devices are quality stuff, but not fancy; it is all just ‘from the shelf’.
You can do the same.
Here we can use all three sorts of generation: a bit of solar on the panels, a little bit of wind in the turbine, and -although the wind is light, with the Parasailor www.parasailor.com we can easily make the necessary speed to make the Autoprops run the electric alternators (“dynamos”) and hydro generate.
Solar panels
Instead of a canvas bimini top, we made a fixed one and covered it with solar panels. In the 4 or 5 hours that the sun shines well in a cloudless sky, they deliver about 30% of their rated peak energy, and when it is cold, they can do 40%. This is pretty good. These ones are thin, so the wind can keep them cool, which is the prerequisite for an effective working solar panel.
The deck panels are mounted on the deck, which is also insulated. So, in the tropics these ones work badly, in the subtropics reasonably. In the higher latitudes, they stay cool and they do just as well as the panels on the bimini top.
Behind the windows we put some flexible panels. Flexible panels deliver relatively poor, But, they do better than expected, because they get the solar radiation also from the reflecting water. That counts double.
The bimini protects you from the sun, while it delivers energy. The deck panels are walkable, but deliver less in hot weather because they don’t stay cool.
All details and numbers you find here including their contribution to our Energy Balance
Wind turbine
Any wind turbine works only with enough wind. There is one place where there is most wind, and that is high, in an undisturbed area. Our windmill is put on the mizzen mast, on 7 meters high. It should at least be over 5 meters, do no spend money on a windmill put on a pole of 3 or 4 meters.
Most efficient is a three-blade turbine. All A-brands have these mills.
We chose for the Silentwind, because it combines a light weight with a high yield. The MPPT (the converter box, with the vulnerable electronics) is not in the turbine but you can put it in a dry area. The device has a ‘light wind booster’ in it, so even in light winds it can take some energy out of it.
If mounted high, at least over 5 meter, the windturbine is effective
All details and numbers you find here including their contribution to our Energy Balance. An article comparing three windturbines, you find here.
Hydro generation: Autoprops and alternators
We use the most efficient Autoprops https://www.bruntonspropellers.com/autoprop/ as propellers. They are connected to E-tech www.etechdrives.com electric motors. They give us propulsion. But if the sails give us the speed, we switch a button to ‘Charge’ and the motors turn into alternators. The Autoprops will rotate in the water (like the windmill in the wind) and will run the alternators, making the energy to put in the battery bank.
The Autoprop (left) here seen from astern (‘behind’) in feathering position, and the blades change themselves in the most efficient pitch (angle), depending on rotation and boat speed, to drive the motor (right), switched to the alternator function and generate the maximum power into the battery bank.
All details and numbers you find here, including their contribution to our Energy Balance.
Battery bank
The Ya has had a conventional battery bank. It could contain 55 kWh (kiloWatthour). That is what an average Euopean family uses per week. After 7 years the bank was worn out. The energy content had reduced to only 30 kWh. Still this was enough, because we only just use what we need. But it was time to renew them.
We renewed them for a Lithium Ferro Phospate bank, or LFP. These are like the light and modern batteries used in electric cars, but then then in a safe, not inflammable version. The batteries are better controlled than lead acid ones, they last two times longer and the maintenance is nothing more then plugging it in a 220Volt outlet every three months.
The big (red) battery is one of the 24 lead acid batteries we had. It weighs 60 kilos. The small battery is one of the 48 new LFP batteries we have and weighs only 4 kilos. Two of these small ones have nearly the same energy as one big one. This saves weight and volume. And they last about 2 times longer.
The energy content is 42 kWh nominal, so 33 kWh effectively. In the 4 months of use it has never been empty because of 4 reasons:
the properties of the batteries are more efficient
All guests on board of Ya automatically start living and acting using less energy. Regardless of age or background. Of course, Ya’s design and devices like the watercooker make it easy. But, in two or three days, the guests start living and acting in a more sustainable way, without having been told. They only use what they need. A miracle? All pre-biased?
