If playing with electricity underwater doesn't seem crazy enough, a Swiss company is suggesting an even more mind-boggling combination: the world's first solar submarine. We wonder if they've designed windows that open.
Energy giant BKW-FMB is looking for investors ready to pony up almost $9 million to start work on Projekt Goldfisch, which consists of a floating Goldport "power island" of photovoltaic panels that will channel electricity to the submersibles running below. Since the price tag on your average nuclear-powered Virginia-class sub starts at around $2.5 billion, we suspect BKW will spend its investment on a newer copy of Photoshop. The laughable renderings the company provided were obviously worked out on an Amiga.
As for the sub itself, someone at BKW has an incredible sense of humor and a penchant for late '70s Bond films or the company is anticipating a rise in the number of villains needing awesome hideouts. Either way, we're ready to jump in the submersible LotusEsprit and pop a Carly Simoncassette in the tape deck.
The company says the sub would draw power from a floating solar array of five generators, each with 430-square feet of panels. A GPS tracking system would tell the sub where to surface when it needs to recharge, which makes us wonder — would a dead Goldfisch float belly-up? Once charged, BKW says, the sub could dive to depths approaching 1,000 feet and reach a top speed of 5 knots (not quite 6 mph).
When word of the solar sub reached Autopia, we were sure of only one thing: one will end up in Dubai. Sure enough, BKW envisions the Goldfisch as yet another attraction at the ship-shaped Burj Al Arab Hotel, which already features solar boats and a submarine restaurant. BKW says (.pdf) the Goldfisch will bring guests "into contact with the attractive idea of emission free mobility." We think its message of sustainability will fit in with the helipad and man-made roadway connecting the hotel with the mainland.
If the underwater tourism market isn't recession-proof, we don't see too many other uses for this green submarine. The US military could benefit from the sub's ability to disappear from view of would-be attackers -- except for that giant tower of power. Perhaps energy-challenged North Korea could use the Goldfisch to shuttle the ailing Kim Jong Il from his underwater lair to medical treatment, or a couple of NPR writers could use news of the improbable submersible to stump B-list celebrities and politicos on Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me.
Time to unleash your inner Ian Fleming: Let us know how you'd use the Goldfisch.
Images: BKW-FMB.
POST UPDATED 10:15 a.m. PST.
Above: The floating solar array.
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BKW says the Goldfisch could shuttle tourists around Dubai....
... ferry passengers in Shanghai...
... or show passengers what it's like under Sydney Harbor while simultaneously providing energy for the city's renowned opera hall.
