Just as fun, less polluting: new boats help keep waterways green

By Veronica Hinke

For The Associated Press

If you hop in a boat this summer to take in a bit of nature, consider this: A few hours in a motorboat could be as polluting as tens of thousands of miles in a car.

The Environmental Protection Agency says the nation’s 10 million gas-powered marine engines are among the highest contributors of hydrocarbons, oxides and nitrogen emissions in the country.

But you can still have fun on the water while protecting the environment. Electric boats and new engine designs significantly reduce air, water and noise pollution.

Hope Kaiser has been operating her 21-foot electric boat since 2004. She entertains on it frequently at her Coral Gables, Fla., home.

“The beautiful thing is with the manatees,” Kaiser said. “While motor boat vibrations scare them off, they’ll come right up to our electric boat. You can even pet them.”

The only significant noise comes from Kaiser’s passengers: “It’s a cocktail boat — perfect for getting the kids and friends together around four in the afternoon.”

Electric boats debuted at Chicago’s 1893 World’s Fair and remained popular until the 1920s when the internal combustion engine was introduced. They were scarcely used once people started fueling their boats with the faster technology.

That’s all changing again.

Operating today’s electric boats is as easy as flipping a switch. Joystick-style steering on most makes them a cinch to drive. They run just like a golf cart and recharge overnight for about 12 hours — or rejuvenate as you ride with $1,200 solar panels.

You won’t break any speed limits, though. The fastest models max out at 10-12 miles per hour, so they’re best used in inland waterways or on the ocean when it’s calm.

“My boats are like a tranquilizer,” said Duffy Electric Boats founder Marshall Duffield. “We’re selling a lifestyle — a social event. The majority wants speed, but what’s made my boat popular is the social aspect and it’s a simpler, more reliable operation.”

Adelanto, Calif.-based Duffy claims the threat of global warming has driven hits on their Web site over the past two years far beyond anything they’d seen since they opened in 1970. Interest, they say, is coming from municipalities who’ve decided to clean up their lakes and noise pollution.

Duffield said a third of his sales are overseas to environmentally savvy countries like Holland, where some waterways already only allow electric motors.

Similar efforts are now moving stateside: In March, the EPA proposed rules limiting smog and soot caused by diesel-burning trains and boats. If fully implemented, the rule would require state-of-the-art engine technology that removes pollutants to be phased in starting in 2009.

“Boats are a very significant source of our air pollution problem and marine vessels are one of the last significant sources of air pollution to be regulated,” says Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies.

Cynthia Georgeson, of Racine, Wisc.-based Johnson Outdoors, Inc. — which makes electric boats ranging from $2,000-$8,000 — says about 2,000 or 3,000 electric boats are now in use in the United States. Bird watchers and bass fishermen, especially, appreciate the silence and maneuverability of an electric boat.

But boaters can still go fast and make choices that protect the environment. Outboard manufacturers now offer four-stroke “low pollution engines” or direct fuel injection two-stroke engines. Catalytic converters can reduce marine engine emissions by over 90 percent, said Becker of the Clean Air group.

The EPA rules would require newer, four-stroke engines, which cost about 20 percent more but would reduce air emissions by 75 percent and use less gas.

“According to engine data from the California Air Resources Board, seven hours of two-stroke engine use produces more smog-forming pollution than a modern car creates over 100,000 miles driven,” said Ruben Aronin, a spokesman for Global Green, USA.

On the state level, too, stricter engine requirements are being set to protect the environment. Dick Rowe, founder of Millington, Tenn.-based Indmar Marine Engines, predicts 99 percent of his electric fuel injected engines will have catalytic converters. He’s getting ready for a California Air Resources Board mandate requiring all outboard marine engines to have catalytic converters by the end of 2007.

“Adopting and enforcing stringent marine engine regulations may not always be popular but they are critical and necessary steps we must take to continue improving our air quality,” said spokeswoman Karen Caesar.

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