Here we explain how people, like you, can change.
All guests on board ‘Ya’, from the age of 14 to 79, change and start using only the energy they need.
Much rewards mixed with a little threat
If you cook water for tea on board ‘Ya’, the electrical cooker cooks it within a minute. A kettle on a gas stove would take 3 to 4 times longer. And, the electrical cooker doesn’t heat the cabin with lots of steam finding its way to your ceiling and your bed linen. So, this is rewarding.
The same reward you get when using the induction cooker. It is straight forward: the energy goes only to the cooking, safely, without hindering side effects. The haybox gets a pan out of the way and makes cooking more relaxed.
Using the well-insulated fridge and freezer, all the same. Of course you always close the lid after opening it. The fridge works without the disadvantages that most yachts experience because of bad insulation. So, the diesel engine has to run for an hour to refill the batteries, sucked empty by these fridges. Not on Ya.
When we use the engine for propulsion, the electric engine gives no noise, no fumes, it is all peace and quiet.
Cooking on board with a micro wave, water cooker, bread baker, fridge and freezer, no heat or moisture as side effects, and all safe – this pays off. The condition is to only use what you need.
Who would not appreciate all this positive impact? The funny thing is: if your environment is rewarding and positive, you want to keep it this way. So, people get interested.
And, knowing that we regenerate all energy ourselves by solar, wind and hydro, people want to know how much the equipment takes on energy. Because you don’t want to lose, you want the energy to stay in balance. The idea of an empty battery bank -although never happened in Ya’s seven years existence- creates a threat that keeps you away from this downside.
The display and us
You start a car and you watch the display. You make speed, you check the display. In winter at home, when you feel chilled, you check the temperature display. On a building you see a display with the time you already know, and the temperature you already know. Why do we watch? Because you want to be sure. And because there might be changes, and you want to know all about it. So, a display attracts our attention.
In most yachts, the energy displays are put away in the ‘Engineering Corner’. Often they show abracadabra like ‘Ah’ or ‘Amp’, with numbers in a small print.
Lucky us: we have one with the W of Watt and everybody knows that a 10 W light bulb uses 10 Watt power. And the numbers are in big print. We mounted the display on a central place in the cabin, visible from all seats and corners.
The display has a central place, like the clock in the old-fashioned house, so everyone sees it.
Do you want to see for yourself how this works? We put together different screenshots that make clear how much energy we use and get in which situations.
The percentage number shows the energy content, how full the battery bank is. With one finger tap the display changes to the mode where you can see the Watts coming in or out (here: 359 Watt, left under)At night on anchor, and no wind, we lose a bit. But even on a cloudy day you get 120-150Watt.The average is about 300Watt. With a good sun at noon, the panels charge over 400WattAnd 100 Watt more when the wind generator running in a moderate wind. And when we switch on the propellers and alternator at a 5 knot speed, we easily get 150 Watt extra.The water cooker takes about 2 kWatt for 1-2 minutes and the other cooking devices can vary from 200 W to 3,5 kWattMotoring 3 knots in a calm takes 500 Watt, but in wind and sea against you, much more.Leaving the dock, you give the engines a blow to get speed. The engines can take up to 15 kW.
Once a new guest just switched on the water cooker and she asked: “Peter, kW, that means kilowatt, doesn’t it?” Because she was surprised that a water cooker used so much. She always thought that the lights were the big users. She learned that on the energy for one pot of tea, you can switch on all LED lights on board the Ya for one week.
Our guest Marijke is on board for one day now and starts spontaneously checking the energy use and generation numbers.
Seeing is believing, awareness is change
If you use only what you need, you will find that the batteries are always at an acceptable level. Or even better: if you take good care of your energy generation, you get rewarded by more energy. When you sail in light winds, you can hoist the Parasailor and start generating with the Autoprops. If you are on anchor and you make sure your solar panels are not shadowed, this makes a huge difference. These actions make you feel safe, you can rely on your energy-balance.
