Shipping firms look to sail into the future

France24 – AFP, 21 October 2019

Paris (AFP) - Global shipping firms under pressure to cut carbon emissions are experimenting with an age-old technology: sails to harness ocean winds and reduce reliance on costly fuels.

"Five years ago, such projects would have gotten us thrown out by security" at shipping firms, said French naval architect Marc Van Peteghem.

"Now shipowners are listening to us," he said.

A design from his firm, VPLP, has just been picked by European rocket-maker Ariane Group for a sail-equipped cargo ship to transport parts for its new Ariane 6 launcher to French Guiana starting in 2022.

The ship will be equipped with four huge rectangular sails rising 30 metres (100 feet) high, supplementing a motor and cutting fuel consumption by about 30 percent.

It might not be the first, though: French start-up Neoline announced in July it would start building a sail-powered transporter this year for launch by the end of 2021.

"We have 5,000 years of experience in sailing with wind -- it's renewable energy, and less intermittent than solar power," Neoline's managing director Jean Zanuttini told AFP at his office in Nantes, western France.

So far the firm has orders from three clients, including French automaker Renault.

But using wind to meet carbon goals is not as simple as building new boats or rigging sails on existing ones, as some ship owners have already done.

"Our 136-metre ship costs 30 percent more than current ships," Zanuttini said, "but we compensate by using 80 to 90 percent less fuel."

Wind-powered vessels are also slower -- a hard sell for some shipowners and clients who want their raw materials and merchandise to move as quick as possible.

'Everything's in transition'

Operators of the 60,000 to 90,000 oil tankers, bulk carriers, ferries and other huge cargo ships plying the seas are racing to find alternatives to fuel oil as pollution rules are tightened.

The industry generates roughly three percent of Earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, a figure that experts say could reach 17 percent by 2050 if nothing is done.

Also, starting January 1, levels of air-polluting sulphur in marine fuel must be below 0.5 percent, according to new International Maritime Organization standards -- a sharp drop from today's 3.5 percent.

This is forcing firms to seek out cleaner, more costly fuels or invest in "scrubbers" to filter sulphur out of smokestacks.

"Everything is up for grabs, everything is in transition," said Gavin Allwright, secretary of the International Windship Association in London.

This month his group organised a wind conference at the Royal Institution of Naval Architects in London, just a stone's throw from Trafalgar Square and its statue of renowned British naval officer Horatio Nelson.

Even if sailing goes back centuries, "the vast majority of the technologies are 21st-century technologies and materials. They are almost fully automated, one-button computer operated," Allwright said.

Beside sails, some firms have designed huge kites that pull cargo ships, though just a few operators have adopted the system.

'Opportunity'

Another option is to use "Flettner rotors" like those built by Norsepower of Finland, employing a technology developed by German engineers in the 1920s.

The tall columns are installed on a ship and set spinning, creating lift that propels a ship forward when they catch a perpendicular wind.

Ville Paakkari, a Norsepower representative at the London conference, said the columns can be installed in just a few hours, and can cut fuel consumption by five to 10 percent.

"The investment pays off in three to eight years," he told participants.

So far, Norsepower's rotors are used on just two cargo ships and the Viking Grace ferry between Finland and Sweden.

But wind advocates say tighter pollution rules -- potentially including more widespread taxes on carbon emissions -- will force shipping firms to clean up their act.

"People only change when they are forced to," Van Peteghem said.

"We need to find solutions so that what shipowners consider a constraint today will become an opportunity, and make them want to change," he said.

Scientists fight to save unique Guiana coral reef

Yahoo – AFP, Marion Briswalter with Tiphaine Honore on board the Esperanza, October 4, 2019

In 2013, British oil giant BP, French company Total and Brazil's Petrobras joined 

forces to buy exploration blocks in the Amazon Reef area (AFP Photo/PIERRE TRIHAN)

Cayenne (AFP) - Off the coast of Guiana, a French overseas department perched on the north coast of South America, scientists scour the choppy waters for signs of life.

From the deck of a Greenpeace ship, they take photos and keep meticulous notes -- compiling a catalogue of sea creatures sustained by a coral reef only recently discovered but already threatened, activists say, by mankind's hunger for oil.

Near the mouth of the Amazon river in the Atlantic Ocean, the Amazon Reef is one of the world's largest but its existence became known only in 2016.

"We are talking about a unique ecosystem not seen anywhere else in the world and that we barely know, and it is already under threat from oil," says Thiago Almeida of Greenpeace Brazil, on board the Esperanza -- a former Russian fire-fighting vessel-turned environmental ship.

At the moment, the ship is home to experts from Greenpeace and France's CNRS research institute -- participants in a special mission to document the wildlife in an uncharted region.

