Hey all, sorry for the delay with this upload. Having a bit of a rough mental health month, which is the first time in many years it has impacted my work this badly. We had a version of this ready to go for Saturday, but I was so checked out that I missed many problems. On the mend, nothing I can't handle!

@BobHogenProductions

3 жыл бұрын

damn

@ben-ww7ks

3 жыл бұрын

converting current combustion engines to hydrogen combustion is the only realistic way forward, and it can be done cheaply and easily

@JuanJoseMartinezGuerrero

3 жыл бұрын

Hope you will get better soon. Hi and thanks for the great educational videos from Spain.

@ssiddarth

3 жыл бұрын

Hope you feel better soon & thanks for the great content ❤️

@jeremiebeaudoin

3 жыл бұрын

Keep your head up! The content can always wait.

"I need to do more research on the topic to form an opinion" most underrated sentence ever.

@deth3021

3 жыл бұрын

Not really, most bio fuels are just pork.

@AxxLAfriku

3 жыл бұрын

SUPRISE! I am the funniest YTer evah!!!! Just kidding, it was no surprise. Everybody knew already. HAHAHHAHA!!!! That was an amazing joke (it was real talk though). WAWAWAWAWA!!!! Good afternoon, dear alex

@Ryfried

3 жыл бұрын

@@AxxLAfriku are you ok

@bramvanduijn8086

3 жыл бұрын

Most underused sentence ever.

@logdog6762

3 жыл бұрын

This is what pro-nuclear people say before they realise they are pro-nuclear.

The World: Meters and grams The USA: football fields and humans Real Engineering: Empire state building and shoeboxes

@klomann9092

3 жыл бұрын

You never watch Galileo ......

@christianc.512

3 жыл бұрын

Hey hey, never forget about our friends from Liberia and Myanmar.

@phslhs

3 жыл бұрын

Greta Thunberg be like:

@a1tre680

3 жыл бұрын

how much is that in bananas?

@subjord

3 жыл бұрын

In Germany we also measure Areas in the unit Saarland. F.e. total area of parking lots in Germany is two Saarlands.

Pretty sure *all* ships used to be wind powered, with occasional muscle power...

@ViciousVinnyD

3 жыл бұрын

Yep. Our discovery of energy dense fuel allowed us to grow beyond the limits of wind. Now that we're feeling the consequences of this we're starting to backpedal on that choise.

@BernardLS

3 жыл бұрын

To address the suggestions that sail power is the answer I offer the following. In 1870 a premium sailing vessel entered service, the ‘Cutty Sark’, she could carry around 600 tonnes of cargo at speeds of up to 17.5 knots, dependent on the prevailing wind, to harness the energy the available spread of canvas was up to 2 976m2. To round things out that was circa 5m2 of canvas for every tonne of cargo carried. The ‘Cutty Sark’ was designed and built for employment in the tea trade where time on passage was a large factor in securing the premium freight rate that made her cost effective but as soon as the Suez Canal opened, which the ‘Cutty Sark’ was unable to sail through, she lost her advantage, raw speed, to the steam powered ships of that era. Mechanically powered ships have improved in terms of efficiency, on a freight tonne mile basis, by at least one order of magnitude since then. After losing out to the coal burning, steam reciprocating mechanical ships of the late 19th century ‘Cutty Sark’ was relegated to the Australian wool trade, just about the bottom of the barrel in maritime terms and only one small step up from being a 'honey barge'. The canvas, cordage and extra manpower needed for sailing ships was never a very benign environmental option so please discount any idea of sail as ‘sustainable’. All this is without the problem that if ‘the wind don’t blow the ship don’t go’, when it does blow it often blows in the wrong direction for your cargo delivery needs and sometimes there is rather too much of it for comfort.

@artemaung5274

3 жыл бұрын

@@BernardLS Wind power in the form of sail was outclassed by steam engines, but if we can harness the wind power in a more efficient manner with modern technology it could prove useful. I'm not convinced either, I think nuclear and potentially fusion engine is the way to go. But I think we shouldn't discount solar and wind yet just because modern technology diesel is better than 19 century sail. Maybe there's a way to use solar and wind efficiently with 21 century tech. Many advances and many orders of magnitude scaling have been made in both solar and wind sector to the point that it's now cheaper than coal in half the counties which was unthinkable just 10 years ago when it was an order of magnitude more expensive than coal. Without subsidy there are 20 year contracts signed for 4 cents/kWh for wind plants and below 3 cents/kWh for solar plants. For reference modern coal plant 20 year contract is 6 cents/kWh. Same advances could be possible in ship space.

@ahmeds4

3 жыл бұрын

Weren't as effective as the ones used nowadays tho!

@bozo5632

3 жыл бұрын

@Allen Loser Will happen.

Those cylindrical rotors look super cool, and an 8.5% fuel reduction is really impressive for such a simple change!

@nntflow7058

3 жыл бұрын

Especially if those savings affected millions of products they carry.

@JohnSmith-pn2vl

Жыл бұрын

we need 100% reduction, means electric, hydrogen is useless everywhere

‘Are renewable powered ships possible?’ Ship 200 years ago: ‘hold my sails’

@buddy1155

3 жыл бұрын

More like 5000 years ago (~3000 BC)

@user-nf9xc7ww7m

3 жыл бұрын

Horses had once hauled carriages on land. Why not use whales to haul trade ships?

@BasedBebs

3 жыл бұрын

@@user-nf9xc7ww7m Or we put a moon on each ship to make the waves push it

@macaroon_nuggets8008

3 жыл бұрын

@@buddy1155 No, ships had sails way past 5000 bc.

@buddy1155

3 жыл бұрын

@@macaroon_nuggets8008 I wouldn't be surprised at all. I just did a quick google search,

You: Are renewable ships possible? 17th Century Galion: Am i nothing to you??

@sietuuba

3 жыл бұрын

Check out the iron-hulled sailing ships of the 20th century. Some of those "windjammers" were _fast._ Some cargos on some routes could still use mostly wind power I'm sure.

@MrCurbinator

3 жыл бұрын

@@sietuuba way way waaaaayyyyy to much cargo. Some of your shorter range ships with inner cargo holds that operate mostly in islands? Possible. The crate haulers? No way. Those crates would mess bad with aerodynamics on the sails, even if you set them clear above (which you would have to anyway to catch enough wind for ships that big

@antondegroot6061

3 жыл бұрын

​@@MrCurbinator I think your comment shows a mindset focussed on what is familiar from the present and past. Forget about how containers are stacked on a conventional ship, forget how sails are mounted on a conventional ship. Go back to the basic question: Could it be feasible to move large loads using wind power ? And then we get to that sentence "I need to do more research on the topic to form an opinion".

@MrCurbinator

3 жыл бұрын

@@antondegroot6061 observing designs of the past and present is how you build for the future. Lets start small. Using modern synthetic metals, you could attach retractable rails to the superstructure to deploy studsails. You could run a sail on top as well (this is the best bang for bunk option, but creates instability). Rigging sails to the containers is right out. Companies ship excess product knowing a percentage will be rerouted to Atlantis. Cant rig to something that unstable and dynamic. Then theres the big question of water displacement. What is the ships ideal displacement, and do the added sails lift her up or push her deeper into the water. That will actually be what makes or breaks this idea because it dictates fuel efficiency.

@sietuuba

3 жыл бұрын

@@MrCurbinator I don't know how containerships should try it but bulk carriers ought to be more straight-forward with their clear decks. They would need proper keels again, definitely, and lots of ballast tanks they could flood if needed, I suppose. I'm not a naval architect and not even a sailor so I don't have anything to put down on paper even, but it doesn't seem like an impossible design challenge even for an ocean-going cargo ship. We couldn't make the (free standing!) masts very tall to keep the draft and forces on each mast within reasonable limits but modern ships are stupendously long so we'd have lots of masts instead, each fully automated. Re-rigging costs would make a comeback so each sail, or maybe even the whole mast with its sails that reef inside it, would need to be as modular as possible to make replacing for refurbishment on land fast and routine...

Wind power : "You could not live with your own failure." "Where did that bring you?" "Back to me."

@BernardLS

3 жыл бұрын

To address the suggestions that sail power is the answer I offer the following. In 1870 a premium sailing vessel entered service, the ‘Cutty Sark’, she could carry around 600 tonnes of cargo at speeds of up to 17.5 knots, dependent on the prevailing wind, to harness the energy the available spread of canvas was up to 2 976m2. To round things out that was circa 5m2 of canvas for every tonne of cargo carried. The ‘Cutty Sark’ was designed and built for employment in the tea trade where time on passage was a large factor in securing the premium freight rate that made her cost effective but as soon as the Suez Canal opened, which the ‘Cutty Sark’ was unable to sail through, she lost her advantage, raw speed, to the steam powered ships of that era. Mechanically powered ships have improved in terms of efficiency, on a freight tonne mile basis, by at least one order of magnitude since then. After losing out to the coal burning, steam reciprocating mechanical ships of the late 19th century ‘Cutty Sark’ was relegated to the Australian wool trade, just about the bottom of the barrel in maritime terms and only one small step up from being a 'honey barge'. The canvas, cordage and extra manpower needed for sailing ships was never a very benign environmental option so please discount any idea of sail as ‘sustainable’. All this is without the problem that if ‘the wind don’t blow the ship don’t go’, when it does blow it often blows in the wrong direction for your cargo delivery needs and sometimes there is rather too much of it for comfort.

@BernardLS

3 жыл бұрын

@Allen Loser Yes, I fell into the 'other' exam candidates folly; never mind the question display the knowledge you have! Still working on this though. Energy harvest is the key point, where does the energy come form and what is the cost of getting it to where you need it. With the side issue of how much do we need?