Your display can also work at home
Your energy display at home is put in a closet, often even without a decent door knob, so you only look at that meter incidentally. At the end of the year you get a bill from the supplier and then you think: “Now really, this year I want to use less.’ But again, a year later… the supplier has sent another bill and he is the only laughing one.
Our friends got solar panels. They then asked the company to put the display outside the meter closet. Every time they were near, they read the display. What comes in, what goes out. They learned to interpret it. A sunny day, was a good day. When her son came home from school, he could see that Mum had a cake in the oven before he could even smell it. The family talked about what costs energy and what saves energy. You know what happened with the use? They used 40% less since then.
So, if you want to save money, and some of the environment for your children, mount a display where you can see it!
On the last use-only-what-you-need-cooking blog, we got various reactions, and all good. So, are you ready for the big one? Sailing. With sails, not on the engine. If you only use the engine when you need it, the pay off is great in the experience on comfort, safety, sailing pleasure and experiencing nature. The key to most of it is the planning, so about good weather forecasts.
Do you know yachties who like motoring? I don’t. Because the real fun of sailing lies in … sailing with the sails. (Photo: Vernoo Media)
Planning according to the weather forecast
30 years ago, a weather forecast could be: “During the day the wind will be South west to North West 2 to 3 Beaufort, in open area up to 4 or 5 and in showers 6 Beaufort” So basically, you didn’t know more than that the wind could be Westerly, between 2 to 6 Beaufort. So you hardly planned for the weather, you just decided on the day itself.
Nowadays we have great weather forecasts, in with wind angles per degree, and speeds in knots or m/s. All this with great accuracy over 5 days ahead. We take profit of that bij planning our voyage. When we make trip for a weekend, we decide about our routing depending the forecast. Never more the wind against you!
But still we meet sailors making appointments first and afterwards checking the weather. Once we heard a story of people sailing an 8 days round trip. They constantly motored, 5 knots for 600 miles, beating against waves and winds – and actually could set sails for a mere 100 miles. Terrible. Their appointments happened to be made contrary with the weather. This is not only a waste of fossil fuel, money and CO2, but also bad for your health, your precise leisure time, and the extra CO2 is bad for your childrens future.
Before we sail a trip, big or small, we plan it and check the weather. It saves an enormous amount of engine hours, energy. And setting sails gives us pleasure, motoring not.
With the use of a weather forecast instead of the diesel engine, they would have sailed the other way around would have led to a joyful trip with only 100 miles motorsailing and 700 miles of sheer sailing pleasure.
So do use the engines only when you need it. It gives sailing pleasure in stead of banging your boat into waves and wind.
A modern yacht
The Ya is a modern yacht. She is not heavy, and you can feel her sailing. This makes the sailing fun. Especially with light winds we enjoy sailing in all its subtleties. And then we are surprised to see so many modern yachts going on the engine., even with 5 knots of speed. That’s a pity, they miss the best part! Perhaps they like the motoring? Well, then buy a motor yacht.
And in heavy weather, if you use the engine instead of sails, you miss the safe part. Because a sailing yacht is designed and built for sailing, and not for heavy engine use.
So, on our modern yacht, we use the engine only when we need it. And we get more sailing pleasure out of that.
“When necessary”, and reliability
Many skippers tell me they want the engine to be there ‘when necessary’ and often they mean: to resist a storm. From the shore point of view this sounds reasonable. But sorry, in the four occasions I was in a storm, the diesel engine let us down three times. Once it was the sludge from the tank, stirred into the diesel by the pounding waves, blocking the fuel filters. Once it was sea water splashed through the exhaust pipe into the engine and stopped the engine, and once it was some wet or broken electronics on the engine. On these occasions, it was the reefed sails that helped us out and brought us to safety.
Only the fourth time, it was in Force 9 on an old-fashioned sailing lugger, we sometimes ran the old engine for comfort purposes. But on board was a dedicated engineer for the maintenance. But, also in this case, we relied on the sails to get us home safely.
