A solar-powered houseboat

From PV Magazine

It’s a sensation we’ve all experienced, floating leisurely on the ocean surface with the sun warming our skin and painting our eyelids coral coloured; but who among us hasn’t thought, at that very moment: “This is wonderful, but it would be even better if I had a villa.” Well, Australian architect Chuck Anderson heard what the people want and built the Lilypad, a solar-powered floating villa bobbing just off Sydney’s Palm Beach. 

The Lilypad is 100% solar-powered, a design feature targeted from day one. “Growing up on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and spending much of my life around boats, I always had a vision to create something truly special that people can now enjoy as their own,” Anderson told euronews. “Lilypad Palm Beach certainly brings new meaning to the phrase self-sufficient.” 

The people of Sydney camp as close to the sides of the Harbour or ocean as they can, that’s why we’re called Sydneysiders. But if there is one thing better than living on the water’s surrounds, it must be living surrounded by water, like the Lilypad. It’s the island life for me. 

Of course, no man is an island, but few of us would turn one down. If you’re like me you don’t need much in life, only the very best; and luxury doesn’t come much better than the Lilypad. However, what truly sets this island apart is not amenities, massages, or aquamarine quietude, but that the Lilypad offers the rarest kind of pleasure, a sustainable one. The villa’s solar power ensures that amongst pleasures the Lilypad is an island unto itself, an indulgence at libety from guilt. After all, forbidden fruits may be sweet, but they’re also commonplace, and where’s the luxury in that? 

The Lilypad, solar-powered houseboat

Palm Beach, NSW