@BernardLS

3 жыл бұрын

@Allen Loser The best resolution to the ‘side issue’ is still reduced consumption, both by reducing the number of individuals and their per capita resource use. WRT establishing a credible correlation between ‘a credible cost versus benefit analysis’ this is rather like ‘count the chairs, measure the table’. With the added difficulty of convincing a sceptical audience, at what stage does ‘evidence’ become ‘proof’? The cost of improvements, such as reduction of sulphur in hydrocarbon fuel, is easier to determine than the balancing benefit, the improved atmospheric environment for which the loss of commercial opportunity is often substituted. A last thought on the ‘Cutty Sark’ illustration is now, but may not have been when I posted that part of the sub thread to you, ‘All this is without the problem that if ‘the wind don’t blow the ship don’t go’, when it does blow it often blows in the wrong direction for your cargo delivery needs and sometimes there is rather too much of it for comfort.’

@BernardLS

3 жыл бұрын

@Allen Loser Good morning Allen. Something of a days 'work here', to avoid any 'off the cuff' remarks it will be at least 8 hours before I can address all the points you raise. Blue Crude will be a research project all its own, sulphur content in crude oil was usually indicated by how 'sweet' or 'sour' the crude was, sweet (low sulphur) crude did tend to have a premium over sour but often availability and processability tended to be the key factors in crude purchase decisions.

@BernardLS

3 жыл бұрын

@Allen Loser If they still have LSD & ULSD in your area what is the price differential? I am taking ‘greed’ to be ‘enlightened and socially responsible self interest’. Sulphur is a corrosive and while not a lubricant in and of itself, it can combine with the nickel content in many metal alloys to form a low melting point eutectic alloy that can increase lubricity. The process used to reduce the sulphur also reduces the fuel's lubricating properties. Earlier information from my days hanging about the petroleum labs was that sulphur had some ‘lubricant properties’ which is why lubricity became an issue when in the early 1990’s ULSD was introduced, leading to much chatter about HFRR (high frequency reciprocating rig) performance and 'wear scar' values. If the wear scare was ‘off’ additives were, and still are, introduced into the blend to get the product back ‘on spec’. In Sweden Preem produce ‘bio diesel’ from forestry industry by product which is sold at the same pump price as fossil fuel; but supply of this ‘green’ fuel is limited by forestry production. My own vehicle use is a pre-owned high mileage Otto cycle Ford Focus running on E85, a blend available in Sweden that is 85% ethanol. The ethanol is mainly sourced from the Brazilian sugar industry and surprisingly though common in Sweden this grade is not available in the neighbouring countries; Norway, Denmark or Germany. The previous car I ran was a TDI (Diesel cycle) Ford Mondeo bought from my employer at the end of the corporate lease and again high mileage at purchase but when it stopped being economical to maintain at 17 years of age I downsized; the Mondeo, which ran on ULSD, had no fuel injector or DPF (diesel particulate filter) problems either from my own experience or in the service history.

Renewable transportation game: Select your difficulty: Causal - Railway Easy - Cars Medium - Trucks Hard - Ships Nightmare - Airplanes

@anonymousarmadillo6589

3 жыл бұрын

Actually ships would be the easiest to convert to renewable energy... They aren't concerned about weight as much as trucks or planes

@cmdr1911

3 жыл бұрын

@@anonymousarmadillo6589 They are governed by size of canals and that is another set of issues.

@anonymousarmadillo6589

3 жыл бұрын

@@cmdr1911 Yes, but they are not sensitive to a couple of kilos as trucks or cars are.

@cmdr1911

3 жыл бұрын

@@anonymousarmadillo6589 See what happens as you increase weight. Ships the same size sit lower in the water, require more power and will force a redesign of weight distribution. By far the best thing would be to use natural gas today and transition to using RNG from sewage and agricultural in the future since ports are typically near major cities and the US alone could produce 30% of today's natural gas demand from waste products.

@natemichael9655

3 жыл бұрын

Hardcore: Rockets

"I need to look into the subject in more detail, to form a more solid opinion." Take notes politicians, this is how to create a healthy environment for debates. Much respect

@Jesse__H

3 жыл бұрын

+

@commentsboardreferee7434

3 жыл бұрын

Don't be ridiculous - we need to take action NOW or the planet will cease to exist in 20 years. We must ban all fossil fuels right away, for a start. The time for debate is over. It's settled science.

@imperialofficer6185

3 жыл бұрын

@@commentsboardreferee7434 May we rest in peace in this case because fossil fuels aren't going away. It's a settled market

@nicklang7670

3 жыл бұрын

@@commentsboardreferee7434 you might be right, the more we drag on this over consumption the more it will impact the entire industrial world, including the fossil fuel industry. We are already in big debt to our environment, one day it will bust.

@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714

3 жыл бұрын

Politians are skilled lyars payed actors, they will say whatever they are payed to. Do not trust a word they say.

"Nice boat you got there, what's its MPG?" "207 tons per day"

@FUTUREDTECH

2 жыл бұрын

Hahahah 🤣

Energy-related problem: *Exists* Nuclear Power gang: "Allow us to introduce ourselves"

@apacheattackhelicopter8185

3 жыл бұрын

What could go wrong putting nuclear reactors on ships owned by private companies and sailing through pirate-infested waters?

@kariminalo979

3 жыл бұрын

*collides* with another nuclear powered ship

@Juanixtec

3 жыл бұрын

@@kariminalo979 Not an impossible challenge to solve, in fact, it's quite easy to counter

@Juanixtec

3 жыл бұрын

@@apacheattackhelicopter8185 Most nuclear reactors were designed by private companies, built by private companies and operated by private companies, the private ownership is irrelevant.

@Somajsibere

3 жыл бұрын

well the US did with it s carriers.

I love watching videos like these to keep me aware of what side of the dunning kruger curve I am on regarding topics like these - very well done & thank you for the education

@geraldwagner8467

3 жыл бұрын

Nuclear powered ships?

@TheSunriseAnimation

3 жыл бұрын

@@ThePursuitWOD We call those space ships.

@BernardLS

3 жыл бұрын

Yesterday I could not spell 'Dunning Kruger Curve' now I are one!

@billrichards1965

3 жыл бұрын

@@ThePursuitWOD discovered a new way of nuclear fusion that you're not telling us about, c'mon, fess up lolol

@antondegroot6061

3 жыл бұрын

@Kelas Enterprise yes and submarines. Wouldnt it be great if we could use that tech for cargo shipping as well ? I'm ready to believe it is more costly than burning oil. I'm ready to believe it is a sensitive issue regarding security issues. But technological it should not be a problem really. And if it becomes the norm and 100s of these ships are build anually, the cost could only go down as well. www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/07/breakthrough-in-size-safety-of-a-complete-nuclear-power-module-in-a-shipping-container.html

One quote- “Everything, that is hard and challenging, is deemed impossible until its done...”

@Pyriphlegeton

3 жыл бұрын

Sometimes it's also deemed just not worth the effort. :D

@s4dg

3 жыл бұрын

its clearly impossible, no one has ever managed to do it!

@PistonAvatarGuy

3 жыл бұрын

Which shouldn't be taken to mean that absolutely everything imaginable is possible.

@klutzspecter3470

3 жыл бұрын

*Cough* *Cough* "HyperLoop" "Loop" Are doing just fine, with the crappiest innovation designed.

@PistonAvatarGuy

3 жыл бұрын

@@klutzspecter3470 If their goal was to rake in money and accomplish absolutely nothing of value, yeah, they're doing great!

“Only 780 ships”... that’s a lot of ships for one company,

@5tr4nge75

3 жыл бұрын

When you consider that those 780 ships are transporting 17% of all freight by sea. Including oil, containers, etc. It's really not that many.

@lookingforsomething

3 жыл бұрын

@@5tr4nge75 You are right. At least how I see it he might be referring to the concentration of wealth and power to a select few companies in the world.

@Qboi1982

3 жыл бұрын

Not for the big boys

@payca4394

3 жыл бұрын

The US Navy has less than 350-500 warships

@pierzing.glint1sh76

3 жыл бұрын

He did say it was the biggest shipping company in the world, why are you surprised?

A video on biofuels will make for an interresting future topic. I work at a biodiesel plant in the US and we produce unfathomable quantities of fuel and other products. At our facility, we convert every portion of soy beans into a marketable product with virtually no waste in that regard. The fat is extracted from the solids which are converted into feed for livestock and then the fat goes through a chemical step to turn it into biodiesel and glycerol, which is further refined to a food grade glycerol. This process requires acids, bases, and catalysts at different steps, and we use steam from a central boiler to add heat as needed. As you've said, efficiency is vital when working with the scales that we do, but given all the carbon put into getting the beans to us, the fuel produced is far from carbon neutral. However, given the amount of farmland in the midwest that is best suited for feed products, converting soy into non-food products is a necessity to sustain midwest farming and the livestock producers that rely on the low cost feed it produces. My own conclusion, based on insufficient research, is that biodiesel specifically does not function as a step towards carbon neutrality but does provide a great variety of benefits that are realized in surprising places.

