
When you think of or hear about huge cargo ships, usually you don’t think of pollution that they cause. But it is true that nearly 2.5% of global emissions come from cargo ships, which are primarily run on diesel fuel. That is very big and is expected to grow even bigger as the transport industry grows.
So it is imperative that we address the energy consumption of these cargo ships. Typical alternative energy choices come to mind like- solar, wind.
For solar to be effective for such large scale ship, the battery tech is not quite there. But, could be considered for a short trip ships. Best option for energy that is plenty is wind! Recently saw a FastCompany write about how some companies are starting to think building & deploying large ships driven by sails! Awesome and good luck Neoline. If they can build better sails and leverage wind-prediction models to route via high wind paths, this could work. The travel time may be a little unpredictable but should be ok. Or perhaps a hybrid of solar/battery plus wind could be a game changer!
We can’t avoid shipping of goods across the globe and sea transport is the economical option when compared to aviation. So, it is wonderful #ProWoSo to work on.
Good luck to all the Pieneers! As always, know of anyone or any startup working on this, please let me know, I will update this post.
[Image Credit: Thanks to kliempictures via Pixabay]
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