Their goal: to make a case for keeping the area off-limits to fossil fuel hunters.

The Esperanza is a former Russian fire-fighting vessel-turned environmental 

crusader (AFP Photo/Pierre TRIHAN)

Just last year, Greenpeace revealed that the reef stretched into French Guiana waters.

French Guiana's offshore area is off limits to prospectors under French law but campaigners say it would be threatened by any exploration or drilling off neighbouring Brazil.

"A lot of oil would come to French Guiana" in the event of a leak, said Almeida. "If we look at the oil spill modelling done by the companies themselves, you can see that the threat is real."

Not only the water and reef, but also the land is at risk, with mangrove forests stretching all along Guiana's coast serving as crucial fish nurseries.

British oil giant BP, French company Total and Brazil's Petrobras joined forces in 2013 to buy exploration blocks in the region in Brazilian waters.

But they needed permission to search and last December, Brazil's Ibama environmental regulator denied Total a licence to drill citing "deep uncertainties" in emergency plans, "aggravated by the possibility of an oil spill that may affect the coral reef present in the region and by extension marine biodiversity."

BP is still trying for a drilling licence in the area, a move campaigners say could endanger the reef.

French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) marine biologists are exploring 

the Amazon reef of the coast of French Guiana, a region environmentalists warn is 

threatened by oil exploration (AFP Photo/PIERRE TRIHAN)

Not just passing through

Earlier this month, a team of six experts braved the muddy water and strong currents to scrutinise the reef's corals, sponges and calcified algae, taking photos and samples.

So far, the mission has identified several species of dolphin, killer whales, sailfish and several marine birds.

But Olivier Van Canneyt, a scientist with the CNRS-aligned Pelagis observatory, is quick to stress the reef represents "more than a migratory route".

"We also observed humpback whales with their young; their presence confirms that it is also a vital place of breeding and (nurturing). French Guiana waters are a crucial place for the survival of many cetacean species," he explained.

For Edina Ifticene of Greenpeace's Protect the Oceans campaign, the discovery of these creatures showed "it doesn't make sense to drill for oil in such a critical environment; an oil spill could have irreversible consequences for the entire area."

Not only that but exploting oil deposits threatens to undermine the fight against climate change caused by planet-warming gases emitted as humanity burns fossil fuels for energy.

The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that ocean warming 

and changes in sea chemistry -- caused by the absorption of vast quantites of carbon 

dioxide -- is already harming ocean life and the people who depend on it (AFP Photo/

PIERRE TRIHAN)

Fish, food at risk

Brazil's ANP petroleum agency has estimated the area may hold as much as 14 billion barrels of oil -- a quantity scientists say could release 5.2 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

According to the International Energy Agency, global energy-related CO2 emissions rose to a historic high of 33.1 Gt last year.

Scientists say we need to leave at least 80 percent of the world's known remaining fossil fuel reserves in the ground to prevent runaway climate change.

Last week, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change cautioned that ocean warming and changes in sea chemistry, caused by CO2 absorption, is harming ocean life and the people who depend on it.

"Shifts in the distribution of fish populations have reduced the global catch potential," it said.

"Communities that depend highly on seafood may face risks to nutritional health and food security."

Ruben, a fisherman from the small coastal community of Kali'na said he feared for the future.

"I think it's bad for us. It's what I think. The petrol is dangerous," he said on a stopover by the Esperanza.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg sets sail for NYC

Yahoo – AFP, Alice RITCHIE, August 14, 2019

Greta Thunberg refuses to fly because of the carbon emissions caused by
planes (AFP Photo/Ben STANSALL)

Plymouth (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg sets sail on Wednesday for New York, heading for a UN summit on a zero-emissions yacht skippered by a member of Monaco's ruling family.

The 16-year-old Swede, whose school strikes have inspired children across the world to protest against global warming, refuses to fly because of the carbon emissions caused by planes.

But she has been offered a lift on the Malizia II racing yacht, along with her father Svante and a filmmaker to document the journey, that will allow her to attend the UN talks in September with a clear conscience.

The 60-foot (18-metre) boat is skippered by Pierre Casiraghi, vice president of the Monaco Yacht Club and a member of the principality's ruling family, and German round-the-world sailor Boris Herrmann.

"The objective is to arrive safe and sound in New York," said German round-the-world 

sailor Boris Herrmann, one of the yacht's two skippers (AFP Photo/Ben STANSALL)

The journey takes about two weeks -- the yacht can travel at speeds of around 35 knots (70 kilometres an hour) but will be heading into the wind for much of the time so will be slower, and the captain wants a smooth ride.

"The objective is to arrive safe and sound in New York," Herrmann told AFP as he made final preparations in the English port of Plymouth.

