All entries under Portland

I just ran around the sailboat taking sadly, my last photos of my new friends that I’ve met on the 2041 yacht. We’ve managed to pick up amazing speed on our south track towards San Luis Obispo (technically Morro Bay). We’re running our sails “wing on wing” with the wind at our backs, going at an amazing 10-11 knots, several knots faster than we could motor (and carbon free!). We’ve all taken a stab at driving the boat, seeing who can surf the fastest. Bret, a newbie helmsman took the record at 11.7 knots. Call it beginners luck!

Yesterday, we went about 20 miles due west of Cape Mendocino, just south of Eureka, California. My graduate research proposes to harness the same energy that’s filling our sails, to power offshore wind turbines. Cape Mendocino has the best offshore wind resource and until recently, had been completely ignored as a feasible renewable energy resource for California. The offshore wind farm Cristina Archer, Mark Jacobson, and I proposed would locate 300 turbines off of Cape Mendocino, to supply California with 1500 MW of clean power generating capacity (about the capacity of 1.5 large nuclear power plants). Winds at this offshore site blow consistently throughout the day, especially during the summer months when electricity is most needed. The proposed Cape Mendocino wind park could replace about 4% of California’s current carbon emitting electricity generation (including out of state imports).

We’ve ignored vast clean energy resources like wind, solar, and geothermal, in our quest for economic growth at nearly any environmental cost. The California offshore wind resource is a perfect case in point. By relying primarily on coal, oil, and uranium for our energy, we’ve gotten lazy in inventing novel ways to harness the free energy available on our planet. As I write this now, we’re being hurled down the California coast at a comfortable cruising speed in the 2041 sailboat. My laptop right now is being powered by PV solar cells and the wind generator. All of this comes at a minimal environmental cost.

My hope is that everyone who visits the 2041 boat and reads about the Voyage for Cleaner Energy tries to think about ways in their life, as well as ways for their governments to come up with more creative solutions to solving global warming. We can mitigate the effects of climate change and manage to keep our western standard of living if we are creative enough.

Mike Dvorak
Atmosphere/Energy PhD student
Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering

I came aboard the 2041 Wednesday night in Portland, for my first night at sea on a sailboat in my life. As expected, living on a boat is kind of like camping – need to save water and electricity, can’t really shower, don’t want to get injured or eaten being so far from a hospital . . . except that our “tent” never stops moving. I’ve done a pretty good job of ensuring the bumps on my head are symmetrical, and tonight sured up my friendship with our deckhand, Jakie, by launching a cup of hot tea onto his crotch while he was peacefully watching a movie. On a positive note, the enjoyable surprise of the night was most certainly eating fresh baked cookies (in the middle of the ocean!), which Hannah graciously made for all of us.

Of course, living at sea comes with a few disappointing reality checks.

This morning we all performed our designated chores, and I learned that cleaning a bathroom on a boat, while deceptively small and simple looking, is no easier than at home. As a new member of the crew I wanted to do a good job, so I tried cleaning all the hard to reach places, and obtained my first battle wound when the toilet bit me as I tried to reach underneath it to give a good scrubbing. Luckily, Maura (ie mom) was around to immediately ensure I clean it properly and apply a band-aid.

Last but not least, we’re seeing and discussing various forms of clean/renewable energy that are on board, and it’s clear that we are (technologically) still in a state of transition. While we are on a “sail” boat, we’ve been using the diesel engine (run on vegetable oil) the vast majority of my time so far, since there has been almost no wind. Wind is incredibly useful and powerful, but when we’re on a schedule, we need to resort to the old fashioned engine – and engine exhaust is unpleasant no matter what you burn. The combination of wind-power and a fuel-powered engine seems to be a good model for other boats or even cities. We’re using another biofuel, alcohol, for cooking in the kitchen; again, while renewable, convenient and fairly energy dense, it’s still important to cook (as with any fuel) in a well-ventilated kitchen. To summarize, we have wind, solar, and biofuels to help provide our energy needs aboard – none of them are “silver bullets”, but each have their advantages, and all are fully functioning symbols of how we can meet 100% of our essential energy needs without encouraging (through spending money) assistance from fossil fuel dominated electrical lines or fueling stations.