@biohazardlnfS

3 жыл бұрын

Nah at the rate we use fuel biofuels are also fueling mass deforestation and other issues amongst other things

@jakeaustin901

3 жыл бұрын

@biohazardlnf user @Eric Lotze made this comment: When most people hear "Biofuel" they think soybean oil etc -> biodiesel, corn->ethanol, and MAYBE anerobic digestion->biogas (and optinal upgrading to natural gas specs) This was all generation 1 -ish The recent stuff is much less of a food vs fuel arguement Mainly: - Algae as a feedstock (can grow in many places, grows VERY fast) - HTL and Pyrolysis to produce "Bio-Crude" oil (Which (to a certain extent) can be a "drop in replacement" for refineries - Cellulose etc -> ethanol ALSO There are many other products that will be NEEDED that require some form or refinery: - Lubricants - Plastics - Propellants (in aerosol canisters) - Refrigerents (Butane is a common one) - etc ALSO Biochar / Carbon Black (From methane -> hydrogen + cng, or other processes) can be buried for Carbon Sequestration Also the storage infastructure for methane and liquid fuels allows for energy storage via Power-to-X and Biofuels in all of the current "salt domes"

@spaceman081447

3 жыл бұрын

@Zaky-Bear RE: ". . . we produce unfathomable quantities of fuel and other products." I'm sure that the production engineering managers know EXCATLY how much is produced per hour, per day, per week, per month and per year.

@zak686

3 жыл бұрын

@Allen Loser Do you know why most of the midwest grows primarily feed crops? Land and rain are plentiful, so growing at large scale is the best way to increase profits. Relatively few food crops can be grown at the scales that this region can support and none are in nearly as high of demand as feed crops. Soy based biodiesel only uses a portion of the bean. A large portion still is used as feed products. Only the soybean oil is used to make fuel and even then, glycerol is produced as a side product which also has food use. There are some food products that use soybean oil, but once again, fuel has the greater size demand, which has served to drive down the price of the food grade oil as well since more beans can be grown per acre than virtually any other crop.

@zak686

3 жыл бұрын

@@spaceman081447 There is a difference between quantifying and understanding. If I told you that the average railcar carried 200 tons of meal and one customer buys 10 railcars each week to feed their poultry, you would know how many pounds those birds ate each week, but that doesn't mean you can even guess at how large the barns are that hold all those birds, or how many workers are involved in raising them.

Nuclear powered ships?

@PedanticNo1

3 жыл бұрын

This channel is historically anti-nuclear, despite generally being pro-science.

@notasgood459

3 жыл бұрын

Uranium fuels unfortunately aren’t renewable - but abundant enough to be used until we have true renewable technologies for everything I guess

@bearcatben4762

3 жыл бұрын

Nuclear is great but it's just not the best for portable applications for several reasons, first and foremost is shielding which as a rule is heavy, the second is availability and security of fuel because governments have a lot of red tape with transporting hazardous substances in and around them, and the third is the initial cost of installment and continued cost of maintenance and staffing.

@pancakes3250

3 жыл бұрын

A war will cause a catastrophy with a fleet of those. A single accident for any reason, an angry guy, will cause a disaster. Risky.

@enricodragoni

3 жыл бұрын

When facing a problem engineers shouldn't think of ways to add layers of complexity to a problem, but just on how to solve it. It can be done by asking the question differently. Instead of asking "Are Renewable Powered Ships Possible?" we should ask "how can we produce more locally so we don't need to transport a lot of useless stuff"

Man, never apologise for having a bad mental health month! We care about you more than your content! Please put yourself first! Your content is honestly amazing, and I don't think I'm alone in thinking that it's frankly invaluable! But your mental health is so much more important than your content!

@alexsis1778

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed. It's far more renewable to solve the problems now before rushed choices impact your videos for months and years to come!

@alwinvillero4404

3 жыл бұрын

@@alexsis1778 no pun intended

@viveknayak9899

3 жыл бұрын

Sir, this is a Wendy's.

Great video!

@bapposp5

3 жыл бұрын

９７％　ｏｆ　ｔｅｅｎａｇｅｒｓ　ｗｏｕｌｄ　ｃｒｙ　ｉｆ　ｔｈｅｙ　ｓａｗ　Ｊｕｓｔｉｎ　Ｂｉｅｂｅｒ　ｏｎ　ａ　ｔｏｗｅｒ　ａｂｏｕｔ　ｔｏ　ｊｕｍｐ．　Ｉｆ　ｙｏｕ　ａｒｅ　ｏｎｅ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　３％　ｓｉｔｔｉｎｇ　ｔｈｅｒｅ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｐｏｐｃｏｒｎ，　Ｓｃｒｅａｍｉｎｇ　＂ＤＯ　Ａ　ＢＡＣＫＦＬＩＰ＂　ｔｈｅｎ　ｃｏｐｙ　ａｎｄ　ｐａｓｔｅ　ｔｈｉｓ

@doapin6240

3 жыл бұрын

@@bapposp5 no shut up

“It’s important to convert these ships to renewable technologies when their time comes” Is it? It seems like they are barely making a dent. Not that it’s a bad idea but how high on the priority list should it be if they are less than 2% of global emissions?

@antondegroot6061

3 жыл бұрын

Well, thats the issue, you can say that for pretty much anything. Cars, trucks, trains, ships, airplanes, mines, powerplants, factories, offices, datacentres, homes. If you split it all up, everything only is a relatively small part of the problem and for every part people will say "should this be a high priority?" It is also why it is such a humongously difficult problem to solve. Solving each of these parts alone are already huge undertakings for humanity. And then to realize that each individually makes barely a dent and we need to fix them all.....

@guruspubichair

3 жыл бұрын

5:25. Ah yes, the USS Deaware. It’s okay. I had a typo on my thesis

@ryangarces9331

3 жыл бұрын

​@@antondegroot6061 Exactly, net zero means we have to find a solution for all the small parts, so we should work on solutions for every part of it now, instead of pushing it off for the future.

@bozo5632

3 жыл бұрын

Ships and aircraft are harder than cars and electrical generation. Do the easy stuff first.

@porterdavidson8358

3 жыл бұрын

Especially when you consider that their carbon capture technology we can us to make up for it

still amazes me how massive ships like these, carrying tons and tons and TONS of cargo and still float. like their very own floating island

Hey Brian, I'm usually one of the quiet viewers, that never comment on a video but I just wanted to say that your videos and the messages that come with them inspired me to start studying mechenical engineering (this autumn) and I just wanted to thank you for that!

@MisterJingo93

3 жыл бұрын

I hope you did more research beforehand, otherwise you are in for a bad awakening. You will not spend your time studying technologies on such a general makro level, however these days you will learn a lot about electronics, and you will spend a lot of time with graphs and maths.

@martins.9563

3 жыл бұрын

@@MisterJingo93 It wasn't a spontaneous idea and I did some research beforehand. Did you also study mechanical engineering?

@altosack

3 жыл бұрын

As someone who did study mechanical engineering and has been in the field for 30 years, I strongly recommend you to attend a program that has an option for a co-op program. I did, and while it extended my four-year degree to six, I had three years of experience when I graduated (it included summers for both school and work), I had no debt, and I had a better idea of what was important and what was not in my studies in later years. Also, after I graduated, I had *one* interview and was hired within the week. Good luck, and get many opinions other than mine!

@charlesharwood4724

3 жыл бұрын

Good luck, Martin! I am 79 and spent most of my life as an Engineer, finishing up as a designer. I enjoyed (almost) every day. Playing with expensive toys, at someone else's expense, and getting well paid for doing it! I once fell into the trap of people management but it meant that I wasn't practising engineering so quickly back-tracked. Best decision I ever made.

@sillyoldbastard3280

3 жыл бұрын

I studied ME in the late 80s and spent 2 years in a ME role before branching out due to the lack of job opportunities. I spend more time managing Electrical and IT/Telco projects these days. A great grounding but decent jobs are scarce.

Great video! One thing that is important to consider is to actually reduce the total amount of kilometers traveled. If we can bring manufacturing closer to end consumers by regionalizing industries instead of traveling around the world then we can have large improvements in co2 reduction. Obviously still keep shipping not shift to land transportation.

@AndrewMellor-darkphoton

Жыл бұрын

Reducing economies of scale might actually make it worse.

5:25. Ah yes, the USS Deaware. It’s okay. I had a typo on my thesis

@andresmartinezramos7513

3 жыл бұрын

Oof

At 3:40 you are measuring fuel savings per day but lowering the speed also increases the amount of time required. At 24 knots = 9.375 tons per knot, at 21 knots = 7.143 tons per knot, the savings are 23.8% not 33%.

@commentsboardreferee7434

3 жыл бұрын

If we lowered the speed limit to 30mph everywhere in the US we could save 10s of thousands of lives and many millions of gallons of fuel each year. I don't understand why we even allow vehicles to be built that go faster than say 40mph.

@pilchardpliskin9381

3 жыл бұрын

@@commentsboardreferee7434 30mph is reasonable for short journeys but unreasonable for long journeys which are pretty common in america. LA to san francisco, which are both in the same state, is 381 miles. It would take 12 hours. The trucking industry would be crippled and people who commute to work would have to spent an extra hour or two getting to work. america is too big and spread out to not allow high speed traffic.

@commentsboardreferee7434

3 жыл бұрын

@@pilchardpliskin9381 So you're more worried about industry and convenience than peoples' lives?

@sdfxcvblank5756

3 жыл бұрын

@@commentsboardreferee7434 yes we are

@pilchardpliskin9381

3 жыл бұрын

@@commentsboardreferee7434 not really, passing a regulation that cripples the economy will cause people to lose jobs and people die when lots of jobs are lost. How will food be transported? Will ambulances also be affected by this? There's a reason why pretty much no developed countries have national speed limits that low.

Pretty sure renewable energy ships were first popularized by Carthage in 650 BC so I'll go out on a limb here and say yes.

