everything about energy production
I've been interested in green technology for decades, but it's always important to make sure we're not just replacing one pollutant for another, and that new technologies are actually practical.
If there were really simple solutions, we'd be using them already much in the same way we moved from HCFCs to HFCs for air conditioning and the way we moved from leaded to unleaded gasoline.
The funny thing about air conditioning fluids, is that we are actually moving from HFC to propane and ammonia, due their green house effect.
Aka the thing that CFC were supposed to replace because they were safer.
It is a circle.
but it's always important to make sure we're not just replacing one pollutant for another,
Nothing is. An example, the UK cut all its big trees down to build sailing ships back in the 1800s for example and then went overseas to exploit forestry there. A good read on that is The Golden Spruce
https://bookwyrm.social/book/250594/s/the-golden-spruce
Physicist Tom Murphy is doing an excellent 18 part critique on that now, he's up to part 10 which is excellent.
I thought they were talking about electric ocean liners?
Not in this article, in general.
Batteries don't lend themselves to boats unless they have generators.
Maybe hybrid ships recharging their batteries works but I doubt it.
Electric ships have to have generation somewhere. You'd have to do a lot of work to ruggedize solar panels to handle the travails of the sea. Wind power might help some.
Nuclear power works for US aircraft carriers but it's expensive as hell compared to Bunker fuel and a big ole engine
It looks like it only manages to do 300 miles in a river.
Good... But not the bulk of all shipping.
Getting river boats to go green is a good step though.
We're working on fully electrifying our ferries here in Seattle. Plan sends to be limited by current tech, so boats will have some typing up done while losing new cars and passengers on, meaning very high current chargers (kA), which is technically novel so far as I can tell.
Ah ferries - yeah I remember seeing that too, now you mention it.
I was thinking ocean faring vessels. Big cargo ships are the big polluters and idk how they'll pivot