Electric-solar Boats: An Option for Sustainable River Transportation in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Accessibility to the Ecuadorian Amazonian region is critical due to its high level of isolation and lack of infrastructure, which restricts people’s mobility to long walks, river boats, small planes or a combination of them. Building roads in the Amazon region will expedite accessibility and socio-economic development; however it has a high environmental impact. Finding alternative solutions for transportation without endangering the Amazon ecosystem is a challenge for sustainability. Using the extensive network of rivers in the Amazon is becoming a potential solution for transportation. However, this mean of mobility faces its own drawbacks related to fuel cost and availability, environmental impacts and fuel smuggling through the border impacting national security. Electric canoes coupled with renewable energy systems represent an alternative that has been successfully applied in several parts of the world, including Galapagos-Ecuador. Therefore, this paper aims to present a technical-economic analysis of solar canoes to be used in rivers of the southern part of the Ecuadorian Amazonian where more than 500 indigenous families live. These communities now have electricity, through individual photovoltaic systems from the “Yatsa Ii Etsari” project developed by the local utility. The results show that solar canoes are a technical and economical option for autonomous navigation up to 4 hours, representing a sustainable alternative for river transportation in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.2495/ESUS150371
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://www.witpress.com/books/978-1-84564-944-9
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission from WIT Press.
• Corporate Authors:

  WIT Press

  Ashurst Lodge
  Ashurst, Southampton  United Kingdom  SO40 7AA
• Authors:
  • Guamán, F
  • Ordoñez, J
  • Espinoza, J L
  • Jara-Alvear, J
• Conference:
  • 6th International Conference on Energy and Sustainability
  • Location: Medellin , Colombia
  • Date: 2015-9-2 to 2015-9-4
• Publication Date: 2015

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; Maps; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 10p
• Monograph Title: Energy and Sustainability VI
• Serial:
  • WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment
  • Volume: 195
  • Publisher: WIT Press
  • ISSN: 1743-3541
  • Serial URL: http://www.witpress.com/elibrary/wit-transactions-on-ecology-and-the-environment

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accessibility; Environmental impacts; Mobility; Navigation; Photovoltaic effect; Renewable energy sources; Rivers; Solar powered vehicles; Sustainable transportation
• Geographic Terms: Amazon River; Ecuador
• Subject Areas: Environment; Marine Transportation; I15: Environment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01588399
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 9781845649456
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 28 2016 9:01AM