Bret Strogen
PhD Student, Environmental Engineering
University of California, Berkeley

I’m just getting used to living on a four hour sleep schedule now. We have watch every five hours, which wakes me up at 3:45 am for my hour watch (along with the three other watches per day). Us fair weathered passengers have it pretty easy, compared to the crew which have longer watches and other responsibilities to attend to (e.g. cooking for seven people, polishing the deck rails, and plumbing/electrical maintenance).

This morning was particularly stressful though, as I had to wake up in time for my sustainable energy correspondent spot on the ‘This is Hell’ radio show (WNUR Chicago). Captain Mark was kind enough to turn the engine off and let us drift for the 25 minutes it took for me to call in live. The satellite phone made it for about 15 minutes before it died. At least I got to tell Chicagoans and several tens of thousands of podcast listeners about traveling on a sustainable sailboat.

The winds off the Oregon coast have not been kind to us, making us motor most of the day. We did get a couple of hours of ‘motor sailing’ in this afternoon, which increased our speed over ground by about 20%. The sail acts like a big wing, pulling us along and making our fuel consumption slightly less.

Crappy winds aside, I’m extremely happy to be at sea right now. The sweet smell of the marine air, the glowing squid in the water at night, the current gently pushing us down the coast at 1.0 knot, lazy naps, reading in my bunk, and the excellent home cooked meals by Hannah, all make this an unforgettable experience.

• Mike Dvorak
  Atmosphere/Energy PhD student
  Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering
  Stanford University

14:00 The sun decided to come out today for once and I watched our whole crew’s spirits improve. Laughter blossomed like a spring wind: light, airy and playful. We felt so good, we even did some team building exercises on the ropes. We are finally leaving Astoria, after getting postponed by low tide and silt deposits in the marina where we tied up last night. We are headed out the mouth of the Columbia River, with green ridges, snowy mountain peaks, lumber mills, paper mills, and bridges in our wake. Flocks of terns hover over the river and geese fly in a shifting arc overhead. Randy mentioned yesterday that the tern populations are booming for some reason on the Columbia, and they are devouring the local salmon fry in the river. The biologists aren’t sure yet why the population is growing so fast. I wonder: habitat shifts, warmer ocean waters, changes in food supply? It gets me thinking about how climate change is already pitting some native species against each other. Certain species will benefit from the changes, and others will suffer. It is possible that within 10 years we may not even recognize our local flora and fauna in some areas of the world.We are on our way south now, leaving the Pacific Northwest behind. I think back to our entry into the Strait of Juan de Fuca – the clearcuts creating a patchwork of the scenery and dividing contiguous wildlife habitat. I recall the countless lumber mills along the Strait and the Columbia River. I am by no means anti-logging or anti-industry. In fact I have a minor in Forestry and I have done my time in corporate America. Here is the thing…seeing so much along the river has me thinking more about what we are doing right now to make the smartest decisions we can with our resources. I walked into downtown Astoria today, and after the silence of sailing and living at sea, I realized how much noise cars make and I got a real sense of the gluttonous resource use around me. I will be the first to raise my hand to say “I am guilty, I participate”. But things are shifting inside me being on the ‘2041’ yacht. I am re-thinking so much about my impact, my footprint, and how I am personally contributing to global climate change. It is time for action. Recently, while I was in Peru a friend shared a very powerful metaphor with me. He said that when you think about the enormous global problems we face today, we cannot become defeated before we begin to address them. He told me to remember the process of siphoning water through a hose – you start putting in effort and for awhile nothing happens. After a few moments, all it takes is one molecule to shift in the direction you are siphoning, and soon you have a flood of water effortlessly flowing, for as long as there is water to siphon. He looked at me and said “you are one of those molecules, now go find others”. All it takes is one of us to be a catalyst for change, an inspiration to our peers, and soon the positive reaction will become contagious. It is possible that one day we will look back on these times and remember how hard things were and we wont believe that this was how it all started – a global population staring down the barrel of a gun.

In Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize Lecture (Oslo, 2007), he stated, “It is time to make peace with our planet…When we unite for a moral purpose that is manifestly good and true, the spiritual energy unleashed can transform us.”

I want to be transformed.

We created this mess, it is time to rise to the challenge, accept responsibility, and take action. The reason I was drawn to Robert Swan’s 2041 organization and the Voyage for Cleaner Energy is that I was impressed by the organization’s action-oriented approach to bringing important climate issues to the forefront of an individual’s mind. ‘2041’ has connected and inspired many “molecules” in the past and I am thrilled to help add to this process on the 2041 yacht.

Tomorrow I will begin introducing our 2 new passengers, who are both working directly on important renewable energy projects. I can’t wait for you to meet them!

Goodnight world.

• Maura Fallon-McKnight

Paper mills and treetops line the riverbanks of the Columbia as we motor downriver and out to the Pacific. I just got off my first watch of the night and the brisk air hitting your face makes the eyes water and the vision blur…not the best thing when you have to keep the red lights to starboard and the green lights to port in order to navigate safely through the channel. Thankfully we have a native Portland sailor on board for tonight and he knows the way! The crew of ‘2041’ would like to thank Randy Webster of Portland Parks & Recreation for all of his help today. Thank you Randy for the wonderful company, the local stories and the information. We have a 5 or 6 day trip ahead of us and our autopilot is once again on the fritz. She’s moody and works when she wants to so we are preparing ourselves for long, cold nights of hand steering. As Brent said tonight…Eat a spoon full of cement and harden up (the expletives I’ve left out really emphasized his point!). Our passengers, Mike and Bret, are both willing to be on watch duty so we have some extra hands to steer. Thank goodness because she is a beast to steer and out on the open seas she makes you work.

It feels good to be back on the water again. Two days in port and I start to get antsy for the sea. We are all hoping for warmer weather and sunshine this time around…no more snow, sleet, and hail for us…until next time that is. We want to pack away the snow goggles, face masks, and long underwear! Heading south to California …there’s got to be some sunny days around the corner, right?

- Hannah Huntley

This blog is going to be proof that sailing is not all glory (like frost-bitten fingers and long, sleepless nights keeping watch). No, no folks…we do actually work on this yacht! We arrived into Portland yesterday and we had 3 separate bridges opened for us along the Willamette River before we reached the marina. It was quite an experience to watch 2-level road bridges open up and reach their arms up to the sky to allow our 87-foot mast through. It was a blast to see all of the people along the bridge on bikes and in cars looking down on the river, expecting a huge tanker to come through. Instead, low and behold in drifts the gleaming white and green Voyage for Cleaner Energy yacht. It was awesome. As I have mentioned before, this yacht likes to be first and get attention, and she definitely got some attention yesterday. We have had an awesome 2 days in Portland with many visitors on board. This morning Captain Mark sweet-talked Brent (the first mate) into donning a wet suit to check out the propeller, which had been giving us trouble on the way up the Columbia River . For those of you who sail in the Pacific Northwest , you know that crab pots can cause you a bit of heartache once in awhile. During the day, we can spot the buoys marking the pots and steer clear of them, but at night it is impossible to know if they are in our path. The danger is that the crab pot lines will wrap around your propeller, causing all kinds of problems. So Brent, who is a master diver (in WARM climates), volunteered to go underwater to check the prop. It was sleeting as he jumped into the water at the marina, so I hollered “Go Aquaman!!” to lift his spirits. As you can tell from the photo, Brent was victorious and saved the day by cutting plenty of line off the prop whilst holding his breath in the freezing river. Brent gets MVP for the day – okay the week! Thanks Brent! Oh and I’d like to mention 2 more things: 1. the auto Pilot is now called “Helga”, not George for those of you who are keeping track, and 2. We are very excited to welcome our 2 newest passengers for the Portland to San Luis Obispo leg. Welcome aboard Mike and Bret. For those of you in the bay area – Bret is from UC Berkeley (my alma mater) and Mike is from Stanford (they are rival schools). It promises to be an exciting 5 day journey. Game on!

Cheers,

Maura (Communications)