Blue Goes Green - Ft Lauderdale Intern'l Boat Show

by Event Media on 25 Oct 2007 With today’s heightened awareness of environmental factors, more and more boaters are looking for ways to keep waters clean and preserve the marine ecosystem. Always on the cutting edge of new advances, the 48th Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, October 25 - 29, 2007, will feature companies producing environmentally friendly – a.k.a. 'green products' – and employing environmentally conscious business practices, proving that it is easy being 'green.'

Viking Marine Group – Believing in 'Green' building
In pursuing a less expensive and renewable energy source, Viking Marine Group – builders of luxury sportfishers and yachts – is taking the lead for more Earth-conscious boat building. Viking has proposed constructing a wind turbine capable of generating enough electricity to run the entire 600,000 square-foot production plant and adjacent Yachting Center in New Gretna, New Jersey more cleanly and cost-effectively. It is an environmentally friendly source that has the added benefit of net metering – a process where energy created during off hours will reverse the meter and return energy produced from the wind turbine back to the grid, ensuring no excess or wasted energy during non-operational off hours. Combined with their current practice of building resin-infused boats (as opposed to more toxic hand-laid fiberglass boats), and with their new Waste Treatment Plant which filters 70% of all water used at the plant so it can be recycled as non-potable reusable water, Viking is taking the lead in more Earth-conscious boat building.

The same philosophy holds for Vikings’ boatyard facilities. Most recently, the Florida Department Environmental Protection along with the Clean Boating Partnership designated Viking Yacht’s service facility in Riviera Beach, Fla. as a 'Clean Boatyard.' A boatyard qualifies for the program by developing emergency spill plans, employee training programs and chemical management procedures to prevent damage to the environment. Viking reports that this is the first boatyard in Palm Beach County to receive this designation.

Trinity Yachts – Helping monitor and restore ecosystems
As one of the world’s elite builders of custom superyachts, Trinity Yachts, LLC, based out of Gulfport, Miss., has adopted a program to encourage owners of new Trinity yachts to help the environment by electing to install a SeaKeeper 1000™ system aboard. The SeaKeeper 1000™ monitoring system – which won the prestigious Tech Museum Intel Award for 'International Environmental Technology Benefiting Humanity' – takes precise oceanographic (salinity, sea-surface temperature, pH) and meteorological (air temperature, wind speed/direction, barometer)measurements every minute, and then sends its collected data automatically to the world via satellite. Scientists and global research managers are given access to crucial data in a timely manner so they can understand causes and solutions to our deteriorating marine ecosystems. Trinity has agreed to donate the fabrication and installation of the structural foundation, including the through-hull fittings, to allow SeaKeeper 1000TM oceanographic and atmospheric monitoring systems to be installed on their new builds at no additional charge and with no additional alterations to the hull or superstructure.

Trinity has also signed on two new builds with Planktos.com, an ecorestoration company whose primary focus is to restore damaged habitats in the ocean and on land. Through iron-simulated plankton blooms in the ocean, Planktos is able to generate carbon credits to offset the carbon created during boat building. Carbon credits provide a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by giving them a monetary value. A credit gives the owner the right to emit one ton (2,000 lbs.) of carbon dioxide, which in turn provides Planktos with funding to help restore ocean ecosystems by planting plankton blooms that capture global warming CO2 gasses and replenishes the base of the food chain.

Lürssen Yachts: Kyoto Agreement factors into air
German superyacht builder Lürssen Yachts completed a new build project in direct response to the Kyoto Agreement. The owner of the tri-deck yacht Air wanted the yacht to be as clean and environmentally friendly as possible. Very low emissions, low vibrations and low sound levels were some of the demands that needed to be achieved. For this reason she was fitted with eight diesel generators, which supply the required power for both the accommodations load and propulsion. These engines – mounted in pairs on elastically mounted rafts in four separate rooms – feed power through a power management system to two electrical motors which are housed in two Azipod propulsion units hanging under the stern. There are eight exhaust funnels, which allow each generator to exhaust through a state-of-the-art soot filtration system out of its own separate stack. The overall result is a vibration-free environment that yields less fuel emissions and noise pollution.

Air is the first yacht in the world to be delivered fitted with Azipods -- marine propulsion units designed by ABB Group consisting of electrically driven propellers mounted on a steerable pod. Because the pod's propeller usually faces forward and is directly connected to the motor shaft, eliminating the need for a gearbox, this propeller system achieves greater efficiency than ever before.

Honda Marine – Green factory & dealers
Honda Marine was ahead of its time with the introduction of the world’s first 4-stroke engine in 1964. Cleaner and cooler running than 2-stroke engines, Honda’s 4-stroke outboard engines (now standard on their entire product line), improve fuel efficiency and help to reduce emissions. All models currently in production have secured a 3-Star rating for meeting the rigorous California Air Resource Board’s (CARB) standards for 2008, which means they will meet regulations in all 50 states.
Besides the development of cleaner products, the foundation of the company’s eco-friendly manufacturing practices is their 'Green Factory' planning concept. Launched in 1998, it looks to minimize emissions and waste from the factory and reduce the burden on the environment at every stage in Honda’s product cycle – from research and development to manufacturing, usage and disposal. Honda also launched its Green Dealerships program in Japan, which positions dealers to earn ISO14001 certification based on environmentally responsible disposal of used cars, improved energy efficiency, and other measures.

Green products to help us do our part
Once a vessel is manufactured and sold, it is up to you – the boater – to do your part to keep the waterways of the world clean. Below are highlights of some of the 'green' products that will help you, your boat, and the environment.

Quality Boat Lifts, Inc.: Solar powered boat lifts
Quality Boat Lifts, Inc. is an industry innovator with three solar-/battery-powered boatlifts – an environmentally friendly alternative and ideal solution for boat lifting when shore power is not an option. The Nel-Sun Float Lift® is a flexible and moveable floating dock with a built-in boatlift. Easily installed and removed, it is contractor decked to match any environment, has adjustable up and lower stops. The Speedlift® is beamless, three times faster than most boatlifts, and generally maintenance-free. While the Alum A Vator® design incorporates a chain, as opposed to gear teeth, to absorb the high torque loads experienced during lifting. Exhibitor: Quality Boat Lifts, Inc.; Location: Bahia Mar / On-Land; #178-179

General Ecology Inc.: Chemical-free water purifier
Water from storage tanks often has foul tastes and odors that develop because the tanks provide an almost ideal environment for growth of bacteria and other microorganisms. This same water, when purified by General Ecology’s Seagull IV point-of-use water purifier becomes not safe to consume. Sea