The steel hull of what will be Pittsburgh's first-ever hybrid boat, employing a combination of electric- and diesel-powered propulsion, sits in a shipyard in Florida waiting to join its outdated and environmentally backward brethren.

The boat, which is yet to be named, in June will join the decades-old three-boat fleet of floating classrooms of the Pittsburgh Voyager nonprofit environmental education organization.

Pittsburgh Voyager will announce details of the 90-foot, 150-passenger "green" boat's construction Tuesday as part of a campaign to raise $1.4 million toward its $3 million price tag. The Heinz Endowments has already pledged $1 million.

Pittsburgh Voyager has taught more than 50,000 middle and high school students using the boats as platforms for its river-based educational programs. Students are given hands-on tutorials not only about the river environment, but about conservation.

"This is a breakthrough in hybrid technology and is unique because it is the first time an organization or company uses a commercial vessel with hybrid technology particularly for an educational function or purpose," said Karl Thomas, executive director of Pittsburgh Voyager.

So far the organization has garnered support from several groups in its drive to build the vessel, including the Eden Hall Foundation, Equitable Resources Foundation, The Fisher Fund of The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Giant Eagle Foundation, H.J. Heinz Co. Foundation and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Green buildings and environmentally friendly construction have been on the rise for years, but efforts in producing eco-friendly marine vessels have not enjoyed the same success.

Mr. Thomas said he knows of only one other green boat, a commuter vessel used by the port authority of San Francisco.

So, in effect, Pittsburgh Voyager is sailing into somewhat uncharted waters.

Using industry standards for green-building construction, Pittsburgh Voyager teamed up with Alison JJMA, a Pittsburgh-based alternative-fuel marine engineering firm, to design a hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system.

For the past 10 years, the organization has been using World War II-era Coast Guard vessels, named Voyager, Scout and Discovery, with less than a third of the new boat's passenger capacity and more environmentally detrimental diesel engines.

The wooden boats cost more to maintain, and exhaust from river vessels makes up a third of the total diesel pollution in southwestern Pennsylvania.

While the older technology of the Coast Guard vessels employed an engine that turned the propeller shafts, the hybrid system will use diesel engines powered by cleaner bio-diesel fuel that will turn generators.

The generators will produce electrical power to propel the boat. The boat will also run quieter, gliding along the three rivers with almost no noise pollution.

It also contains space for any additional alternative-power sources that may be perfected in later years.

The system will allow the boat to run on either large battery banks charged while the boat is docked, a diesel-electric power plant fueled by cleaner-burning bio-diesel or new electrical sources using the next generation of fuel cells.

"We're hoping this will get people thinking about the environmental effects of the boating industry and shipping industry," said Mr. Thomas.