A jaw-dropping new superyacht has been designed to be virtually invisible – with mirrored glass to reflect the sky, clouds and surrounding environment.
The Pegasus aims to be the world’s first 3D-printed vessel, its designer Jozeph Forakis said.
The 88m yacht’s design means it is “invisible both in design and in her environmental impact”, Mr Forakis added.
He explained that reflecting “Solar Wings” would provide solar-electric power in tandem with a hydrogen hybrid source.
The glass of the superstructure incorporates transparent solar panels to power electrolysers extracting hydrogen from seawater.
Fuel cells then convert hydrogen to electricity stored in Li-ion batteries for powering azimuth pods, a type of engine, and all operating and hotel systems.
The theme of zero emissions is also reflected in a multi-level “Tree of Life” hydroponic garden, providing fresh food and air purification.
The interior of the yacht features four levels connected by a sculptural spiral staircase.
There is a spacious guest lounge showcasing minimalist design and living nature, both inside – with living greenery – as well outside with uninterrupted views in all directions.
The top level is exclusive to the owner, with forward facing master suite featuring a large private terrace.
The forward pool club has an aquarium-style lap pool and expansive horizontal windows that transform into open balconies on both port and starboard. When closed, the pool cover functions as the helipad.
At the aft of the ship, the open beach club with an oversized jacuzzi and fold-down balconies transforms into an enclosed solarium with sliding glass panels across the ceiling and down the transom bulkhead.
The superyacht’s construction would use robotic 3D printing to create a mesh framework integrating both hull and superstructure.
The result would be an extraordinarily strong and lightweight structure that can be produced using less energy, material, waste, space, and time compared to conventional construction.
The futuristic yacht was conceived on a beach in Koufonisia, Greece.
Mr Forakis explains: “I was inspired to create a yacht as close to the sea and nature as possible, made of clouds floating above the waterline.
“I wanted to honour nature by blending into it, becoming virtually invisible.”
He adds: “Now is the time for courageous leaps toward our collective sustainable future.
“Pegasus is a bold but achievable vision for the near future of the superyacht industry, where man and machine live in harmony with nature rather than competing or compromising it.”
With no price formally announced yet, the Pegasus has been prepared to show to interested shipyards and could be in production by 2030.
The new collaborative initiative, called HGVZero, is being overseen by Innovation Gateway. It will follow a similar model to Innovation Gateway’s EVZero scheme which was launched earlier this year in response to the need to scale electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure across the UK, but will be pan-European rather than national.
HGVZero’s founding members are supermarket giant Tesco, beverage bottler Coca-Cola European Partners, logistics providers Eddie Stobart and XPO, and parcel delivery service DPD.
Collaboratively, representatives from these businesses will map EV charging infrastructure across geographies where they operate, identifying gaps. They will also map refuelling infrastructure for alternatively-fuelled HGVs.
As a rule of thumb, the heavier the vehicle is, the more challenging it is to electrify. Few businesses have adopted pure electric HGVs to date and, going forward, a mix of technologies will likely be used in the private sector, including hybrid vehicles and those powered using alternative fuels like hydrogen and biomethane. HGVZero members will also be tasked with mapping the innovation landscape for HGVs.
Both mapping activities are set to be completed within six months. The maps will inform a joint action plan, outlining how players across the HGV value chain will tackle shared challenges relating to zero-emission HGV technologies and related infrastructure.
“HGV decarbonisation is a systemic critical challenge that we must address innovatively and as an industry.” Said XPO Logistics’ environmental and sustainability lead for the UK and Ireland, Dr Nicholas Head. “That’s why we are particularly excited to be working with a diverse group of organisations, including our haulage peers and global shippers, to develop joint solutions that will further accelerate the sustainability of HGV transport.”
In the UK, where Innovation Gateway is headquartered, the Government is aiming to end the sale of new petrol and diesel HGVs in phases through to 2040. The Transport Decarbonisation Plan last year proposed a ban on sales for ICE vehicles weighing 3.5-26 tonnes by 2035 and those weighing more than 26 tonnes by 2040.
These commitments intend to support the 2050 net-zero target. Road transport has been the UK’s highest emitting sector since 2016 and HGVs account for 18% of the UK’s transport-related greenhouse gas emissions.
Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company
In related news, Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) has confirmed that two fully electric HGVs will be added to its delivery fleet by the end of the month. One vehicle will be based out of its Thurrock depot and the other out of Cardiff. Both of these depots have had charging points installed, served using renewable electricity.
The vehicles, E-Tech D Wide models from Renault Trucks, will serve as a proof-of-concept trial for the brewer. They will replace two diesel vehicles in the first instance and, if the trial is successful, CMBC will look to add more of them to its 270-strong HGV fleet.
