Bicycling gets its due respect for being the greenest way to travel on land, but for long distances -- and we mean really long distances -- sailing is the way to go. Assuming your current location and your destination are connected by a body of water, then hoisting the mainsail and heading for the horizon is one super energy-efficient way to get from Point A to Point B, and when you factor in the green technology on these sailboats, it's even more sustainable.
The Volitan
The designers behind The Volitan -- Hakan Gursu and Sozum Dogan -- were hoping for a luxury yacht with a minimum of environmentally impact. And the concept boat they came up with is 105 feet long, made from carbon fiber and epoxy resin, and fitted with two solar panel-fitted sails that capture wind and solar energy. Photo via Popular Science.
The Volitan isn't readily available yet, but this breakdown of the design shows how it would all come together. As the designers explained in a TreeHugger post in 2007, "The objective was to create a new and alternative sailing vessel that would achieve a lightweight system, high sail performance, and all-weather navigation capacity with near zero emissions."
The Plastiki
TreeHugger kept tabs on The Plastiki for over a year before the ship set sail. The brainchild of David de Rothschild, the finished product is made from more than 12,000 plastic bottles (which are, at least, appropriately buoyant) and uses a recycled PET sail to catch the wind. Currently, the ship is traveling from San Francisco to Sydney to call attention to plastic pollution.
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