By Paul Homewood
Matt McGrath’s naivety knows no bounds!!
Cutting the speed of ships has huge benefits for humans, nature and the climate, according to a new report.
A 20% reduction would cut greenhouse gases but also curb pollutants that damage human health such as black carbon and nitrogen oxides.
This speed limit would cut underwater noise by 66% and reduce the chances of whale collisions by 78%.
UN negotiators will meet in London this week to consider proposals to curb maritime speeds.
Ships, of all sorts and sizes, transport around 80% of the world’s goods by volume. However they are also responsible for a significant portion of global greenhouse emissions thanks to the burning of fuel.
Shipping generates roughly 3% of the global total of warming gases – that’s roughly the same quantity as emitted by Germany. ..
What gives campaigners hope is that shipping has already tried out the concept of going slow – back in 2008, during the global financial crisis, cargo ships slowed down to cut costs. With average speeds dropping by 12% this helped cut daily fuel consumption by 27%, which equated to a significant drop in emissions.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-50348321
The study reckons that 20% reduction in speed will lead to CO2 savings of 24% (after allowing for the fact that journeys will take longer – in other words it compares CO2 by distance travelled):
https://seas-at-risk.org/24-publications/988-multi-issue-speed-report.html
However, longer journey times mean we need more ships to carry the same amount of freight. One study calculated that the global shipping fleet would need to be increased by 13% to compensate for a 20% cut in speeds, allowing for the fact that ships spend part of their lives in port.
While total voyages would be no longer distance wise, the building, operation and maintenance of these extra ships would probably produce as many CO2 emissions than going slower would save.
Only an idiot would even think of such a brain dead scheme.
As for the real pollutants mentioned, action has already been taken to reduce them through new diesel engine emission standards. That surely is the proper way to go.
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
November 23, 2019 at 12:54PM
Iowa Climate Science Education 