Image: CMBC
CMBC estimates that the vehicles will, between them, travel up to 19,000 miles per year with zero tailpipe emissions. Aside from contributing to its broader 1.5C-aligned climate efforts, the brewer sees benefits from the vehicles in terms of avoiding London Ultra-Low Emission Zone charges, reducing noise and reducing air pollution.
CBMC’s vice president for customer supply chain Sarah Perry said: “With the trucks capable of travelling up to 150 kilometres on a single charge, the urbanised areas of Cardiff and Essex are the ideal routes to test the potential of electric vehicles in our logistics network. This launch is potentially transformational to us as a brewer and logistics operator, but also in terms of helping pubs to build back greener after the pandemic.”
Home to 171 nationalities, the historic city of Leuven in Belgium has become one of Europe’s most climate-conscious destinations.
Winner of the European Capital of Innovation Award in 2020, the mayor’s office has been investing the €1 million prize money wisely, as it strives to make Leuven carbon neutral by 2050.
“We believe that Leuven is ready to take up an important role and become one of the most green and caring cities of Europe,” says the city’s Mayor Mohamed Ridouani.
We believe that Leuven is ready to take up an important role and become one of the most green and caring cities of Europe. – Mayor of Leuven
So how does this small Belgian city – most famous as the birthplace of Stella Artois – plan to do this?
Leuven 2030: A roadmap to carbon neutrality
Launched in 2013, Leuven2030 is an ambitious roadmap to help the town meet its climate goals.
The movement, which was formed with just 60 founding members, including the historic university – KU Leuven – and the City of Leuven, now has 600 members signed up to its climate pledges.
These include local businesses, civic bodies, citizen scientists and charities, all committed to making the city greener and cleaner for future generations.
The groot begjinhof, LeuvenCanva
“When we were founded, there was a debate about whether we should be Leuven 2030 or Leuven 2050, but we have a very important intermediate milestone, so it matters whether you go slowly towards climate neutrality or fast,” explains Katrien Rycken, Director of Leuven2030.
We want to be in the fast lane and I think we are getting there more and more. We hope to become carbon neutral way before 2050. We’re not a follower city, we’re a frontrunner city. – Katrien Rycken, Director of Leuven2030
“We want to be in the fast lane and I think we are getting there more and more. We hope to become carbon neutral way before 2050. We’re not a follower city, we’re a frontrunner city.”
In order to hit their targets, there’s a 12 step plan in place, with schemes ranging from retrofitting 1,000 homes a year, to investing in solar power and depaving vast swathes of concrete.
Global events are accelerating the retrofitting scheme too, says Ridouani. “People, I think, are more sensitive to this [retrofitting] because of the energy crisis. There’s an openness to see what people can do because they think ‘okay if the city and the government can help me to make this investment, that means that my energy bill will go down.’”
To ensure no one is left behind in the push for more efficient homes, poverty organisations and social housing companies also sit on the board of Leuven2030, guaranteeing everyone has equal access to resources.
How the pandemic has pushed Leuven’s green policies forward
Elected in 2019, Ridouani’s premiership could have been overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
But far from being a stumbling block, in many ways the global crisis has further accelerated Leuven’s green ambitions.
A cyclist rides in a cycle laneCanva
Covid pushed us to implement a couple of our policies faster, actually. We had in mind to make the entire city centre a bicycle zone, meaning that if you ride a bicycle, a car should always stay behind you. – Mohamed Ridouani, Mayor of Leuven
“It pushed us to implement a couple of our policies faster, actually. We had in mind to make the entire city centre a bicycle zone, meaning that if you ride a bicycle, a car should always stay behind you,” he says.
“We thought, this should be prepared very well, step-by-step, we will need to have a lot of debate, but in fact, because of covid we implemented it overnight.”
And luckily for Ridouani and his team, there was no backlash. “People just accepted it, because there was already that use of public space. So this is one of those examples where a crisis can be a moment where you rethink things and actually push through policies much faster.”
Leuven’s green aspirations have kept the awards flowing it too. The city has been named one of Europe’s best destinations for 2022 by the European Best Destinations (EBD) and EDEN Network.
The EBD dubbed Leuven a ‘Belgian miracle’ and went on to name it the most ‘open-minded destination in Europe’ – ahead of the usual frontrunners Amsterdam and London. While this is partly thanks to the 51,000 students that call Leuven home during their university years, the city also has a history of nurturing original thinkers.
Thomas More’s Utopia had its first print run here back in 1516, while his Humanist peer Erasmus was a professor at the university. Founded in 1425, the institution has been an innovative catalyst in the city ever since.
Leuven is a cycling paradise
Perhaps Leuven’s most successful – and noticeable – green policy though is its car reduction scheme.
