Solar boat to sail on Ganga to boost trust in clean energy

Kolkata, October 29

An international team of a journalist and a filmmaker will set sail down the Ganga in a solar-powered boat to bolster public trust in clean energy using environment-friendly transport.

The team of American journalist, traveller and adventurer Thomas Tomczyk and Guatemalan filmmaker Ana Cosenza will aim for a world record for the longest solar boat travel down a river.

Tomczyk and Cosenza will sail down from Rishikesh in Uttarakhand to Sagar Island in the Bay of Bengal. “We are travelling on a solar-powered boat from Rishikesh to Sagar Island in the Bay of Bengal. As far as we know, this is going to be the first solar boat to travel down the length,” Tomczyk told IANS from Delhi ahead of their trip that begins next week. ”It will establish a world record for the longest solar boat down any river. Along the journey, we will film a six-part travel documentary series for an American television,” Tomczyk said.

During their six to eight week sojourn, Cosenza and Tomczyk will stop in many towns and cities along the riverbank to film the documentary “Electric River Odyssey”.

The duo said although the alternative energy solutions were already available, people still referred to it as “technology of the future”. “We chose to use a solar boat because we believe that clean energy and self-sufficiency are very important,” Cosenza said.

However, she said, “Somehow people still have little trust in the technology and refer to it as the technology of the future even though it is already available. We want to prove that this extraordinary journey can be accomplished and inspire people in turn to think out of the box,” Cosenza said.

Tomczyk is the executive producer for this project. In 2015, he broke the record for the longest electric motorcycle ride for his Philadelphia to the tip of Patagonia, Chile’s Punta Arenas trip. Filmmaker Cosenza documents these journeys.

They also aim to highlight how important it is to leave the environment and the wildlife undisturbed during traveling. “It is important for us to promote ways of transportation that do not pollute and affect as little as possible the places where we travel,” said Cosenza.—IANS