As part of our South Queensland program students visit Lady Elliot Island, pictured below, which is known and recognized as an eco resort through a number of procedures and measures they have put in place. So it was quite fitting for the world’s largest solar boat, MS Turanor PlanetSolar to make a stop at Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort on the way up the Queensland coast on World Environment Day, June 5.

The catamaran is currently on a voyage circumnavigating the globe on the first round-the-world trip powered by solar energy. The purpose of the trip is to show that high-performance solar mobility can be realized today by making inventive use of materials and technology already being used in today’s technology.

Management of Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort have recognized the benefits of utilizing energy from the sun and have a high-tech Hybrid Solar Power Station which combines the technologies of gel batteries, solar panels, inverters and a generator to power the island. This, combined with other initiatives, has resulted in a reduction of CO2 emissions on the island by almost 70 percent, an amazing achievement!

A long-term goal of the management is to run the resort entirely on solar power and other renewable power sources, eliminating the use of generators except as backup. We can’t wait to see the innovative measures they will come up with next to achieve their goal!