Kénitra is a port city about 35 miles north of Rabat in Morocco.

The design references vernacular Moroccan architecture and makes America’s Amtrak look like a dinosaur in comparison.

The trio’s striking collaborative design took first place in an international design competition that called for a state-of-the-art and sustainable 10,000 square meter high speed railway station complete with an assortment of amenities and retail facilities.

There are two entrances to the station – one from Place du 11 janvier and another from Place de la Maamara, and there are also two levels.

The lower levels contain the shops, kiosks, cafes, and waiting areas, as well as a central ticket office and even boutique stories. From there passengers can access the railway station via escalators that lead to a U-shaped ‘grand passerelle’ or elevated bridge.

Related: Stop TGV campaign challenges Morocco’s high speed rail initiative

In addition to incorporating geometric designs familiar in vernacular Moroccan architecture, the lacy pattern diffuses sunlight and ensures plenty of natural light and ventilation throughout the station. This is really important as anyone who has ever traveled by train in Morocco can tell you.

Not only do the ventilation techniques reduce the station’s energy demand, but they make waiting for the trains in stations that are packed with people (unlike in the United States, where many people think they are too cool to show up in anything other than a car) infinitely more comfortable.

Lastly, the design team has incorporated rainwater harvesting systems into their design, a smart, passive water conservation technique that is becoming increasingly necessary and common in Middle Eastern and North African architecture projects.

Morocco’s ubiquitous public transportation initiatives, albeit contentious among those who believe they do not serve the interests of all communities, put the supposedly more advanced and progressive United States to shame!

:: World Architecture News

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It was a challenging trip, according to Captain Gérard d’Aboville, who is among the crew that helped the ship complete the world’s first solar powered circumnavigation of the globe last year. Built by Knierim Yachtbau in Kiel, Germany, the LOMOcean Design vessel features 516 square meters of solar panels that generate 100 percent of the boat’s energy.

The solar-powered boat crossed the Mediterranean and the Strait of Gibraltar to reach Morocco on April 16, 2013, where it will remain for a fast four days. Scores of locals waiting at the Bouregreg Marina for the giant boat, which is 31 meters long and 15 meters wide.

“We faced many challenges during this stage, as it’s the first time since its maintenance service that the boat was able to sail the high seas longer than 24 hours, under difficult conditions at times,” Captian d’Aboville said in a recent statement.

“This is what particularly led us to realise how well the boat handled! Reaching this stage and arriving at Rabat is the first success for the 2013 campaign.”

A €15 million experiment designed to showcase the possibilities of solar energy, Planet Solar has the potential to generate 93.5 kilowatts of energy. It weighs 89 tons and boasts solar cell efficiency rates of 18.8 percent.

No dingy, this remarkable catamaran can hold as many as 60 passengers at one time.

“The arrival of PlanetSolar in Rabat was awaited with much interest and excitement,” noted Swiss Ambassador to Morocco, Bertrand Louis. He continued:

Thanks to these “adventurers,” Switzerland can stand shoulder to shoulder with its partners in the international scientific community. So, its scientific diplomacy is an integral part of its foreign policy, an instrument of dialogue on global challenges such as water, climate change or energy. With Morocco and its extraordinarily visionary solar plan, this is about drawing together the capacity to meet the immense challenge of producing renewable energy.

As part of its overall goal to spread awareness of solar energy and the wide-ranging consequences of climate change, Planet Solar will act as a classroom for students while anchored in Rabat.

It leaves for Las Palmas today, April 20th, and on April 25th it will embark on an attempt to break its own Guinness World Record with a 26 day, solar-powered transatlantic journey. You can keep track of that journey over on PlanetSolar, if you like.

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Moroccan students unveiled plans to build a solar-powered electric vehicle, allAfrica reports. Students that belong to the Energy Club of the Mohammadia School of Engineers presented their ambitions to attendees of the third “Power Day” held in Rabat last week – a conference that has increasingly incorporated renewable energy into its vision for the future.

While very few details have been revealed (such as when will the car be ready, who will fund the technology, and do they intend for the concept to be scaled for commercial applications, the Mohammadia engineering students intend to build lightweight vehicles that take their power from the sun.

Photovoltaic cells are expected to be used to charge the vehicle’s batteries. It has an electric engine.

At less than 300 kilograms, the car should travel between 40 and 100 kilometers per hour, provided the driver weighs less than 70 kg. While definitely not viable as a two person ride, the car would reduce energy dependence and pollution, writes allAfrica.

With solar radiation DNI as high as 2642 kWh/m2/year in parts of the country, Morocco is well-poised to become a solarized nation.

In 2009 the government launched the Moroccan Solar Plan, which laid out a multi-year installation of five solar plants that will produce a combined 2 GW of electricity – about twice as much energy as a large nuclear plant produces.

:: AllAfrica

Image: screen grab from MAPTV

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Sometime next summer, an airplane with the wingspan of an Airbus A340 but weighing not much more than a Toyota will fly from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., and on to New York. The history-making cross-country trip will be achieved without burning a single ounce of jet fuel — or any other fuel for that matter.

