
A futuristic, solar-powered yacht which can cruise the globe without stopping to refuel has been unveiled by its Swiss designers. The electric SolarImpact yacht is longer than a blue whale and topped with enough solar panels to cover a regulation-size tennis court. The boat sleeps ten people, on top of accommodation for the small crew, and is loaded with artificial intelligence that allows it to be driven by a single person.





A team of British engineers on Monday released designs for a £40 million ($52 million) eco-yacht that collects plastic from the ocean and recycles it. The 'Ocean Saviour' is designed to scoop up a staggering five tonnes of plastic pollution each day and will become the first vessel ever to power itself by recycling ocean waste into fuel. Plastic will be chopped finely, milled and processed through onboard machinery which will destroy it completely with minimal atmospheric pollution.

Described as 'the combine harvester of the seas', it has been designed with two booms on either side of the 70 metre-long (230ft) vessel which will funnel floating pollution into a conveyor. The pioneering plans, revealed today at Southampton Boat Show, lay out how this will then bring the ocean waste onboard the Ocean Saviour, where it will be recycled using a high tech process. The finely-chopped product will then be used to fuel the vessel, meaning it can power itself for months on end. Richard Roberts, of Southampton-based TheYachtMarket, is the project's co-founder and said he was inspired to create the ship after watching Blue Planet.

He said the show's shocking portrayal of waste in the oceans encouraged him 'to do something practical' about the problem.' It's staggering to think there is currently over five trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean which is having a hugely detrimental impact on our ecosystem and the ocean's biodiversity,' he said.' It's essential we remove plastic before it breaks down into microplastics and, through Ocean Saviour, we aim to help eradicate the ocean of this problem.' They should be going up and down our coastlines all the time - they could be the combine harvesters of the seas.'