A marinized engine is a beautiful piece of technique, but all thousands of parts are vulnerable to moist, salt, temperature differences, and (the main cause) a lack of the so necessary maintenance to keep it all running.
Realize that you need to know an awful lot of a diesel engine before you can oversee what can be the cause of a defect. And, even of more value: how you can prevent defects. If you are a yacht skipper and you are not a yacht engineer yourself, please do not count on the engine, especially not the complex, computerized engines. Focus on your sails and your sailing for reliability. And, with a wink: also don’t use more sails than you need.
So, we sail, also in heavy weather. Perhaps we will use our electric engines as auxiliary in a storm. To give a little bit of extra propulsion and make our leeway smaller. The chance that electric engines will work in stormy circumstances is much bigger, because:
Salt, water or moisture don’t affect the watertight engines and controllers
They are not sensitive to moving and shaking
There are hardly moving parts (only a rotor and shaft)
In general, they are maintenance free.
Electric engines and controllers are closed and free of moist, saltwater, oil. The mean time between failure is large and the maintenance is many times smaller than for a combustion engine.
“Range”
Often yacht skippers ask for the range on the engine, with of our battery bank, our ‘fuel tank’. Their yacht has a 200 litres diesel tank and they can sail 300 miles with it. They say. But they never tested it, so I think in the first storm it will stop within 3 miles. They had better set sails.
And honestly, I don’t know what our “range” is. Our Fibercon sails already did 40,000 nautical miles. O, you mean the engines? We never did, but we can use the engines for 2 days on 2 knots on a flat sea, so that would be 100 miles. So we can reach any wind still harbour or bay. But we like sailing. Even with a tiny bit of wind, we can motor sail endlessly with a little bit of power, as long as we have a little bit of sun in the solar panels to feed the engines. We love it and a guest once called it ‘sun sailing’. You feel with your ship a part in balance with nature.
We have another view on the “range”. Last week, on our trip to Madeira we sailed for two days with 25 knots of wind (6 Beaufort) and the only thing we did with our motors was to use them as alternators. So, to fill our battery bank, our ‘fuel tank’. We arrived 100% full. We are quite happy with this range. 😉
Manoeuvring
We intend to use our two engines to manoeuvre us from a harbour straight towards the sailing area. Marinas are designed very space efficient; manoeuvring your yacht on sails into or out of a box is virtually impossible. But when out of the marina, we hoist a sail.
When we go anchor up and we have some space, we enjoy to manoeuvre ourselves out sailing. The engines are stand by (electric engines are always stand by, come to think of it), and sometimes we use them for some seconds. And this feels a bit like a loss, because we like the sailing.
A marina is planned and designed to berth as many boats as possible. An engine is obligatory, sailing is often forbidden
River sailing; 2 knots through the water is our leisure speed
Sometimes when we are inshore and we want to travel further on a river with no wind or against us, we use the engines. We sail with the tide then, and make about 2 knots through the water. Why 2 knots?
First, we go with the tide, so the current adds it up to 3 or 4 knots. Second, we don’t want to make miles, there is no target. And if so, we are there already: on our yacht on a river, enjoying, sight-seeing, exploring, discovering.
Third reason is that we don’t hear our silent engines at all anymore. Ever sailed on a river in complete silence, with just the sound of a bird, a bee, a fly? Last reason is that we want to make sure we always have enough energy left for the unexpected. Like we do with our water, our food, everything. And just for the sheer beauty of physics: did you know that doubling your speed means you use a staggering 2 X 2 X 2 times, is 8 times more energy?
Main thing is the philosophy: we only want to use what we need. So, this is about getting more; not about ‘using less’. We experience nature more and we feel in balance with our environment.
Sailing a river slowly with the tide current, and without hearing the engine and in complete silence. It is one of our precious experiences that we get extra, when we use only what we need.
