3 ms·
The fuel burned by container ships is literally the sludge left at the bottom of the distillation vessel after all of the lighter petroleum fuels have been remo
by chongli 3y ago
The fuel burned by container ships is literally the sludge left at the bottom of the distillation vessel after all of the lighter petroleum fuels have been removed for sale. It is incredibly cheap fuel, extremely energy dense, but unbelievably dirty stuff.
Unfortunately, these ships only burn the nasty fuel in international waters so the process of getting them to pay for emissions would have to go through international maritime law, specifically MARPOL [1]. If you want an idea of how difficult that would be, check out the implementation and enforcement section of that page.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARPOL_73/78 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARPOL_73/78
- dylan604 3y agoI'm envisioning a Coast Guard cutter type boat in the middle of the vast ocean trying to pull over a ship to issue a ticket. Of course, it's all in the style of a cartoon in my mind to compensate for the farcical nature of trying to police the open ocean
- dr_dshiv 3y agoThe dirtiness of the fuel has certain environmental benefits, namely the production of low marine clouds. These were offsetting the warming impact of shipping by about a third. https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/marine-clouds-climate-change-1.7016498 https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/marine-clouds-climate-change...