@HowlingWolf518

3 жыл бұрын

Hence renewable _powered_ ships. Quinquiremes didn't have motors or turbines.

@whydontyouhandledeez

3 жыл бұрын

@@HowlingWolf518 Pretty sure wind and buff dudes are both renewable sources of power, wind was already touched on an as for the buff dudes, well I'm thinking some kind of hamster wheel should do the job

@enricodragoni

3 жыл бұрын

@@HowlingWolf518 people rowing is a renewable source of power lol

@HowlingWolf518

3 жыл бұрын

@@enricodragoni Somehow, I doubt longships are going to make a comeback.

@DinoAlberini

3 жыл бұрын

Nope. They ran on heavy diesel.

"Industries around the world working to neutralize their carbon footprint an coming up ingenious technologies..." Like shipping their manufacturing to China and lying about their numbers?

@priyansubhagabati8157

3 жыл бұрын

Tell them to come to INDIA!!!! OUR ECONOMY IS IN RUINS!!

@tonraqkorr230

3 жыл бұрын

This is what i thought of. China is getting not only dirtier, but richer.

@pravda9646

3 жыл бұрын

@@priyansubhagabati8157 join the club

@airman122469

3 жыл бұрын

Literally this. It baffles me how anyone is taken in by that crap. It’s obvious that nobody is actually keeping track of the real carbon footprints of these companies.

@aoikemono6414

3 жыл бұрын

@@airman122469 Unless you get spies into every company, that's all we can do. Assuming they even keep track of it at all.

I always thought to make ships renewable it would take a mix of hydrogen and wind power, but I never new there was a wind alternative that was not sails until watching this video. Cool.

I work in the shipping industry and this is the best video on this topic i have seen. Not super negative and pointing at real solutions and steps allready made. Great video !

@elbuggo

3 жыл бұрын

A real solution to a non-problem? The ocean will eat all surplus CO2 anyway. Doesn't matter how much we burn, the ocean will eat it all, as it has done with the emissions from the volcanos for billions of years. There is no real problem to be solved - it's a religion.

@thomasgo1234

3 жыл бұрын

@@elbuggo how does an ocean eat co2 exactly ?

@jonas99g

3 жыл бұрын

@@thomasgo1234 CO2 is probably dissolved in the water and burried by sedimentation. But the rate is too small for it to safe human life if we keep blasting the carbon. You can already see effects of the added carbon in coral reefs, a big ocean ecosystem responsible for oxygen production, because the corals die under the carbon stress. It has many bad feedback mechanisms we probably do not want to experience.

@elbuggo

3 жыл бұрын

@@thomasgo1234 The ocean will convert CO2 to other substances, and store it on the seabed. Has already converted trillions of tons injected into the system by volcanoes for billions of years. All done chemically and without any effort - it is all automatically. There is no problem whatsoever, even in worst case. Some prominent geochemist explains it here, if interested: _Some Thoughts on Ocean Chemistry , by Tom V. Segalstad, Professor of Geochemistry:_ www.co2web.info/Segalstad_Chapter-6-3-1-2_Ocean-Chemistry_NIPCC_CCR-II-B_2014.pdf

@thomasgo1234

3 жыл бұрын

@@jonas99g it was kind of a retorical, question but i totally agree with you !

Been hearing about he mental health struggle you've been going through, glad to see another quality upload but please make sure you get the support you need! Sending love from Canada!

@langohr9613ify

3 жыл бұрын

Mental health is so underrated. When you are trying to do something good and meaningfull, you have to ask yourself tough questions all the time. +working primarly by your self on those big projects needs a lot of self motivation. This is a hard burden to carry.

Maybe we should give Maersk special dispensation to use civilian nuclear reactors. Worst-case scenario, if there's a meltdown, they could eject the reactor core (just like in Star Trek!) and drop it to the bottom of the ocean where it can't hurt anyone. Seawater is a fantastic radiation shield.

Naval architect here working on this specific subject. The video is good and informative. As added you could mention nuclear power which is currently investigated and also there is an interesting patent pending approval on this matter. Moreover, carbon pricing alongside carbon capture should be mentioned. They will probably play a role. But overall good.

I think there's a mistake in the "world co2 emissions"-chart. The info under 'waste', has also been placed under 'agriculture'.

@edomeindertsma6669

3 жыл бұрын

Also 'the Dutch West India Company' should probably be 'the Dutch East India Company'.

@Hotspur37

3 жыл бұрын

@@edomeindertsma6669 No Dutch East was in the Indian Ocean and the Dutch West was in the Atlantic

@JasonSmith709

3 жыл бұрын

@James Smith carbon dioxide also reduces the nutritional value of food.

@JasonSmith709

3 жыл бұрын

@James Smith go ahead look it up

@PinataOblongata

3 жыл бұрын

@James Smith Sure is. It's also a greenhouse gas responsible for anthropogenic global warming. Many things in the world have more than one effect. Water is nice to drink, but you can also drown in it and if you heat it up to steam, that's also a greenhouse gas.

Nuclear powered ships are very cool. They can drive for decades without refueling and are independent on weather or climate conditions.

@Aaron-wq3jz

3 жыл бұрын

Just doesn't seem efficient for what they need

@Pyriphlegeton

3 жыл бұрын

@@Aaron-wq3jz how so?

@Aaron-wq3jz

3 жыл бұрын

@@Pyriphlegeton well first you have to develop different reactors for different sized ships. Then redesign the structure of the ships due to weight of the reactors. Then the fuel is gonna cost more as u buy more material if suppliers cant keep up with demand. Then u gotta pay 2+ nuclear engineers 200k per ship. And when the ships service life ends that's even more money safely disposing the nuclear fuel. And the one if you main benifits of nuclear fuel is the ability to quickly increase power output which they really dont need to increase speed that quickly. Not to mention having having multiple companies who vary in how shady or trust worthy being in control of dozens of ships with nuclear fuel on it if mismanaged it could end up in th wrong hands. it just seems that the areas where nuclear fuel is efficient shipping companies don't care about or already have solutions on the way. And where nuclear fuel is inefficient is very expensive and complicated

@junelawson5719

3 жыл бұрын

@@Aaron-wq3jz It’s already been done economically. The Otto Hahn operated profitably using nuclear propulsion for several years. Additionally, there have been substantial developments in compact reactors recently.

@scotticusmaximus5558

3 жыл бұрын

@@Aaron-wq3jz a single NuScale SMR reactor module could in theory provide the power for a Triple E class container ship and i doubt it is much bigger or heavier than the two diesel engines

The main problem with any large scale vehicles like ships or planes being electric is specific energy of the batteries. Unless there is orders of magnitude change in energy density of the batteries which also are safe to use, I think we will have to rely on fossil or nuclear fuel

Well, the US Navy has been doing it with nuclear power for decades now. Adapt them into thorium reactors for security purposes and go for it.

@LillyP-xs5qe

3 жыл бұрын

@@Bobspineable less space then fuel and engine, they are bucket size, BUCKET SIZE, switching to nuclear would give them MORE SPACE

@danstevens64

3 жыл бұрын

@@LillyP-xs5qe oh so you're the expert huh? Then why aren't they doing this already? I bet you'll stump engineers globally with your response.

@mojojojo741852963

3 жыл бұрын

@@danstevens64 first of all, nuclear security will make it difficult to hand out reactors like that. Now regarding navel reactors, when outfitted they are effectively fuelled for life until the ship’s decommission. Not having to refuel will save these shipping companies a lot of money which could be invested back into more ships or something

@danstevens64

3 жыл бұрын

@@mojojojo741852963 i don't disagree with anything you've said. You might be replying to the wrong person

@LillyP-xs5qe

3 жыл бұрын

@@danstevens64 easy, capitalism! The fossil fuel companies just make sure the ship keep running on oil and destroy the planet cause that how they make money

This got released literally 15 min before my essays deadline. Topic of the essay "Cargo ships and the enviroment"..........

@prashantyerpude5674

3 жыл бұрын

GOT LUCKY HUH?!

@henrikfrland3001

3 жыл бұрын

Welcome onboard then ;) , I handed my exam in on Hydrogen-Based Fuel Cell Technology within the shipping industry some days ago

@MacSvensson

3 жыл бұрын

and? Was it a confirmation of the contents/conslusion of your essay, or did it show sometime you'd omitted to write about? Just curious :-)

@henrikfrland3001

3 жыл бұрын

My assignment spesified to only look at the environmental aspect of a technology, but had about the same conclussion even when not looking at cost

@dylanvadakumchery6747

3 жыл бұрын

@@MacSvensson I got to the same conclusion though the concept of the Flettner rotor (7:00) was completely new

Ship propellers are also optimized for a specific speed. Changing the ships speed, velocity of advancement and propeller rpm has a negative effect on the overall propulsion efficiency.

@Sacto1654

3 жыл бұрын

I'd almost agree, but if shipbuilders can adapt the propeller designs used in nuclear submarines, the result would be ships that can generate a lot of propulsive thrust but with higher efficiency and more importantly, reduced issues from cavitation (cavitation forces can cause all kinds of problems, especially shortening the life of propellers).

@rockets4kids

3 жыл бұрын

@@Sacto1654 I suspect nuclear subs need to operate at a much greater range of speeds and as such sacrifice high efficiency at a narrow band of speeds to achieve this. Engineering is always about tradeoffs!

@TheInsaneTD

3 жыл бұрын

Iirc, some of the latest propeller designs are actually able to change the pitch of the blades much like modern turboprop aircraft can, whole still not as effective at certain speeds as something dedicated, it is better then they were. It is an expensive and complex system though.

