Dunes is the latest concept from Feadship, just unveiled at the Monaco Yacht Show. The Dutch shipyard states  the vessel combines features that reduce energy demand with technology that increases efficiency and eliminates emissions, and a number of factors – from shading windows to reduce cooling requirements to extra-capacity next-generation storage batteries, to abolishing teak decks, a new type of fuel cell, and a propulsor – combine to reduce the vessel’s environmental impact
 
Assessed using the comprehensive YETI tooling, Dunes eliminates up to 95 per cent of the potential negative environmental factors associated with operating a superyacht compared to a yacht meeting today's minimum environmental regulations.
 
Conceived by Studio De Voogt, the vessel name and design is inspired by sand dunes. It has a steel hull and an aluminium/wood superstructure, and its asymmetrical design means there are almost no straight lines, staircases are circular or curved as are windows and doors of full-height glass.

As well as the owner’s suite, there is accommodation for 12 guests in six staterooms – four of which can be converted into two VIP rooms – and for 20 crew.

Changes such as moving the engine room and the bridge, and making the superstructure asymmetrical, opened up possibilities of a layout where electricity-generating fuel cells, battery banks and the power management station can be decentralised and located convenient to the crew without large engine-room air and exhaust trunks compromising salons or dictating stairway placement.
 
The yacht’s signature feature is a 10-metre mast with foils, which has an additional technical function. As wind crosses the mast, its triangular design helps pull cooled air into the pavilion deck. A two-blade vane is located in the mast structure; used only at anchor, this turbine can yield about 25 MWh per year. With its large overhangs, optimised recirculation and increased insulation, Feadship calculates that HVAC energy use is reduced by 35 per cent on an annual basis.

Dunes’ propulsion system is the ABB Dynafin™. The first prototype is estimated to be available in 2025, and an independent study of this technology on a passenger vessel design equipped with different propulsion solutions has verified savings in propulsion energy consumption of up to 22 per cent compared to conventional shaft line configuration.

It will be driven by electricity generated from green methanol (produced from non-fossil-fuel sources), seen by Feadship as the best fuel option due to its relatively high energy density and ease of storage.
 
The vessel will have a maximum speed of 15-16 knots and a range 5,000nm at a cruising speed of 12 knots, with a fuel capacity of 140,000 litres.
 
All images copyright Feadship

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