For those growing weary of hearing industry leaders and politicians complaining how expensive it is to cut greenhouse gases or how detrimental to jobs it is to take steps to protect the environment, you might want to take a look at a fast-growing German company called SkySails GmbH & Co. KG and its partner in a new CO2-cutting endeavour, Beluga Shipping . They are aiming to prove that, on the contrary, you can make money and create jobs at the same time while cutting CO2 in the process.
SkySails has designed and built a high-tech kite and computer-guided steerage system to help merchant ships and yachts cut fuel consumption and reduce CO2 emissions. On its maiden voyage across the Atlantic in early January, the SkySail on the 132-metre long Beluga Group ship is expected save as much as 20 percent of fuel and CO2 emissions — and up to 50 percent with larger versions expected within the next year or two.
There are, of course, risks still ahead. The system has been tested on a smaller 55-metre long ship on the North Sea and Baltic Sea but it is still uncertain whether the technology will work as effectively with a much larger ship — and some naysayers have questioned whether the giant kite will be able to hold up to the wind, sun and salt-filled air under such enormous pressure pulling a 10,000-tonne ship across the Atlantic. That remains to be seen and SkySails inventor Stephan Wrage admitted that he was a bit nervous ahead of the long-delayed maiden voyage (due to delays in finishing the ship) but nevertheless confident the test results would be confirmed.
I had the chance to climb up and have a look at the first ship equipped with the SkySail, the MV “Beluga SkySails” . The 10,000 tonne vessel was christened in Hamburg harbour on Saturday, and you could feel the buzz of the crowd of some 500 people on board for the ceremony as well as the thousands of onlookers watching from the shore. It was more than just a christening, more than just the launch of a new technology. Here were two profit-hungry companies eager to make money while conserving fuel and slashing CO2.
What seemed to be captivating the attention of the crowd was that here was a simple solution, using free wind power, to help resolve what has become a complex problem — climate change.
Trackback
9 comments so far
[...] Cutting C02 and profits need not be contradictions “For those growing weary of hearing industry leaders and politicians complaining how expensive it is to cut greenhouse gases or how detrimental to jobs it is to take steps to protect the environment, you might want to take a look at…” [...]
- Posted by Notable Clean Energy News : Clean Energy DigestThe whole idea of technical innovation with the goals of efficiency, elimination of waste, reduced pollution, etc. is a natural part of market economics and fundamental to the history of human progress. Improved economy, less environmental damage, what’s not to like? However, “those growing weary…” would do well to try to understand that any attempt to impose bureaucratic “solutions” upon industries who need to balance their ability to provide the marketplace with the products and services that we demand of them, and at a reasonable cost, with the inevitable impact of that activity upon the environment can have dire consequences. We have every right to (and should!)demand clean air and water, wholesome foods, etc. at a low cost. However each is balanced by a tradeoff elsewhere. Gradually the innovators have improved - and continuing to improve - the lot of humanity. There is good cause for optimism, as the free marketplace gradually adjusts to conditions, as it has always done. To some, this process may seem too slow, but to yield to pressure from that quarter and impatiently demand radical and precipitous changes is foolish and shortsighted, and shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the marketplace. Indeed, many of the problems we face are the unintended consequences of well-intended but poorly thought-out bureaucratic meddling in the marketplace. There are those who would use the “threat” of “Global Warming” as a bludgeon to force such radical and precipitous changes. We would be wise to proceed cautiously there.
- Posted by Cristithanks
- Posted by adana oto kiralama“The Weather Channel” Mess
- Posted by Tom1. January 18, 2007, 5:45 pm | James Spann | Op/Ed
Well, well. Some “climate expert” on “The Weather Channel” wants to take away AMS certification from those of us who believe the recent “global warming” is a natural process. So much for “tolerance”, huh?
I have been in operational meteorology since 1978, and I know dozens and dozens of broadcast meteorologists all over the country. Our big job: look at a large volume of raw data and come up with a public weather forecast for the next seven days. I do not know of a single TV meteorologist who buys into the man-made global warming hype. I know there must be a few out there, but I can’t find them. Here are the basic facts you need to know:
*Billions of dollars of grant money is flowing into the pockets of those on the man-made global warming bandwagon. No man-made global warming, the money dries up. This is big money, make no mistake about it. Always follow the money trail and it tells a story. Even the lady at “The Weather Channel” probably gets paid good money for a prime time show on climate change. No man-made global warming, no show, and no salary. Nothing wrong with making money at all, but when money becomes the motivation for a scientific conclusion, then we have a problem. For many, global warming is a big cash grab.
*The climate of this planet has been changing since God put the planet here. It will always change, and the warming in the last 10 years is not much difference than the warming we saw in the 1930s and other decades. And, lets not forget we are at the end of the ice age in which ice covered most of North America and Northern Europe.
If you don’t like to listen to me, find another meteorologist with no tie to grant money for research on the subject. I would not listen to anyone that is a politician, a journalist, or someone in science who is generating revenue from this issue.
In fact, I encourage you to listen to WeatherBrains episode number 12, featuring Alabama State Climatologist John Christy, and WeatherBrains episode number 17, featuring Dr. William Gray of Colorado State University, one of the most brilliant minds in our science.
WeatherBrains, by the way, is our weekly 30 minute netcast.
I have nothing against “The Weather Channel”, but they have crossed the line into a political and cultural region where I simply won’t go.
« Pineapple Express Stays Active - Still Cold
what science junk fiction tripe…More and more every day the scaremongering is being refuted. and by the way the founder of the weather channel has exposed the Globalphobic rants for what it is . The cult of the GORACLE is just that
- Posted by jackStalin called people who believed the propaganda without questioning the validity of the message “the useful idiots”. Either this is just more laziness from the “useful idiots” there, or the writers at Reuters are energetic propagandists themselves. I believe the former.
- Posted by JimRodger that, Tom.
Modern hippies spread junk science as fact - and in most cases do MORE harm than good when empowered to do so…
What gives me comfort at the end of the day, usually, is that the organisations that most hippies hate most - like Exxon, Shell, Mobil, and even Haliburton - will be in charge of ‘alternative energy’ in the end. Making solar panels that pollute during production, selling greenie wienies their ‘clean energy’ at a profit. Then the generation 3 hippies will have to find something else to complain about… like maybe where their socialist dream went when they weren’t looking. The world is, fortuneately, getting MORE conservative, not less. Conservation is a conservative value, not a liberal one. Let’s be as liberal with out natural resources as you want to with MY tax dollars.
- Posted by JonYour articles about global warming are ALL wet…try reading ‘The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism’ by Christopher C. Horner. Al Gore and his alarmist buddies are
- Posted by David MartiniLYING !!!!! There is NO global catastrophe on the horizon…just look at history. Try reading John Coleman’s comments on GW and GHG’s. Anyone with a lick of sense that verifies Al Gore’s “fuzzy facts” will see he is NOT telling the TRUTH. 30 years ago he was crying Global Cooling and an ice age ws upon us !!! Really, if the earth is billions of years old as some claim…doesn’t the earth regulate itself with man’s help or hinderence? There have been alarmist reactions in recent US history from the late 1800’s thru the 1900’s…none of them lasted but the alarmists made it sound if we did not act immediately…EARTH WAS DOOMED !!!!!
Thats great that someone in the world is worried about climate and global worming. We’ll hope that soon this problem would be solved
- Posted by Derek