'Pressure on people in power'

Thunberg has become a figurehead for climate action with her stark warnings of catastrophe if the world does not act now to cut carbon emissions and curb global warming.

Speaking to AFP before she set sail, the activist said: "Of course there are many people who don't understand and accept the science.

"I will just have to do what I have always done -- ignore them and just tell the science as it is," she added in reference to her North American trip.

The toilet is a blue plastic bucket, complete with a biodegradable bag that can 

be thrown overboard (AFP Photo/Ben STANSALL)

"We create an international opinion and movement so that people stand together and put pressure on the people in power."

The yacht is made for racing, with foils, or wings, that lift it out of the water for a faster and smoother ride.

Inside it is sparse, fitted with high-tech navigation equipment, an on-board ocean laboratory to monitor CO2 levels in the water, and four bunks -- Herrmann and Casiraghi will share one, sleeping in turns.

The toilet is a blue plastic bucket, complete with a biodegradable bag that can be thrown overboard, and meals will be freeze-dried packets of vegan food mixed with water heated on a tiny gas stove.

The sparse yacht interior is fitted with high-tech navigation equipment and an 

on-board ocean laboratory to monitor CO2 levels in the water. Herrmann is shown 

here reviewing computer data (AFP Photo/Ben STANSALL)

But state-of-the-art solar panels adorn the yacht's deck and sides while there are two hydro-generators, which together provide all the electricity they need on board.

Thunberg has never sailed before this week, and got seasick on their first journey out of Plymouth on Monday, but said she was looking forward to the adventure.

The teenager, who has spent hours on trains across Europe to spread her message, was relaxed about the basic conditions.

"You can't really ask for that much if you get to sail across the Atlantic for free," she said, adding: "I am grateful for what I have."

Dead fish to power Norwegian cruise liners

Yahoo – AFP, November 26, 2018

Leftover dead fish from Norway's large fishing industry will be mixed with other
organic waste to make a liquified biogas to be used instead of heavy fuel oil, said
Hurtigruten, which runs cruises to the Arctic and Antarctica, among other locations.

Norwegian cruise operator Hurtigruten plans to use dead fish to power some of its ships, it said on Monday, as it seeks to reduce its pollution and climate change impact.

Leftover dead fish from Norway's large fishing industry will be mixed with other organic waste to make a liquified biogas to be used instead of heavy fuel oil, said Hurtigruten, which runs cruises to the Arctic and Antarctica, among other locations.

"What others see as a problem, we see as a resource and a solution," the company's chief executive Daniel Skjeldam said.

"By introducing biogas as fuel for cruise ships, Hurtigruten will be the first cruise company to power ships with fossil-free fuel," he added.

The first biogas ship could be ready as soon as the end of next year, according to spokesman Rune Thomas Ege.

The company aims to have six of its 17 ships capable of using a combination of biogas, batteries and liquified natural gas, the cleanest of fossil fuels, by 2021.

Norway, which already has buses that run on biogas, has large fishing and forestry industries which produce vast amounts of organic waste.

The announcement comes as the cruise sector faces heavy criticism for its climate footprint and its impact on air quality.

A large cruise ship powered by highly-polluting heavy fuel oil emits almost as many fine particles daily as one million cars, according to German environmental group Nabu.

On Monday, a French court fined cruise company P&O and its US captain 100,000 euros ($114,000) for knowingly using fuel with excessive sulphur levels, the first such ruling in France.

Norway has a "zero emission" target for cruise ships and ferries navigating its fjords listed as world heritage sites by UNESCO by 2026 at the latest.

Hurtigruten, which aims to become carbon neutral by 2050, has ordered three hybrid battery/diesel vessels which the company said will be "the first cruise ships in the world that will be able to operate completely emission free for periods of time".

The spokesman said that is "and something deemed almost impossible just a few years back".

The first of those three ships should enter into service in May 2019.

Related Articles:

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Shipping to steer cleaner carbon course

Antarctic nations plan tough new shipping controls

Proposal mandates stricter pollution controls for ships

The 16 Ships Create As Much Pollution As All Cars in The World

Dutch civil engineering group BAM buys majority stake in Tidal Bridge

DutchNews, May 29, 2018

Illustration: Tidal Bridge

Building group BAM has acquired the majority stake in Tidal Bridge of Eindhoven from construction company Strukton, BAM said in a statement on Tuesday. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

Tidal Bridge designs and builds floating bridges equipped with tidal turbines which generate power. The turbines are powered by the ebb and flow of the tide. 

Tidal bridges are ideal in remote areas where they can serve as stand-alone power plants. The company is active in Indonesia, a country of 17,000 islands, most of them requiring electricity plants. 

Tidal Bridge started a feasibility study last year for the construction of a $225-million floating bridge on the Indonesian island of Flores known as the Palmerah Tidal Bridge project. Turbines beneath the bridge will generate up to 30 megawatts from the tidal movements, providing electricity for over 100,000 people in the region. 