@FighterAceee94

3 жыл бұрын

@@Sacto1654 What you're describing are called controllable pitch propellers. They change the blade pitch based on speed and propeller rpm to keep the efficiency constant within a limited range. These are generally not used in commercial shipbuilding because of higher complexity and cost. Keep in mind military and commercial shipbuilders have very different objectives and requirements. I'd love to hear a military naval architects thoughts on this (if the subject is not classified), but I'd guess that nuclear subs don't have controllable pitch propellers for the sake of efficiency, but to minimize cavitation and thus reduce the acoustic signature.

@Sacto1654

3 жыл бұрын

@@FighterAceee94 The reason why I mention this: you wonder can they build six-blade propellers specifically for large container ships for optimized operation in the 16-20 knot range. Not only for lower fuel consumption, but also to reduce the physical effects of cavitation, which can be strong enough to break not only propellers, but the driveshaft itself.

those "sails" useing the magnus effect reminded me of something. there is a german company called Skysail that basically makes giant computer controlled air foil kites meant to drag cargo ships along the traditional trade routes that still follow mayor wind paths. Okay I dont think they can fully drag them along but reducing the fuel consumption is their main goal I think... they have been doing this for nearly 20 years now

1:40, CTC No.1, built in 1943, she’s a B class L6 Maritimer built during WW2 to haul iron ore to feed the war effort. She’s currently laid up in Chicago IL last serving as a cement Transfer Center (CTC) in 2009. She is owned by Rand logistics/Lower Lakes Towing. She can’t be easily scrapped due to aspestos.

Finally someone's talking about it. Worldwide shipping industry could do lots of efforts in terms of eco friendly transport. These boats, aside from using very bad quality oil, also have bad impact on the ecosystems they "sail" through. When stopping e.g. in Singapore to load cargo, they pump water into the ship incl. microscopic animals, algeas and others. Then they sail all the way to let's say France and offload the cargo as well as emptt the water they pumped in Singapore. Local marine life then faces new non-indegienous plants and microscopic animals which have the potential to completelt overrun and destroy local marine life. Ships are far more problematic for the world than we think, and no one except you talks about it

@jobvanbommel3912

3 жыл бұрын

They used to do yeah but that's not allowed any more there are now surtain areas where they have to lose the water and take on fees water so they don't get spread around

@TWCHHK

3 жыл бұрын

@@jobvanbommel3912 great to hear that it's coming under more control! Wasn't aware of that, thanks.

@CriticalRoleHighlights

3 жыл бұрын

Nuclear power plants would be the only option but they're currently only for military use since you don't want to risk them ending up in the hands of very bad people. Sadly, there's nothing we can currently do about it. Oil is required to literally fuel innovation in other energy solutions such as solar power. You can't go through industrialization solely on wind power.

I'm so glad channels like you and real science exist. you guys put out some very interesting stuff that's fun to learn about. I think educational channels like you guys need more attention

@baddrifter01

3 жыл бұрын

@Saluki N Fair enough, I was just saying that real science and real engineering should probably get more attention as I like those channels the most

I worked as a merchant marine engineer for a few years before retirement. The ships I sailed on were relatively small 30,000 ton bulk carriers with 14.000 hp and cruising at 14 kts. We burned approximately 200 BARRELS of heavy (very polluting) fuel oil and a few barrels of diesel for the generators every day while underway.

I live in a port city so the scale of these ships is very easy to visualize and man are they HUGE!!!

@KAMZA.

3 жыл бұрын

Where do you live? I also live in a port city but we only get medium sized cargo ships :(

@monkemonke9048

3 жыл бұрын

I saw a triple e it was huge

@YHWHsam

3 жыл бұрын

@@KAMZA. I live in the Norfolk, VA area. Norfolk is the deepest natural harbor on the east coast.

@KAMZA.

3 жыл бұрын

@@YHWHsam wow I didn't know that! Thank you for the info 😊

I am not any sort of engineering genius or fanatic, but I am always going to love your videos.

How did you make it through that entire video without once mentioning nuclear power?

@isakjohansson7134

3 жыл бұрын

Because its not renewable

@TheMagicJIZZ

3 жыл бұрын

@@isakjohansson7134 we that Arguement...the moon won't last to control the tides. The sun will not exist so no photons or atmosphere for earth so now wind. We can do fusion and fission

@xponen

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheMagicJIZZ fission is hard, dangerous and a long term pollutant.

@isakjohansson7134

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheMagicJIZZ i didnt mean to sy nuclear was bad, all i meant was that its not renewable and dont think the moon or sun will disappear anytime soon

@teemumiettinen7250

3 жыл бұрын

@@TheMagicJIZZ before moon or sun will disappear there will be a lot more problems... like a lot A LOT.

I just want nuclear power in everything, so of course I'd say, make cargo ships nuclear.

@nousername5673

3 жыл бұрын

Exactly! All US submarines and aircraft carriers are nuclear powered, from what I've read. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_navy#United_States_Naval_reactors

@ValentineC137

3 жыл бұрын

B-But nuclear bad :(( /s

@raziasrazias7761

3 жыл бұрын

@@ValentineC137 nope

@ufuker5754

3 жыл бұрын

İf you are unfortunet enough to get hit by a meteor yes but no

@ceyranmknat5820

3 жыл бұрын

There was at least one cargo ship that was nuclear, but the maintenance is expensive. Of course having more ships could lower the costs thanks to standardization. These cargo ships can't go everywhere either, because some countries/harbours have 0 tolerance for nuclear vessels. It sounds great in theory but in real life it's not that great. You have more fuel than it's life time so you need special team to decommision the ship which is also expensive, dangerous and in worst case poluting.

I think you just got me interested in shipping in a single 15 minute video.

If you’re going through rough times, please don’t give up. Better times are coming ❤️

@nortonwedge

3 жыл бұрын

Lies.

@user-nf9xc7ww7m

3 жыл бұрын

The ships are still coming, so all good 😋

@BernardLS

3 жыл бұрын

Winston Churchill said ‘if you are going through hell, keep going’. However someone else said ‘if your find yourself in a hole, stop digging’. The real problem is knowing just which sort of mess you are in.

@hoppy7375

3 жыл бұрын

yes death is coming ..

@BernardLS

3 жыл бұрын

@@hoppy7375 the only certainties in life, death and taxes, some septic said that or ACTAFI.

my masters group project was in designing a zero emissions ferry. I am also potentially doing a PhD in sail powered containerships. im hopefull

@harshalgole8729

3 жыл бұрын

Anyway I could contact you sir ? I'm a Marine engineer looking for a decent project topic

@happylatino

3 жыл бұрын

Just don't think biogas is answer, shape of lng containers prevents it's high capacity storage on bulkers, roros and ropas

@BernardLS

3 жыл бұрын

There are always emissions, human sweat at the very least from rowing. I suspect there is going to be an LCA in the project somewhere so once the group decide what the group wants to prove just adjust the choice of functional unit, measured parameters and boundary limits to get the desired results.

The quality of your videos is astounding.

The problem i see with wind powered ships is for example Sail boats are calculated as 1.5hp per sq ft of 60mph wind So if you have a 100sq ft windmill its taking in 150hp of energy (112kws) But that doesn't include generation efficiency which is about 70% But if its a head wind blowing it is putting roughly 150hp of stopping power on the ship, well only generating roughly 105hp of electricity at 70% efficiency exchange I.e its making more drag, then its making in power, costing more on fuel not less

Real Engineering: "Are renewable ships possible?" Me missing the powered bit: "Yes! We just need to get really good at genetic engineering."

@hellatze

3 жыл бұрын

Me a sailor : just use sail lol

@Fred_the_1996

3 жыл бұрын

Just use slaves to row row row

@danielculver2209

3 жыл бұрын

Canoe carved from a single log

@carso1500

3 жыл бұрын

@@Fred_the_1996 which makes the question, how many slaves would you need to equal the power of a modern freight ship

@Fred_the_1996

3 жыл бұрын

@@carso1500 tons of them

You didn't mention Nuclear propulsion which is way more clean and efficient than any other solution currently available.

@faragar1791

3 жыл бұрын

I think us nuclear energy fans need to create an alternative "Real Engineering" KZread channel, but the channel mainly talks about nuclear energy applications.

@stefan514

3 жыл бұрын

@@faragar1791 I think you´ll need to create your own channel called "solutions that could only work if no other factors would play any role"

@danil874

3 жыл бұрын

@@stefan514 other factors, namely "nuclear fermongering".

@fraznofire2508

3 жыл бұрын

@@faragar1791 do you know of any channels that do promote nuclear technology? I haven’t been able to find any and it would be nice to get away from the “nuclear is terrible” bullshit spread by uneducated people, like seriously some of the remarks about it on this video have no idea how it works

@faragar1791

3 жыл бұрын

@@stefan514 Real Engineering already has dibs on that name considering the mountain of factors this channel overlooks when talking about implementing renewable energy sources.

The fact that you as a creator admitted you need to do more research on a topic before formulating a complete opinion on biodiesel is beautiful. Another reason you are one of the best content creators on YT

12:16 hey thats the boat in the canal right now right?

@BernardLS

3 жыл бұрын

Not sure on this screen the second part of the name looks longer than 'Given' but may be of the same class (a sister ship).

The first 10,000 years of humanity knowing that wooden sailboats exist: :3

@USSAnimeNCC-

3 жыл бұрын

Amd now we have HMS Queen Elizabeth or a cruise ship man if people back then saw them they'll think we're gods

@ecospider5

3 жыл бұрын

Or demons. Depending on how much they recognize the destruction we have caused. :)

@speedy01247

3 жыл бұрын

@@ecospider5 those people are worse in general, witch burnings, slavery, rape and murder. Well we have those now but at least in general they are considered bad.

