We met fossil free fellows.
You build a large catamaran, you make a great and well thought technical system in it, including an efficient energy consumption, and then you discover you can live fossil free!
That is what Adrien did.
Adrien and Thelma built a 15-meter catamaran, they sailed her to the Mediterranean from Iceland, where their son was born. Then they bought a piece of land along the river Guadiana. This is when we met them.
On the outside you can see this 15 m catamaran is designed and built to sail. Adrien tells: “we have built her light but very strong (thanks to the sandwich material and simplicity inside) and sailing with her is just…” – Adrien’s eyes start rolling in his head as he tries to find the best word and then shouts in French: “…Formidable!”.
Thelma is perhaps not such an enthusiastic sailor, but she likes the life around it. The freedom, always your home with you, with your own comfort, your own space. Space?
There is so much space, you could organize a table tennis tournament in their saloon. And there are also 2 spacious bedrooms in each hull.
The development of the energy system
Adrien and Thelma built the ship in Iceland. We all know, it is cold up there. If you start thinking about energy systems in such a place, you think fossil, without doubt.
So did Adrien. He made a complete central heating system in the ship. He installed a water heater on propane gas. Very efficiently, he even wanted the hot air from the heating system to flow along the exhaust pipe to get back the wasted energy.
He wanted to make his own water. He found out that the little water makers are expensive and the industrial ones are cheap, especially in maintenance. But these big things need a lot of power. So, he uses the boat’s diesel engines to get this job done. And the engines can also propel the boat.
The electrical system is all 24 Volt. So, all wiring can be rather thin. He took a LiFePO4 battery bank, so there is nearly no inefficiency in storing.
All lighting is LED.
He wanted a big fridge and a big freezer. Everybody who has been on the ‘Ya’ knows what Adrien also knew: on cooling (and heating) three things are important:
- Insulation
- Insulation
- Insulation
So, he insulated the refrigerator well and the freezer very well. They hardly take energy compared to all manufactured fridges and freezers, which are still very poorly insulated.
Growing to fossil freedom
Now the Kata Lind lies anchored: not in Iceland, but in the Algarve. With the solar panels to the south and a good wind turbine.
They bought an induction cooker, to replace the gas cooker. No problem for the batteries, plenty energy left.
Adrien is an engineer in automatization and when you come aboard you can see he loves his job. So, he uses nearly 1 square meter on clocks and meters and so on, including an autopilot for further development. No problem for the batteries.
Their household is running on 6 to 7 m2 solar panels, flat on deck and standing, next to the windows. On a good sunny day, they can deliver up to 8 kWh or energy. You can consume the world with it! When the weather is bad, there is a good wind turbine to get the energy.
Energy for the irrigation
They have a piece of land here and it needs to be irrigated in the dry and hot summer period. So, there is a strong pump, delivering some cubic meter of water. In the sunny weather the solar panels always deliver enough energy to keep the pump running.
The land will deliver their own vegetables, oranges, avocados and all. The freshest, and without any transport. This is the ultimate fossil free consumption.