As a result, Leuven is a cycler’s paradise. In fact, the metropole is the only city in Belgium where cycling is actually the preferred mode of transit, with public transport coming in second and cars in third.
In order to achieve such a striking statistic, the city implemented a radical mobility plan, as Ridouani explains.
“There was a time when you could cross everywhere with your car and park almost everywhere. So the city hall, the church, the great market. The church was a roundabout and you could park just in front of the city hall and the walls were all black because of the emissions,” he says.
“So over the years we’ve pushed that back and five years ago there was a new mobility plan, a circulation plan which was implemented where in fact we divided the city into pieces like a cake and you cannot go from one piece to another.”
In the four years following its implementation, cycling increased by an astounding 40 per cent. The mayor’s office is now aiming to reduce use by a further 20 per cent and introduce a 30 km speed limit on smaller roads too.
As a result of the mobility plan, the town centre lacks the constant hum of traffic that plagues most cities in Europe, replaced by the tinkle of bicycle bells and the gentle chatter of its diverse student population.
We captured beautiful and very striking stories of children, who, thanks to the circulation plan, were allowed by their parents to go on their own by bike to school. – Katrien Rycken, Director of Leuven2030
“We captured beautiful and very striking stories of children, for example, who thanks to the circulation plan, were allowed by their parents to go on their own by bike to school,” says Rycken.
If you don’t fancy travelling on two wheels, thanks to the lack of cars, walking is also easy here, with most amenities no more than a 15-20 minute stroll away.
The wider region also boasts four cycling loops, taking you out of the centre and into the Flemish Brabant. If you must drive though, there are still ways to do it while maintaining your eco-credentials, as Leuven is the number one car sharing city in Belgium too.
How else is the city going green?
In order to reach its climate targets, Leuven is also investing in solar power and the reuse of raw materials – including concrete.
Leuven2030 is not just blindly imposing policies though, as Rycken explains, all of their work is the result of multi-layered analysis.
“Together with the university we are measuring the heat island effect of the warmer summers due to climate disruption,” she explains.
“We’re joining the layer of the heat island measurements with the layer of where there are green areas in the city already, and then a final layer of where vulnerable inhabitants are,” she says.
“Where are our elderly homes, where are our creches, where are those inhabitants that are more vulnerable to heat.”
This layering method ensures that their policies are precisely targeted, and helps the project reach those most in need of help.
Beyond infrastructure and climate science, the people of Leuven are investing in their green futures too. At Park Abbey, a 13th century heritage site on the edge of the city, a new urban farm is giving locals the chance to invest.
“There you have one example of community supported agriculture,” says Rycken.
“You can buy a share as a citizen and then you go there and get your own vegetables and sustainable meat and milk. It’s a very beautiful example, we have several of them around Leuven.”
Encouraging sustainable, healthy eating and expanding participation in local agriculture is one of the 12 pillars of Leuven2030 and just another example of how this unique city is shaping itself.
“There’s a lot of culture, a lot of heritage and I also believe a lot of future,” says Ridouani, “it’s a really forward-leaning city.”
Manchester Airport is to become the first in the UK to have a direct supply of jet fuel made from household and commercial waste.
The sustainable fuel is blended with traditional jet fuel, with a 70% lower carbon footprint.
It will be delivered by existing pipelines from a refinery in Stanlow, Cheshire.
Operations director Rad Taylor said: “It’s really game-changing for the industry.”
He said: “It’s essentially about using non-recyclable waste, which would typically go into landfill, and using that to generate aviation fuel so it’s a real sustainable alternative.”
The airport, part of Manchester Airports Group, will work with Fulcrum BioEnergy Limited UK, which is developing a new refinery for sustainable aviation fuel.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “This partnership is a huge leap forward for the long-term competitiveness of Britain’s aerospace sector, demonstrating how, by going green, industry can create jobs and help level-up across the UK.
“Cleaner aerospace and aviation is at the centre of our plans to end the UK’s contribution to climate change by 2050.”
Neil Robinson, MAG’s CSR and airspace change director, said: “Today really is a landmark moment in our journey towards a decarbonised aviation sector.
“By working towards a future supply of SAF, direct to Manchester airport via existing pipelines from a local refinery, we’re making sustainable operations accessible for airlines based here.
“The introduction of SAF is testament to the innovation we have seen, and the collaboration between airports, airlines, the government and suppliers like Fulcrum to achieve real progress towards our goal of net zero for UK aviation by 2050.”
Fulcrum NorthPoint is set to produce around 100 million litres of SAF per year, which when blended 50/50 with traditional jet fuel, could fill the tanks of 1,200 Boeing 777-300s.