If the two Swiss pilots behind Solar Impulse can pull that off, their next goal will be even more ambitious: a round-the-world flight in 2015 lasting 20 to 25 days.

“Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to understand the environment, to protect nature and to make a better life for humankind. Solar Impulse is exactly in that spirit,” said 52-year-old Bertrand Piccard, the project’s initiator and president. “We have an airplane that can fly day and night with absolutely no fuel. It’s important to show we can go from dreams to reality, and inspire people to make their own dreams come true.”

These lofty ideals are echoed by André Borschberg, the project’s CEO and co-founder. A businessman with a degree from MIT, Borschberg, 58, says “the time I spent in Boston allowed me to found startup companies. I know that dreams fuel innovation, and that human commitment and new technologies can really change the world.”

When it comes to results, Solar Impulse —a product of Swiss ingenuity and perseverance — has already achieved three world records. On July 8, 2010, the HB-SIA prototype succeeded in flying night and day for exactly 26 hours, 10 minutes and 19 seconds, with four hours worth of surplus energy still left in its batteries upon landing.

Less than a year later, HB-SIA spent flew to Brussels from its home base at Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, cruising at an altitude of 6,000 feet during the 13-hour flight. And this past June, the same aircraft completed its first intercontinental trip, a 19-hour journey from Madrid to Rabat, Morocco.

On Dec. 12, the Swiss Embassy in Washington introduced Piccard and Borschberg to local media. The press event began with a three-minute video comparing their ambitious project to the Wright Brothers’ 1903 flight at Kitty Hawk, Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 transatlantic solo adventure in the Spirit of St. Louis, and Chuck Yeager’s 1947 breaking of the sound barrier in his rocket-powered Bell X-1 jet.

“Switzerland is very proud to be a partner in the next endeavor of Solar Impulse,” said Swiss Ambassador Manuel Sager. “As a country, we share the values of the project: technological innovation, competence and entrepreneurial expertise.”

Borschberg, an engineer who trained as a pilot in the Swiss Air Force, said Solar Impulse began in 2003 and grew into a collaborative effort involving 70 engineers and specialists.

“When we looked at the question of flying around the world, we immediately understood that we had to develop an airplane capable of flying day and night, collecting energy during the day, storing it and using as little as possible to continue the following day,” he explained. “We visited airplane manufacturers but were told that what we had in mind was impossible. So we decided to set up our own team and look for partners.”

Over the last nine years, the project’s backers have invested $120 million in Solar Impulse. Piccard — who in 1999 made the first-ever nonstop round-the-world balloon flight, landing in Egypt after a 45,755-kilometer flight lasting nearly 20 days — noted that “this is 4 percent of the budget of the Formula One team.”

The project’s main partners are Belgian chemicals conglomerate Solvay, Swiss watchmaker Omega, Germany’s Deutsche Bank and Swiss elevator manufacturer Schindler. Other sponsors include French aircraft maker Dassault Aviation, the Paris-based European Space Agency and the International Air Transport Association.

“We need additional partners for the U.S. and round-the-world flight,” said Piccard. “If you wait until you have all the money in advance, you never start. Until now, we’ve had only European partners, so we would be most welcome to have American companies join us.”

HB-SIA’s specifications are impressive. With a wingspan of 63.4 meters, the aircraft weighs only 1,600 kilograms and boasts a maximum cruising altitude of 8,500 meters (27,900 feet). Four lithium polymer batteries weigh 100 kilograms each; together, they account for one-fourth of the aircraft’s total weight. According to a fact sheet, every unnecessary gram has been eliminated in order to build the super-light aircraft.

“The average speed is 40 knots, but the higher you fly, the faster you go,” Piccard told reporters. “You can take off with empty batteries, climb to 30,000 feet, fly 12 hours and fill up the batteries. During the day, the more you fly, the more energy you produce.”

Solar Impulse is built of composite materials, consisting of a carbon fiber-honeycomb sandwich structure. Its upper-wing surface is covered with a skin of embedded solar cells; 120 carbon-fiber ribs placed at 50-centimeter intervals give the wing is aerodynamic profile while ensuring its rigidity.

“We are focused on preparing for next year. We’ve had many discussions with authorities, and the response has been extremely positive. People are interested in this project,” Piccard said, noting that “if it had already been done 10 times, nobody would be here in this room listening to us.”
One reporter asked about the practical applications of using a solar-powered aircraft for long-haul commercial flights.

“We don’t see how it would be possible to transport 200 people without fuel, but when we see how fast aviation has evolved, maybe technology will allow it someday,” Piccard responded. “When Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic in 1927, nobody believed that someday it would be possible to do the same with 200 passengers.”

To pull off the coast-to-coast achievement, Solar Impulse’s current prototype will have to be dismantled, flown across the Atlantic and re-assembled.

“We will take off from San Francisco, aiming for Washington and then New York. The route is not defined yet,” said Piccard, adding with a smile: “Washington is a second home for me, since the capsule of my balloon is displayed in the Air & Space Museum. Why should I take a hotel room here? I can sleep in my capsule.”

