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Interesting possible side effect. Ocean freight vessels are, disproportionately, on of the greatest contributors, and in fact one of the greatest contributors i

by oneJob 11y ago

Interesting possible side effect. Ocean freight vessels are, disproportionately, on of the greatest contributors, and in fact one of the greatest contributors in absolute terms, to CO2 emissions. Perhaps Amazon's involvement will shine a spotlight on this issue that has heretofore gone under the radar.

snuxoll 11y ago
Unfortunately they are also the most efficient way to move a disproportionate amount of cargo over international waters, they get terrible "mileage" but when you consider tonne/miles instead of raw distance per gallon of fuel they are "efficient" compared to alternatives. Unless we plan on equipping civilian vessels with nuclear reactors or somehow make storing gigantic hydrogen fuel cells safe the situation isn't going to change much.
- oneJob 11y ago
  It's not the mileage. It's the fuel and lack of regulation. "The fuel used in ships is waste oil, basically what is left over after the crude oil refining process. It is the same as asphalt and is so thick that when cold it can be walked upon . It's the cheapest and most polluting fuel available and the world's 90,000 ships chew through an astonishing 7.29 million barrels of it each day, or more than 84% of all exported oil production from Saudi Arabia, the worlds largest oil exporter." [1] [1] http://www.gizmag.com/shipping-pollution/11526/ http://www.gizmag.com/shipping-pollution/11526/ [2] http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/apr/09/shipping-pollution http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/apr/09/shipping-...
  - JoeAltmaier 11y ago
    Doesn't shipping contribute something like 25% of the world's air pollution? With only 6000 ships total on the seas? Its really, really bad.
  - snuxoll 11y ago
    Yeah, bunker C is awful environmentally, but it's cheap and still pretty good as far as energy density is concerned. Even if freighters ran on refined petrol they would still be going through millions of barrels of petrol a day though, I'd be interested to see the breakdown of pollutants exhausted from burning a gallon of bunker C vs refined petrol - I'm having a hard time finding this data.
    - oneJob 11y ago
      don't normally do this, but, given the seriousness with which i take this topic, just wanted to say, that was an exceedingly ignorant statement.

by oneJob 11y ago

snuxoll 11y ago

Unfortunately they are also the most efficient way to move a disproportionate amount of cargo over international waters, they get terrible "mileage" but when you consider tonne/miles instead of raw distance per gallon of fuel they are "efficient" compared to alternatives. Unless we plan on equipping civilian vessels with nuclear reactors or somehow make storing gigantic hydrogen fuel cells safe the situation isn't going to change much.

oneJob 11y ago
It's not the mileage. It's the fuel and lack of regulation. "The fuel used in ships is waste oil, basically what is left over after the crude oil refining process. It is the same as asphalt and is so thick that when cold it can be walked upon . It's the cheapest and most polluting fuel available and the world's 90,000 ships chew through an astonishing 7.29 million barrels of it each day, or more than 84% of all exported oil production from Saudi Arabia, the worlds largest oil exporter." [1] [1] http://www.gizmag.com/shipping-pollution/11526/ http://www.gizmag.com/shipping-pollution/11526/ [2] http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/apr/09/shipping-pollution http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2009/apr/09/shipping-...
- JoeAltmaier 11y ago
  Doesn't shipping contribute something like 25% of the world's air pollution? With only 6000 ships total on the seas? Its really, really bad.
- snuxoll 11y ago
  Yeah, bunker C is awful environmentally, but it's cheap and still pretty good as far as energy density is concerned. Even if freighters ran on refined petrol they would still be going through millions of barrels of petrol a day though, I'd be interested to see the breakdown of pollutants exhausted from burning a gallon of bunker C vs refined petrol - I'm having a hard time finding this data.
  - oneJob 11y ago
    don't normally do this, but, given the seriousness with which i take this topic, just wanted to say, that was an exceedingly ignorant statement.