August 18, 2006 2:45 PM PDT
The Earthrace boat was designed by Pete Bethune, a 41-year-old former oil exploration engineer and the brains behind the Earthrace Project. Behthune says he's "come over from the dark side" to believe in renewable fuel sources and decrease the world's dependency on oil.
Extremely high-tech, the boat is a so-called trimaran at about 78 feet in length with a hull design that can slice through waves. It's constructed largely of a lightweight carbon composite, which is typically used in military aircraft, and Kevlar. It's equipped with two low-emissions diesel engines called Cummins Mercruiser Diesel engines, which can hold as much as 3,000 gallons of biodiesel. The weight of the craft doubles when the boat is refueled.
Photo by Stefanie Olsen/CNET News.com