More Solar-Powered Goodness:
The World’s Largest Solar-Powered Boat Pays a Visit to Qatar
Markus Kayser’s 3D Solar Sinter Prints on Sand – Could Replace Concrete
Morocco Airport Counts Solar Power Carbon Savings

The post Would You Fly By Sun and a Solar Impulse? appeared first on Green Prophet.

In keeping with Morocco’s ambitions to amp up the nation’s solar energy production, Archi5 submitted a brief for a renewably-powered museum to the Moroccan Minister of Culture in 2010.

The 24, 730 sqm facility would incorporate rooftop photovoltaic cells that would not only generate energy but also a create lovely shadow play inside the various buildings. These are well lit thanks to tall glazed windows, although careful design mitigates the potential greenhouse effect during Rabat’s merciless summer months.

There are three main gardens around which the architecture is arranged (instead of the other way around), while the absence of monolithic volumes softens the transition between vegetation and the built environment. That being said, this design requires a great deal of horizontal expansion for a relatively dense urban environment.

Possessing a valuable collection of treasures found in well-known sites historical such as Volubilis, the archaeology museum is important to Morocco and could use an upgrade. Archi5 proposed a subtle and gentle design that even harvests and recycles rainwater to lessen the environmental impact of such a renovation.

“This museum is in a quite interesting purpose built 1930s Art Deco building that has been allowed to deteriorate,” a Canadian living in Qatar wrote on Trip Advisor.

“It is disappointing in that it is really only three rooms of out dated displays and takes about 15 minutes to visit. Some of the artifacts are quite interesting like the Roman bronzes but then there are really only a handful of examples. This museum desperately needs a renovation and expansion.”

Unlike the Rabat zoo, which was recently upgraded and is now home to “gladiator” lions thought to be extinct, this museum seems fated to retain its current size and appearance. At least for now.

:: Plataforma Arquitectura

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Think “Mediterranean” and most Westerners conjure up Monte Carlo or Mykonos, Cannes or Nice, often overlooking the southern coastline cities that lie in Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Fourteen Mediterranean port cities are at risk of extreme and repetitive flooding due to climate change, soils erosion, spikes in population and urban sprawl, according to a Program for the Prevention Preparedness and Response to Natural and Man-Made Disasters (PPRD South) report.  According to ANSAmed, PPRD’s top eight cities-at-risk all boast Middle Eastern zip codes: Alexandria holds top risk, followed by Istanbul, Benghazi, Casablanca, Smyrna, Algiers, Rabat, and Beirut.

European cities of Marseille-Aix-en-Provence, Barcelona, Tripoli, Athens and Naples bring up the rear of the riskiest waterfronts, but we head back to the MidEast for the finale – roll up your pant legs, Tel Aviv-Jaffa.

The World Bank offers a bleaker prediction, stating rising sea level could affect 43 port cities: 24 in the Middle East and 19 in North Africa. It ventures that  a 0.5 meter rise near Alexandria would displace more than 2 million people, with $35 billion in losses in land, property, and infrastructure, as well as incalculable losses of cultural assets.

Rising sea levels and temperatures are predicted to incite increased storms, putting these coastal cities at high risk of experiencing extreme “hundred year floods” (floods of such severity that scientists would estimate them occurring only once in any given century).

The PPRD report, which was commissioned by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, warned that rapid urbanization will see populations in these cities tripling by 2070.

The Mediterranean Sea is increasingly at risk on every level: 30% of the world’s cargo ships sail it, including 25% of the global oil tanker fleet. Millions of people depend upon this waterbody for their livelihoods.

Last week in Calabria, Italy, a one-day conference entitled The Future of Mediterranean Economies and the Promise of Green Economy was held to discuss this subject along with a broader agenda of sustainable development in the Mediterranean region. Experts joined together to devise ways to reduce man-made wastes, switch fossil-fuel based economies to ones based on renewable energy, and introduce sustainable development in the poorest coastal areas.

Good stuff, but we need to widen the focus on this looming dilemma: this trickle of attentiveness won’t stem rising tides.

Image of flooded pyramids by Shutterstock

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It’s mission accomplished. The Solar Impulse, the world’s longest solar powered flight has landed back home in Madrid, Spain. The flight took 17 hours from Rabat, Morocco. The plane’s maiden voyage was from Spain to Morocco, proving that a solar-powered plane could fly both day and night. Next, say its owners Swiss pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, is a flight around the world.

The Solar Impulse has the same amount of power as a scooter with four 10 HP engines, and it took the flying duo who founded the project seven years of studying, simulating, constructing, and testing their Solar Impulse concept.

“Flying as far as this, powered only by solar energy will be excellent training for the round-the-world trip,” said Borschberg, co-founder and chief executive of Solar Impulse.

“To fly night and day without fuel, powered by solar energy, and to demonstrate that progress is possible using clean energy.”

Meanwhile, the plane will return home to the green pastures of Switzerland as its ambitious crew prepares for the next adventure.

::Solar Impulse

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