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> Container ships are a problem because they usually run on ridiculously dirty fuel, which ends up polluting the ocean. But they're also extremely energy-effici
by Scarblac 7y ago
> Container ships are a problem because they usually run on ridiculously dirty fuel, which ends up polluting the ocean. But they're also extremely energy-efficient on a mass/distance basis. A saner world would have them use cleaner fuel[0].
One reason that they burn dirty fuel is because we have that fuel, and the way our economy works, it's going to be burned somewhere. Making large ships with engines that can burn that fuel was intended to be a way of having the air pollution be produced away from inhabited land.
Having the ships work with cleaner fuel means the dirty fuel will be burned somewhere else, without further changes.
But I agree with your main point -- "sustainability" attracts so much momentum that people try to frame everything under that umbrella. E.g. suffering of animals raised for food production is a problem, but even less related to the things you mention. Still often seen as part of the same agenda as reducing our CO2 output.
- dwaltrip 7y agoI don't know much about the dirty fuel, but if it's so bad we could tax its use such that no one wants to burn it.
- pas 7y agoBunker fuel, very much the leftover after the crude oil distillation. Full of sulfur and other nasty stuff. Anyway, if there were sufficient political will to do things, taxes would solve this shit overnight.
- Teever 7y agoCan't the fuel be cleaned?
- Kye 7y agoBunker oil is what's left after producing all the other oil products. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_oil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_oil >> "Small molecules like those in propane, naphtha, gasoline for cars, and jet fuel have relatively low boiling points, and they are removed at the start of the fractional distillation process. Heavier petroleum products like diesel fuel and lubricating oil are much less volatile and distill out more slowly, while bunker oil is literally the bottom of the barrel; in oil distilling, the only things denser than bunker fuel are carbon black feedstock and bituminous residue (asphalt), which is used for paving roads and sealing roofs. "
- Teever 7y agoIt can't be cracked economically? I'm asking because I only have a passing familiarity with how oil production works.
- Kye 7y agoBased on my (limited) understanding, there's no cleaning to be done. The kind of oil they burn in cargo ships is what's left after cleaning|distilling. >> "It can't be cracked economically?" This trash oil is produced anyway. There's no way to not make it and still make the less dirty kinds since it's what's left at the end of the process. I see two possible solutions: 1: Invent commercial fusion reactors and burn it there. I don't know if this would produce less CO2. 2: Find something else to do with the trash oil that's less polluting. Markets are pretty good at finding uses for things, so there may just not be anything else. Gasoline was a waste product until internal combustion engines came along. Trash oil probably occupied a similar status as waste until someone figured out it worked in ships. If trash oil were no longer economical to burn on ships, they would probably dump it in international waters instead unless some better use was incentivized. The US and probably other countries pay farmers to destroy some crops to keep it profitable enough to make farming a viable industry. Farmers would sell all their crops without government intervention, driving profits below a sustainable level. They wouldn't just trash it otherwise. Cargo ship owners are probably the only people who want the leftover oil. The shipping industry burns the oil industry's trash to make their ships go. Make using it uneconomical, and it gets dumped. That's what happens with byproducts no one wants to buy.