As ships get bigger, the pollution is getting worse. The most staggering statistic of all is that just 16 of the world’s largest ships can produce as much lung-clogging sulphur pollution as all the world’s cars.
Smoke and sulphur are not the only threats from ships’ funnels. Every year they are also belching out almost one billion tons of carbon dioxide. Ships are as big a contributor to global warming as aircraft – but have had much less attention from environmentalists.
Both international shipping and aviation are exempt from the Kyoto Protocol rules on cutting carbon emissions. But green pressure is having its effect on airlines. Ahead of next month’s Copenhagen climate talks, airlines have promised to cut emissions by 50 per cent by 2050.
Easy solution.. Do like the big aircraft carriers… Nuclear power.
Aircraft carriers, submarines, ice breakers, and a few cargo ships have been nuclear powered. It is an excellent solution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NS_Savannah
#1, good news is that once all the environmentalists have heart attacks from putting more nuclear power on the seas, the problem will fix itself.
As one who works in the marine industry designing emission systems for large ship engines, I have to say that the numbers and statistics in the quoted report are sheer fantasy. The old saw that “there are statistics and damn statistics” comes to mind…
John
wHAT ABOUT THE new MODIFIED ships..
With SAILS and solar power that save over 40% of the power needed??
Another solution – stop shipping so much stuff. Manufacture locally. Costs a little more in labor possibly, but I’d rather pay a little more and keep my neighbors employed, especially if it could make the air a little cleaner.
I realy think the future is to have mini nukes. one for every ship, car and neighborhood. but we rather kill our selves with coal and oil!
Ships burn a particularly bad sort of diesel oil, called Bunker. It is non-distillate, what’s left in the bottom of the refinery column sludge pot after all the clean gasoline and light diesel has been refined away. Think of it as toxic industrial waste, that no one in his right mind would use in a car, truck or power plant.
http://bit.ly/7UlEy3
#5,
While I understand and respect your sentiment, the location of raw materials also plays a part.
Wasn’t there a story on the blog this week about global warming being a hoax. Yeah, sure was.
So, to put it another way, even if every car in the world was switched to pure-Green electric or Hydrogen powered – we’d still have global warming. (If it existed.)
Worry about sulfur if you want to, but don’t worry about CO2, all that stuff is a giant hoax! See the internal e-mails stolen from the cabal of dendrologists and released on the internet the other day. Wattsupwiththat.com is a good place to start.
Also, where did you get your total pollution numbers. Please post a reference.
#1 – Great idea. Until the pirates off Somalia start targeting those ships and sending their nuclear fuel to lovely places such as Iran and North Korea. Easy money right there.
#5:
“Another solution – stop shipping so much stuff. Manufacture locally.”
Good luck paying for that boutique laptop when the local manufacturer has to cover the huge up front cost of building a chip fab, plus labor costs exceeding minimum wage plus gov’t mandated health insurance.
Sounds great.
#5 I guess we should all move to China?
CAN i ADD A FEW THINGS..
1. OIL LEAKAGE, Dumping, spills…
2. I dont get that others havnt THUNK THIS..
There is only so much AIR on this planet. AS over time we havnt seen AIR PRESSURE rise, that Something is being released to keep the pressure Equal. NOW if you look at all the chemicals in the air, I RATHER LIKE OXYGEN. Forget about Planet warming/cooling for a few minutes, and THINK about cutting down trees and PUTTING TONS of pollutants into the air. I really hope you like breathing CRAP that can kill you in a few minutes, rather then BREATHING FRESH CLEAN AIR..
AS TO #5..
TRUE. and we can do that in a few ways.
1. REQUIRE USA corps to pay EQUAL wages in other countries..PEOPLE will FLOCK to those jobs. They could be RICH in 1 year.
2. FORCE prices up on shipping..TAX IT TO DEATH.
3. NO MORE Locations that can SHIP without TAXES to the USA..
4. LETS do as other countries do with GAS TAX..yes it will piss ALLOT of people off, but rather the USA getting money over the corps..
CHANGE the tax to a %…and MATCH another nations..30-50% TAX like MOST of the other nations..NOT $0.70 per gallon.
#2, Bob
hahaha
WELL PUT!
I hope they all get heart attack faster than that, though…
#15:
“REQUIRE USA corps to pay EQUAL wages in other countries”
and that’s when they move ALL domestic operations overseas. brilliant.
17,
yep, and I want to see them Over there.
The laws in other countries over being a Monopoly are very severe..
I want them to be making 1,000,000,000,000,000 rupies per day, and SEE what THAT country thinks about it.
The Head of Japanese airlines DROPPED his own wages, BELOW his Flight captains, JUST to keep the business running. THINK they would do that in the USA??
Do you know that FLYING in the USA costs more then ANY other nation?
This goes back to the 70s when it being “environmental” was simply saying that you shouldn’t polite and litter where we live.
Now some how we got to the point where cow farts, and water bottles are going to destroy the planet.
Soon we will talk about how we are harming our solar system and the universe because of our habits and behavior.
Turns out it’s a natural cycle.