The share transfer is related to a strategic decision by Strukton to discontinue its activities in the Indonesian market. 

BAM International, which has been active as a construction and infrastructure contractor in Indonesia since 1970, is seen as the ideal partner for the realisation of the Palmerah Tidal Bridge project as well as the international dissemination of the Tidal Bridge concept, the Financieele Dagblad said.

Related Articles:

Dutch firm to help build world’s biggest tidal energy plant


20TH KRYON SUMMER LIGHT CONFERENCE, US (7), June 2-4, 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version "The State of the Earth")

"....  A mini ice age is coming. "Kryon, isn't that doom for the planet?"  Many have seen the artist's rendering of major earth cities under ice and all of the other things that go very well with science fiction movies. That's simply a painting of someone's doom scenario, not reality based in the history of the cycle. If you want to know what a mini ice age is like, just flash back in history and study what took place in about 1650. That was a mini ice age. Due to the change in the Gulf Stream (the ocean), the river Thames froze in London. Dear ones, it was cold, but it did not doom the planet. That's a mini ice age.

That's what you're facing, and I'll say it again. If you live in a cold climate, heed this advice: It's going to get colder. Get off the grid! Within the next 15 years, find a way of producing electricity independently or in smaller groups. This can be done neighborhood-wide or separately in homes. You're going to need this, dear ones, because the grid as it exists right now all over the world is not prepared for this coming cold, and the grid will fail. That's not doom and gloom, that's just practical, commonly known information. Your electricity infrastructure is delicate, too delicate. Prepare for a cold spell that may last for a couple of decades. That's all it is. Technology is racing forward to allow this. Don't let your politics get in the way of your survival. ..."

"...  This is controversial. The planet can't just "change the water". It does it instead with a "reboot of life in the ocean" using the water cycle. Watch for evidence of this as it occurs, and then remember this channel. This weather cycle is to refresh the life in the ocean so that everyone on the planet will have needed food from the ocean. Gaia does this by itself, has done it before, and it does it for a reason - so it will not stagnate.

Dear ones, indeed, you have put compromising things into the air and the water, but it has not caused this cycle. We have said for a very long time, stop killing the environment! The reason? It's going to kill you, not Gaia. Gaia is spectacularly resilient and will survive anything you do. However, it is you who may not survive if you continue polluting. All this is starting to change with your awareness, and you're starting to see this and move with it. But Humans are not causing the current weather shift. This will be known eventually.

What is happening has happened before, and it's almost like a reboot for the oceans and it carries a lot of dichotomous events. You're going to see reports of a dying ocean, but at the same time you're going to see unusual reports of too many fish and other sea life in places that were supposed to have a decline. You're going to see the life cycle of the ocean itself start to change and reboot.

The chief player in this renewal is a place you would not expect: Antarctica. I want you to watch for magic in Antarctica. It has always been the core of the refreshing of microbes and other kinds of life in your oceans and it's especially active during these mini ice ages. The process will cause currents under the sea to be filled with new life, delivering it to both hemispheres almost like an under-sea conveyor belt. ..."

"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“... Japan

Let us talk for a moment about Japan, and then I'll close the day of messages. There are thousands of souls on my side of the veil and they're just fine, more than fine. We have spoken so often of what happens at the Wind of Birth. I told you, before they even came in, they saw the potential. I looked in their eyes. "You may not last long. You know that, don't you? You're coming into this planet and you may not be here very long. And the passing that you will have with your family will not be pleasant, if any ever are. Why would you come in anyway?" I want to tell you what they said. When a soul has the mind of God, it understands fully what generates peace and what generates energy shift. You can clearly see what generates what the planet needs the most when you are about to arrive. So they said, "We're going to be part of one of the biggest compassion events the planet has ever seen." One earthquake, one tsunami. All of those who left that day will change the earth forever. And it already has. It was the same for the last tsunami as well.

Every single one of them on my side of the veil is getting ready to come back. Many old souls were involved, and just for a moment, if they could give you any information, if they could talk to you right now, if they could speak your language and look into your eyes, they would thank you for your compassion for them and those who are left. And they would say, "Be with those family members who are still alive. Enter their hearts every day and give them peace and keep them from crying, because we're OK."

Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time.

So in closing, do you understand what you're seeing? You're seeing intelligent design, quantum energy and high consciousness. You are seeing changes in Human nature. You're seeing countries putting things together instead of separating. You are seeing those who don't want war and instead want peace, good schools for their children, safety in their streets and a say in their government. We told you it was going to happen this way. I want my partner to teach these things that I have said in his 3D lectures for awhile. Many won't be able to know these things otherwise.  …”