Jochem de Kwant

Structural Engineer

Mail: jochem.dekwant@solarboatteam.nl

The reasons I decided to join the Solar Boat Team are both personal and more general. I personally don't believe that political organisations can promote the global transition to renewable energy sources effectively, since humanity is nowhere near a unified global policy with its priority on solving this problem. Instead, the solution should be a technological one.

Since the global community accepts capitalism to be the dominating economical system, innovations are mainly judged by their potential economical merit. Therefore, as long as using renewable energy sources is linked with making economical consessions, renewable energy sources will not be used on a large scale.

In short, using renewable energy sources must provide an economically sound alternative to fossil fuels; Hence the technological challenge. The Solar Boat Team shows that solar powered boats may be such an alternative for small maritime craft. I joined this team to help them further promote their sustainable alternatives, and to gain personal experience designing sustainable machines. I hope to use this experience in a much broader field than just the maritime sector.

Jochem de Kwant