Sail Before Steam.What Goes Around Comes Around.
This post is about one of my favourite interests - 'Alternative Energy' - but as its a grey gloomy day here, as a prelude to a forecast of being ice and snow bound for a few days.I'll start with a laugh.Well,it made me chuckle - No, I'll put it at the end of the post because I want the funnel sails picture to be my Thumbnail heading image ..But read the article to the end or scroll down to read it.
It’s good news that Maersk has pledged to cut its net carbon emissions to zero by 2050.
Maersk is the world’s largest shipping company. Almost 1 in 5 containers on the sea today are carried by Maersk. So if Maersk reduced its pollution, it would have a massive impact on worldwide emissions.
Given that the life of a cargo ship is around 20-25 years, it needs to start making those changes now.
“We will have to abandon fossil fuels. We will have to find a different type of fuel or a different way to power our assets. This is not just another cost-cutting exercise. It’s far from that. It’s an existential exercise, where we as a company need to set ourselves apart,”
He added that, “to reach the target by 2050, in the next 10 years we need some big breakthroughs.”
Maersk is not pushing one technology — ideas such as biofuels, hydrogen, electricity or even wind or solar power have been mooted — but is stressing the urgency as most vessels have a life of 20-25 years, meaning that viable solutions need to be found soon.
( On a personal note, I'm disappointed there is no mention of the carbon neutral fuel invention of Carbon Engineering in Canada.I reported on their Direct Air Capture technology in this Steemit post here -https://steemit.com/life/@ijavee/homeopathy-to-cure-global-warming)
One of the areas Maersk and others are looking into is sails. That’s right, the world’s leading shipping company is now adding sails to its fleet.
But these aren’t like any sails you’ve seen before.
They look more like big metal funnels ( what an irony!) They are called rotor sails.
They kind of make cargo ships look like big old steamers. They work by spinning around and propelling the ship forward.
Picture SourceFrom Wikipedia:
A Magnus rotor used to propel a ship is called a rotor sail and is mounted with its axis vertical. When the wind blows from the side, the Magnus effect creates a forward thrust. Thus, as with any sailing ship, a rotor ship can only move forwards when there is a wind blowing. The commonest form of rotor sail is the Flettner rotor.
Due to the arrangement of forces, a rotor ship is able to sail closer to the wind than a conventional sailing ship. Other advantages include the ease of control from sheltered navigation stations and the lack of furling requirements in heavy weather.
The wind does not power the rotor itself, which must have its own power source to spin it up.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Maersk began testing rotator sails on its ships in August, at a cost of around £0.9 to £1.8 million apiece.
It’s estimated that these sails will make Maersk’s ships 10% more efficient, cutting down on fuel costs and pollution.
But it’s going to take a lot more than that if Maersk wants to hit its 100% carbon neutral by 2050 target.
Full Report here - http://bit.ly/2R52FHh
