This year at the 47th annual installment of the Atlanta Boat Show, things are starting to turn "green" with the first-ever Green Boating Zone.

One of the newest features of the show will spotlight environmentally-minded boats and boating products.

"We have several meetings as show managers and we come up with ideas ... we came up with this idea to have these green areas in the boat shows that highlight products that are environmentally friendly," said Larry Berryman, the Atlanta Boat Show manager. "We have four or five boats in that section in addition to some green products and actually an engine as well.

"We thought it would be a good idea to introduce people to products and companies that are really making a difference for the environment."

Some of the new green products include G3’s Green Machine, the Eagle 176 electric fishing boat; Indmar’s ETX 5.7L with a V8, 340-horsepower engine that reduces carbon monoxide emissions by 98 percent; and JC Pontoons’ NepToon 19-foot electric boat with Torqueedo motor.

"I think some of these products are unbelievable," Berryman said. "The Indmar just built an engine very similar to a car engine. It has a catalytic converter — you are talking an engine that produces 340 horsepower but is ultra low on emissions.

"We have boats that have electric engines that don’t require any fuel, and I believe there are four boats in our green section that are electric-engine driven, which require no fuel and certainly don’t emit any harmful emissions into the environment or into the lake."

Georgia-based Nolan Bio Lab's BacTank T3 also will be featured in the Green Boating Zone. The BacTank T3 is a sewage holding tank that uses the latest methods in biotechnology to keep from polluting the water. The company also offers green cleaning products for boats.

"Basically my products are natural products. In fact, this whole system has been around in China many centuries ago," said Barbara Nolan, part owner of Nolan Bio Lab. "They are called probiotics; that means it’s exactly the right bacteria for what we are cleaning up or degrading. They go into the holding tanks of boats, where the human waste goes, and it degrades the waste and keeps down the odor."

But there are many other popular spots at the boat show, like the Affordability Pavilion.

This is "a showcase of over 15 boats that are priced at $300 (a month) or less," Berryman said. "It’s a wide variety of ski boats, pontoon boats, run abouts, bow riders."

The idea, he said, was to show families an array of products that they might not think are affordable, but actually are.

"One of the primary focuses is we are really looking at boats that families can get into for reasonable prices, so everybody can get out on the water and enjoy the lake or wherever they choose to take the boat."

Dealers are offering special incentives for buyers at the boat show, including Gainesville Marina’s offer for the 2009 Four Winns 220 Horizon SS and 2009 Tigé RZ2.

"A couple years ago we started doing wakeboard clinics ... and this year we evolved it to be a little more casual from the standpoint of trying to fit into people’s schedules and just doing them on Wednesday evening throughout the summer for people who purchase boats," said Philip Burton, president and general manager of Gainesville Marina.

Burton said the boat market is similar to buying homes and automobiles right now — there are lots of special incentives.

"I think all manufacturing segments now are trying to create their own stimulus," he said. "While used boat sales, strangely enough, have been relatively brisk.

"I think the manufacturers are saying ‘we want to get our new boat sales going.’"

Other incentives with a purchase of a new 2009 Four Winns 220 Horizon SS and 2009 Tigé RZ2 include free dockage and fuel along with a beach Olympic party, cruise and cookout, scavenger hunt and concerts on the water all summer.