To get a handle on your environmental impact, start with these practical tips:

• Catalog your energy outflows. The biggest contributor to environmental damage is the use of energy. Your boat runs on fuel, and that fuel gives off pollutants when it burns. Create a list of the specific types of activities and components of your boating endeavors that use power. You’ll find some of those power uses are discretionary, and some are constant and necessary. Beginning to understand the difference between your wants and your needs is the first step in conservation, not only on your boat but in your home and in your car as well.
• Consider green usage alternatives. Take the refrigerator, for example. If you’re a casual boater who goes out for a few hours at a time, you can do with a simple cooler to keep your beverages cold. You might even consider going without refrigeration altogether, and write it off as an unnecessary luxury. Alternatively, you could look into the Isotherm DC electric refrigeration system. The idea behind this system is that it’s more efficient to keep the “cold” stored when more electrical energy is available. It uses voltage sensing units to maximize battery usage for your boat’s refrigerator.
• Look at the big picture in lighting. Yes, the trend is toward using more energy efficient light bulbs, and that’s a good start. Still, you need to think about how all of the lighting in your boat is configured. A single light in the right location is better than three lights in the wrong spots. You can even consider an oil lamp for mood lighting – just be careful, as you don’t want to wind up filing a boat insurance claim when a lamp tips over and sets fire to your boat.
• Look into alternative energy sources, too. Putting a few solar panels on your boat can create plenty of power for your boat’s batteries, and will probably take in more power than your boat can even use during those toasty summer days.

Photo via Orangeadnan

The Nemo H2

The boat, which emits only water vapor, runs on fuel cell technology. This boat, named the “Nemo H2,” is the first fuel cell canal boat in existence. This boat’s fuel cells mix hydrogen and oxygen in order to create the electricity that powers the boat. The water vapor emitted by the boat is a byproduct of the reaction that creates electricity.

The Nemo H2 emits no air-polluting gases. This is a significant step in the right direction. Amsterdam’s centuries old canal network is a popular tourist attraction, and on any given day there are around 125 or more canal trips. A typical boat trip travels around the concentric semi-circles in Amsterdam, and creates a significant amount of pollution.

The Cost of Clean Boating

This new technology comes at a price, of course. The new type of boat costs as much as twice to build as a regular canal boat. A typical canal boat runs on a diesel engine, and requires the use of petroleum to keep it going. The Nemo H2 needs to be filled up daily at a hydrogen refill dispensing station, while a typical boat only has to be refueled about once a week, too. Boat insurance on this type of boat could be more costly, as well, given the fact that there is so much more capital involved in their construction.

Some of those costs are passed on to the consumers. Visitors can take a “CO2 Zero Canal Cruise,” in which the price includes a surcharge of .50 euro. This surcharge goes toward advancing research into technologies that will reduce carbon emissions, particularly on these canal boats.

Development of this project ran around 3 million euro. In part, the project was funded by the government. As more and more boats adapt the fuel cell technology, and as more advanced systems and infrastructure for the distribution of hydrogen grow, costs will naturally decline.

While the project is very new and extremely limited in its scope, the results are promising. You can’t help but think about what this kind of clean technology could do in a city like Venice, where canal boat trips far dwarf those in Amsterdam, or on inland lakes featuring pleasure watercraft around the globe