@baltulielkungsgunarsmiezis9714

3 жыл бұрын

@@USSAnimeNCC- They propably would think we are demigods.

I remember reading an article proposing that ships could fly kites up into the high altitude winds to act as sails.

@midnight8341

3 жыл бұрын

I think the company who wanted to do that went bankrupt. But Wallenius - a Swedish ship producer - wants to build the Oceanbird in 2024, a smaller cargo ship that uses wingsails to partially power itself through wind like smaller hightech catamarans are doing it. What I would love to see is if you could fit a ship already using wingsails with a flying kite wind power plant. Because you could get a bit of acceleration from the kite acting as a sail, but also electrical power from having it fly figure 8s in front of the ship. And I know it wouldn't produce much electricity compared to what the ship would need, only a few megawatts at best, but it could reduce fuel consumption a bit and maybe double as a small power plant in harbour cities once the ship is docked.

@jamesday7339

3 жыл бұрын

@@midnight8341 the flying kite power plant is not possible. A kitesail is typically moved into the best position to provide thrust so there would be no practical way to generate electricity

@midnight8341

3 жыл бұрын

@@jamesday7339 yet a kitesail is not economically practical in comparison to a wingsail, at least according to the companies. So you could integrate a kite wind power plant into the ship, since the ship is practically stationary compared to the kite, since it is moving pretty slowly. And depending on what method you use to generate electricity, I think a part of it could be used as thrust, even if it would be miniscule.

@jamesday7339

3 жыл бұрын

@@midnight8341 there is no way to generate electricity using a kite sail. They only provide thrust and as for the economics of kitesails vs wingsails kitesails will win in 90% of ship types because the deck space is too congested and there is too much over deck work done when in ports

@BernardLS

3 жыл бұрын

To address the suggestions that sail power is the answer I offer the following. In 1870 a premium sailing vessel entered service, the ‘Cutty Sark’, she could carry around 600 tonnes of cargo at speeds of up to 17.5 knots, dependent on the prevailing wind, to harness the energy the available spread of canvas was up to 2 976m2. To round things out that was circa 5m2 of canvas for every tonne of cargo carried. The ‘Cutty Sark’ was designed and built for employment in the tea trade where time on passage was a large factor in securing the premium freight rate that made her cost effective but as soon as the Suez Canal opened, which the ‘Cutty Sark’ was unable to sail through, she lost her advantage, raw speed, to the steam powered ships of that era. Mechanically powered ships have improved in terms of efficiency, on a freight tonne mile basis, by at least one order of magnitude since then. After losing out to the coal burning, steam reciprocating mechanical ships of the late 19th century ‘Cutty Sark’ was relegated to the Australian wool trade, just about the bottom of the barrel in maritime terms and only one small step up from being a 'honey barge'. The canvas, cordage and extra manpower needed for sailing ships was never a very benign environmental option so please discount any idea of sail as ‘sustainable’. All this is without the problem that if ‘the wind don’t blow the ship don’t go’, when it does blow it often blows in the wrong direction for your cargo delivery needs and sometimes there is rather too much of it for comfort.

I really hope you will eventually do a video on different biofuels! But please, take your time, put your health first and take good care of yourself!

@JohnSmith-pn2vl

Жыл бұрын

we need to get rid of fuels, they are the main problem, incresing efficiency of an inefficient technology makes no sense, electric is the only viable option that is better ine every way, biofuels are complete nonsense, so is hydrogen and e-fuels, its all nonsense fairytales.

Small correction (if I'm not wrong) 3:12 "The fuel consuption rises exponentially with each knot of speed added ". That statement might actually be wrong: it rises with the cubic of the speed : Power = Force * speed Force = Drag = constant(depending on fluid, area etc) * speed^2 => Power = constant * speed^3 And Fuel Consumption is directly related to power (also efficiency is to be taken into account for the calculation but it only add a multiplicative term in the expression).

question : wouldn't nuclear be an answer ? it works for carriers , why wouldn't it work for cargo ships ? it's cost isn't it ?

@fraznofire2508

3 жыл бұрын

Whilst I’m pro nuclear, people in other comments have pointed out current sea going nuclear isn’t suitable due to the need of such highly trained specialists onboard, but I feel things like SMRs would be perfect for the job

@cj09beira

3 жыл бұрын

most likely no, its regulations, nuclear is extremely regulated, air carriers are military so getting over those regulations is easier, for a private companies tend to avoid big regulatory messes when they can

@logdog6762

3 жыл бұрын

A big technical challenge is that Naval reactors use highly enriched uranium (90%+) in order to keep the reactor size small. Anything above 20% is difficult for civilian application because of proliferation risks and regulation. There are those in the shipping industry looking into it though.

@fraznofire2508

3 жыл бұрын

@Grace O'Malley yeah I agree, we need to remove all the stupid politics from it

@zolikoff

3 жыл бұрын

Nuclear naval propulsion has been a solved problem for 50 years. It could literally take over global shipping, at any point. The tool is ready, the engineering is solved. All it takes is for people to get off their superstitious asses and do it.

Could we not use Nuclear cargo ships?

@mathias8987

3 жыл бұрын

Yes we could do that but it is simply to expensive to use commercialy

@RobinHilton22367

3 жыл бұрын

@@mathias8987 was meaning on some of the largest ships. Ones where it'd be financially viable to have such engines, also supplemented with the wind things mentioned in the video.

@mathias8987

3 жыл бұрын

@@RobinHilton22367 could probably be used on those huge ships but a sinking would be far more catastrophic in terms of pollution

@junelawson5719

3 жыл бұрын

@@mathias8987 I don’t think it’s too expensive. It doesn’t compete with fossil fuels, but the costs aren’t out of control by any means. We’d have to see what alternative fuels cost to really get a proper impression. There has been interest from shipping companies in nuclear propulsion.

@randomuser5443

3 жыл бұрын

Why not? The ships should be nearly completely safe

The D- Day series on Nebula is really a great watch, and I literally can't get enough. Well done Brian keep it up! Also enjoying the founders podcast. P.s. I find a trip to nature for a week or so can reset all of the buttons. Think Connemara.

Are renewable ships possible? Nah, we lost the technology to sew large sails of cloth. Tragic.

With the reductions of speeds sailing is becoming competitive as main power for boats. A French startup called Neoline is currently working with partners to invent the first sail propelled cargo ship for transatlantic shipping. Can’t wait to see the majestic big sails on the horizon ! Godspeed !

@srs6461

2 жыл бұрын

That seems extremely unlikely to ever be used commercially, which is the most important detail.

@Intrepid17011

2 жыл бұрын

@@srs6461 Well, its a step. And maybe we find a combination of all of it. A Batterie powered Containership, using Hydrogen and Sails, that combined with Flettner Rotors. Expensive, for sure but i guess its just "slightly" more compared to the overall costs of a Containership.

@miltoska9708

2 жыл бұрын

@@srs6461 why? 0 fuel costs Even if it takes 5 times as long to cross, the cost reduction could probably make it viable

@benharris7358

2 жыл бұрын

hey im sorry i gotta spoil something for you - it is not even close to the first sail propelled cargo ship, thats been around for some several thousand years

New Real Engineering video!? LET'S GOOOO

@ben-ww7ks

3 жыл бұрын

converting current combustion engines to hydrogen combustion is the only way. it can be done cheaply and easily

Fantastic video as always Real Engineering, I hope you are feeling better by now. I wondered if you could expand on some of the engineering problems and solutions occurring in the agricultural space. In the graph, you showed from 2016 at 0:48 the industry is 18.4% [which is significantly greater than just the 1.7% of the shipping industry (still significant either way] of the world CO2 emissions and it would be fascinating to see how they are solving their transition to sustainability.

Nice, I will sign up to the Curiously stream and Nebula bundle now

"Are Renewable Powered Ships Possible?" Yes, make them nuclear powered, a perfect match.

@jeremytheimer7443

3 жыл бұрын

The US military already uses nuclear powered aircraft carriers, why aren't there nuclear powered commercial vessels. they are big enough, they are traceable, so what's the problem?

@swilso421

3 жыл бұрын

@T W Radiation is not a physical pollutant and can be shielded easily with water. Nuclear waste is contained in heavy metals and does not leak into the atmosphere. Air pollution from fossil fuels cause more deaths per year than nuclear power has ever caused in history.

@thephoenix1116

3 жыл бұрын

it is a good idea but nuclear power is not a renewable source of energy because to run nuclear power we need uranium/plutonium to make the nuclear engines work, however it is far more efficient that fossil fuels as the ships would only have to refuel every 20 years or so but it comes with a catch and that catch being that if some sort of accident happens like a ship having its hull ruptured or damage to the engine could make it go nuclear and that is not good not to mention the staffing, maintenance, the many regulations that countries have on transporting hazardous materials such as uranium/plutonium and the shielding that you have to put in so that they don't make the water radioactive and so the crew doesn't die or get sick from radiation poisoning and over time all that depleted uranium/plutonium will have to be dealt with and it is already a problem with nuclear reactors producing a lot of radioactive waste that can't really be used for anything.

@pseudotasuki

3 жыл бұрын

Do you have to sacrifice cargo area for fuel? Nope, you free up fuel area for cargo. Do you have to add refueling stops? Nope, you eliminate them. Do you have to slow down? Nope, you can actually speed up.

@chapter4travels

3 жыл бұрын

@@thephoenix1116 Nuclear is renewable, uranium is constantly being dissolved on land by water running into the ocean, we have millions of years worth and I will go out on a limb that we figure out fusion before then. Military ships all over the world have none of the problems you describe. Nuclear waste is not a problem, it's an asset and a great feature of nuclear power. Nuclear power, unlike any other energy source, contains and stores all of its waste, waste that is really unspent fuel, worth a fortune in future energy production.

5:26 Not trying to sound super critical but you have a typo saying Deaware instead of Delaware

@SPEEDYxArcher

3 жыл бұрын

Was about to comment this. Evidently its not considered that big of a deal though, not like its misspelling Californa or Tixas, that would actually be a big deal. But a small, mostly unknown state like Delaware? Eh who cares

My activism mindset and intrest in engineering and clean energy is what drives me to become an engineer. I love these videos, they are very fasinating to me.

I've been recently wondering why high altitude power kites haven't been thought about for sea transport. I'm sure it would be an engineering nightmare to get them back from such heights, but using jetstreams seems like a effective way to reinvent the sail.

@RM-xf9gi

2 жыл бұрын

Joby

13:14 the smooth segue may have masked the fact that you are now listening to a 2 minute and 10 second commercial.

@vidalayvongkhamchanh1142

3 жыл бұрын

Pretty sure all ships used to be wind powered, with occasional muscle power...

What about nuclear powered ship ? If they do it for airship carrier wouldn't it be smart to use that technologie on container carrier ?

@Jakob_DK

3 жыл бұрын

Nuclear powered aircraft carriers does not go to New York as an example.

@bramvanduijn8086

3 жыл бұрын

Nuclear is expensive and politically risky. Would be a good long term investment though, both economically and ecologically.

@flemmings5534

3 жыл бұрын

Thy are about one billion dollars more expensive so that might be a reason but i would love to see it happen.

@Jakob_DK

3 жыл бұрын

@@bramvanduijn8086 The Emma Maersk class ships we out dated in about 3 year. As they were not built for slow steaming. And the crew is 13 people total. Not much for a nuclear power plant, Rusatom has a crew of 69 with similar electric power to the ships power.

@northernvault5297

3 жыл бұрын

Never thought of the cost 😂 I admit this will be overcost maybe

Energy is never renewable as entropy or disorder increases while work goes to heat.

The answer is probably not. Giant electromagnetic sails initially make sense but they come at some serious downsides mainly that you can't use the deck for storage which severely limits capacity numbers. Generally speaking Shipping is dictated by three things crew cost, turnover time, carrying capacity, and speed. Now there could be smaller bulk ships (i.e. corn, coal, ore, etc) that uses wind sails type system because they need to keep the product in the berth. But you are extremely unlikely to see Container ships or break bulk ships use it due to it screwing with either cranes or carry capacity. We'll like continue to see container ships using diesel until either Efuel or Hydrogen replaces it due it requiring minimal changes. I took some marine engineering courses before switching to chemistry.

I'm like 95% sure all ships were powered by renewables at one point. In fact, non-renewable powered ships are pretty recent.

@cp1cupcake

3 жыл бұрын

@SAMUEL NAUMETS If you are looking just for eco friendlyness on those kinds of ships, then you have better options than renewable.

Fun fact: the ship pictured at 7:50 ran aground a few days ago in Mariehamn

Ammonia fuelled and Nuclear powered (although technically non-renewable) are both viable options. Compression ignition engines can be converted to run on green ammonia with some modifications, and a Nuclear cargo carrier has it's own advantages and unique set of concerns.

Hey, shipbuilding student here. So in my opinion (and the opinion of most of my classmates), wind power could be a thing, mainly thanks to the SolidSail that is currently being tested in St-Nazaire, France, or with the help of SkySail’s project, with the Beluga Skysails as a test bed. We are currently working with our teachers on wether or not this is a good idea. Just to say, we are well aware of all the new things that pop up in shipbuilding technology, and we also are more likely to incorporate these technologies into future ships projects.

@BernardLS

2 жыл бұрын

In 1870 a premium sailing vessel entered service, the ‘Cutty Sark’. The ‘Cutty Sark’ was 64.74 metres in length with a beam of 10.97 metres and a loaded displacement of 2 100 tonnes. She was able to carry, at best, 1 700 tonnes of cargo and to harness the energy in the wind the available spread of canvas was up to 2 976m2 which was tended by a crew of about 30 skilled men. The ratio between the sail area (SA) and the vessels displacement (D) determines how lively she was; ‘lively’ or ‘fast and manoeuvrable’. The carrying capacity of cargo ships is constrained in two ways, mass and volume which leads us to the ‘stowage factor’ of the cargo; the more mass on board the greater the displacement which in turn impacts the efficiency of the hull form and the sail area / displacement ratio. When in the tea trade, which the ‘Cutty Sark’ was designed and built for with fine lines she could carry around 600 tonnes of cargo at speeds of up to 17.5 knots dependent on the prevailing wind and had a typical China to UK time on passage of 120 days. The tea trade was very competitive so ‘time on passage’ was a large factor in securing the premium freight rate that made the ‘Cutty Sark’ cost effective. Rounding things out, her maximum available sail area gave circa 5m2 of canvas for every tonne of tea carried. As soon as the Suez Canal opened, which the ‘Cutty Sark’ was unable to sail through; she lost her advantage, raw speed, to the steam powered ships of that era who could beat her ‘time on passage’ by taking that short cut. Mechanically powered ships have improved in terms of efficiency, on a freight tonne mile basis, by at least one order of magnitude since then. Random fact about ‘Cutty Sark’, it is said to have been possible to coax 3 000 horse power out of her sails, or 2 206 500 Watts (2.2 megaWatts) or 741 Watts for each square meter of sail area, in ideal conditions. The sails on the ‘Cutty Sark’ produced about 0.33% of the power need to propel a Mearsk Triple E and proportionally a Mearsk Triple E would need a sail area equivalent to the acerage of a small farm to not go as fast. You and your colleagues have probably considered the wind speed envelope in which your design will operate and the wind patterns that prevail over the trading area you intend to service will you be able to match the availability and reliability of hydrocarbon fuelled propulsion? Remember shipping is a high volume low cost, therefore low margin business, and all costs have to be beneficial.

3:20 I'd love if the grid lines matched up with marks on the graph to make it easier to inspect the graph more closely.

Why no mention of nuclear? Or electric?

@cj09beira

3 жыл бұрын

the electric option at the end of the day is one way to use nuclear power, as there is simply no other energy source large enough

@bramvanduijn8086

3 жыл бұрын

Electric is being done for very short trips measured in hours, not days. The batteries are simply not good enough for 30 day long ocean voyages.

@SocratesAth

3 жыл бұрын

@Longrangehunter Just to clarify: hydrogen means electric propulsion.

Could you maybe go into the engineering behind freefall lifeboats as found on container ships and oil platforms? They're fascinating pieces of equipment, with some very interesting design compromises.

Just to bolster some of what you said, I did a research paper a couple years ago on biofuels. The conclusion I came to was much the same as what you say in your video. The vast majority of biofuel (bio-Diesel, Ethanol, etc.) are a complete waste of effort and don't do anything to reduce emissions. As well, if we needed much more biofuel than we currently produce, we might actually run out of corn. I think the stat was something like, if we convert ALL the corn we currently produce into biofuel, we could produce a whopping 1/4 of the amount of fuel we consume each year. And obviously we would have 0 corn leftover for anything else. And burning pure ethanol is terrible for engines, so unless it's mixed with conventional fuel (or new engines are produced specifically for it) it can do serious damage. There were a bunch of other points I made, but I'd have to go find that paper haha

@BernardLS

3 жыл бұрын

If you find that research paper could you send me a copy at 'gusstewbe@student.gu.se'. Tusen tack, mvh. Bernard

3:13 Is it really exponential? I feel like it should be approximately quadratic function, because power is a quadratic function of speed for air drag right? And water is just a different medium

@ma_nu

3 жыл бұрын

if it would only be friction drag, then yes. But you have wave drag and other forms of drag too. So that's why it is exponential

@Beerfazz

3 жыл бұрын

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_equation all formulas for drag seem to be quadratic, and if you have different kinds of drags they are just added up. If you think I'm wrong please name a source

@ma_nu

3 жыл бұрын

@@Beerfazz research for example froude number en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Froude_number There are several effects which are not quadratic. In aviation for example the wave drag near the sound barrier. And for ships there exists a similar effect with it's own wave created at the bow. That's why the form of the bow is that important as real engineering stated in the video.

@TJStellmach

3 жыл бұрын

@BAT THINK 🤣😂

@magosexploratoradeon6409

3 жыл бұрын

@BAT THINK Yeah you lost ne at "satanists and occultists". Pass.

Brilliant, Saw your excellent piece on RTE, about Turlough Hill a couple of weeks ago. Great work!

@RealEngineering

3 жыл бұрын

Working to license the footage now to adapt it to my style for KZread. Some cringe moments in there for me! Not used to be on camera

@kelzuya

3 жыл бұрын

@@RealEngineering Cringe is the RTÉ way!

@paddyokearney

3 жыл бұрын

@@RealEngineering I think that's more so RTE's overall style and through line. I've worked with them on a project a few years back and there was a little bit of that cringe. But overall an excellent piece. The girlfriend and I are going to visit Turlough hill once lockdown ends, on your recommendation.

@RealEngineering

3 жыл бұрын

​@@paddyokearney Yeah, I'm not sure what it is. They just like the very loud and short shouty pieces to camera that suddenly stop as you turn and walk away from the camera. It just feels super unnatural for me. The interview sections were fun for me and I learned a tonne from the producers. Great team to work with. Just had to let go of my desire for creative control a little.

@paddyokearney

3 жыл бұрын

@@RealEngineering I suppose that's probably down more so to RTE overall narrative style. It's kinda weird, but this lockdown has me watching more 'local' content. Definitely be great to see the likes of your creative influence on the network.

I can see two possible solutions that might be optimal, either with one dominating, or in some combination► 1. Biofuels. As long as it's not done on too big a scale, this might work well. No palm oil plantations, please. Rounding up "waste" products from forestry and agriculture might be the best source for most fuel (keeping in mind that these are not necessarily truly wastes). You could create biodiesel, or maybe propane or butane or LNG-like fuels. Ideally, you want no particulates and NOx, but let's keep this in perspective; minimal amounts of particulates and NOx aren't nearly as harmful over the open ocean as they are in cities. The CO2 emissions could be offset by modest amounts of air capture, where the energy source could be either waste heat from industrial processes, or electricity from wind and solar. 2. In-route battery swapping. The best configuration would need to be worked out, but I could see a ship design where a cargo-carrying top structure is slid away from a depleted battery pack and onto a fresh one, from one of a set of battery depots spread around the ocean, perhaps on the order of 1000 km apart. This would eliminate delays from stopping on long routes, and would have the advantage of a low center for the ship, making it more stable, due to the heavy batteries on the bottom. Efficient electric propulsion, and zero emissions, could be a compelling combination. No doubt about it, these would be some of the biggest machines ever made, but I don't see a reason why it wouldn't work.

Considering that for thousands of years ships used the power of the wind to travel all over the globe, and that right up into the 20th century there were still merchant ships which used sails and the wind as their primary means of propulsion, this question was answered long ago. By the 20th century, the sailing merchant ship had pretty well reached the peak of its development with the famous "P" Liners out of Germany. It would be entirely possible to build and use such ships again.

At 3:20, fuel consuption per distance traveled would be a better choice. But ok, I'll work out the percentages myself for homework :D

@Simon-nx1sc

3 жыл бұрын

I was searching the comments for this, thanks for being faster than me! :D

@BernardLS

3 жыл бұрын

With respect energy cost per freight tonne mile would be even better especially if there was value judgement of externalised environmental cost.

I would have really liked you to talk about nuclear energy as well. Wouldn't that be a good fit for giant ships?

@fraznofire2508

3 жыл бұрын

Exactly, things like SMRs have massive potential for powering large vessels

@brendo3808

3 жыл бұрын

Cost is a huge factor. Green electricity is getting so cheap nowadays that the only factor becomes where to put the generator. With nuclear reactors, while they may be amazing for providing power efficiently, they are hugely expensive. A cargo ship with 12000 TEU costs 104 million dollars. A Gerald R. Ford-class Aircraft carrier costs 13 billion dollars, which is 125 times the cost. Yes this isn't all the reactor, but you can assume the propulsion system is a large portion of that cost. Companies need to make profit, militaries don't. Its the same reason you don't bring a mining dump truck to a construction site, its unnecessary and expensive when a better option is available.

@HoveringAboveMyself

3 жыл бұрын

This channel hates nuclear energy so don't hold your breath.

@sauvagesparrow8026

3 жыл бұрын

@@brendo3808 Sorry but nuclear energy is cheaper if green electricity is as you say why have I ended up paying more for my electricity then everyone else in the USA we also got rolling blackouts last summer because they could not provide enough to meet the Daman.

@Pyriphlegeton

3 жыл бұрын

@@brendo3808 Great Answer, thanks!

This video talks all about efficiency of fuel use and a variety of great technologies for achieving more efficiency. It doesn't however talk about sustainability at all. decrease in fuel costs is more likely to just lead to more ships down the line. More ships only makes the production of goods people dont need cheaper and more efficient. i dont expect the video to come up with a solution to consumerism, but even mentioning that fuel efficiency and a reduction GHGs are necessarily linked wouldve been a pretty basic thing to put across

@BernardLS

3 жыл бұрын

May I add my £0.02 worth? The easiest, quickest and most effective way to reduce pollution from marine transport is to move less material and to move that reduced quantity shorter distances. Consumers can directly influence that improvement by consuming less and using locally produced material and products. Jevons paradox illustrates that improving availability and / or affordability of an item will increase consumption while human nature, and thousands of generations of evolution, has produced a 'wants' driven consumption pattern even as science, technology and success has allowed that humanity over proliferate. Our fundamental global problem is excessive consumption by a portion of the global population that is too large. Maulthus was not ‘wrong’ just ahead of his time. The system we have is the best we can do on a freight tonne mile basis; if sustainability is desired much less cargo must be moved over much shorter distances. So that is a 'plan B' but humanity keeps being stupid and there is no cure for stupidity. Profit is a good incentive but sadly it is possible to make 'better' profits by pushing some of the costs onto the wider society; such as atmospheric contamination from fuel use or other energy transformation. The number and greed of consumers on a limited living space may lead to over exploitation and thus degradation. The primary question is 'should the producers and regulators be condemned, pilloried and castigated or should the consumers recognise that they are ultimately responsible for what is happening?'

Bring back the wooden clipper ship! The rocking of a sailing ship gently agitated wines, maturing the flavor. A variety of Madiera, Ritorno, was shipped across the ocean twice and commanded higher prices because of it. Also, the addition of brandy as a preservative gave the wines an extra kick, beloved by grandmas to this day. Also, Indian and Chinese tea took on flavor elements the wood and tar of the shipping hold. The baking of the ship in the tropic sun often helped mature flavors as well. With modern weather and communication technology, wooden sail would be very safe and inexpensive. Sailing dhows are still used in East Africa, even going to India.

Why not make them nuclear powered like the US super carriers? You could make the ships twice to 3 times as fast which means you can reduce the number of ships by that amount.

@leoperez6737

3 жыл бұрын

I'm thinking the size, they would need to be gigantic ships micronuclear reactors could be for this types of ships, but anything smaller I find it difficult to overcome the costs. For smaller ships I'm thinking it will either have to be hydrogen or biofuels made from algea in combination of wind power

9:37 Also, LNG refueling stations can be extremely dangerous.

@jameslane2615

3 жыл бұрын

Not true. LNG transportation unlike other areas of the industry is incredibly safe and strictly regulated with the industry never recording a serious incident during cargo transfer.

@jacobdrum

3 жыл бұрын

@@jameslane2615 Sure, as long as things continue as they are. But they're massive terrorism bullseyes and if something *does* go wrong, it goes really really wrong.

@Golan360

3 жыл бұрын

@@jameslane2615 I would much rather work on a ship with a heavy fuel oil leak, than a gas leak...

The way you say "but" is so satisfying. 😄

Why not combine more kind of renewable? The wind power generators are cool but you could combine it with solar panels on the whole deck(maybe a blanket covering all the cargo, or new design for shipping containers), and also maybe if we change the shape of the ship a “bit” we could use somehow the tidal forces too.

Nuclear reactors? I mean Russia already has a floating nuclear power plant.

@Gornemant

3 жыл бұрын

Nuclear ships are nothing new, the Otto Hahn and NS Savannah were build in the 60s but were too expensive. Russia has their Icebreakers run on nuclear power. The technology is not a problem.

@kavikyu8703

3 жыл бұрын

nuclear reactors ultimately rely on nuclear material which is once again finite and not renewable. then there also comes the issue of disposal of the used nuclear material which is radioactive. nuclear power can cut emissions but it will bring about a whole new problem if accommodated into such a scale which is why he said we have to choose the alternative very carefully moving forward as it will be catastrophic if we cannot deal with the consequences of the new chain of events it will bring. nuclear power should remain on a small scale like power plants for now.

@Gornemant

3 жыл бұрын

@@kavikyu8703 there's enough radioactive materials to cover the whole of humanity's energy need for several thousand years, so that's far from being a problem. Disposal of used material is not a bigger issue than toxic materials from industry that is toxic for all eternity, it's even a lot easier. The quantity is ridiculously low at worst. Nuclear power should greatly increase, in small and large scale applications.

I love how the Evergreen casually pops up in this video

Thorium micro reactors are being researched pretty heavily. They're planning them for powering grid independent factories, so it makes sense cargo ships would be next once everyone gets used to them

@BernardLS

2 жыл бұрын

Just think; would you have full confidence in the management of a nuclear reactor under the control of an anonymous entity only traceable, perhaps, via a letter box in a FOC (flag of convenience) nation state? If you are, could you sell that confidence to Japan, the state that hosted the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear detonations as well as more recently the Fukushima ‘event’? Then try that same, or a similar, sales strategy on Ukraine, the nation state that as a part of the USSR (CCCP) hosted the Chernobyl ‘event’. Modern iterations of nuclear energy, thorium fuel, molten salt reactors, small modular reactors or fusion reactors, will carry the legacy of past problems. It is the global trepidation of anything with 'nuclear' in the name and the economics of nuclear having transitioned from 'energy to cheap to charge for' too 'the costs of remediation are incalculable' that will prevent the adoption of nuclear energy as a means of creating energy at sea. Modern reaction systems may have overcome the safety problems but the general public, having been misled in the past, will be reluctant to believe the fresh new promises. The incident of the ‘Ever Given’ blocking the Suez Canal, March 2021, may also have a little to add to this debate. The cooling water on ships tends to get taken in from near the bottom so when running aground the inlets are in a prime spot to get plugged up restricting, if not stopping, the flow of coolant. One thing that the TMI, Chernobyl and Fukushima incidents all had in common was that the supply of coolant, or rather lack thereof, was a fundamental cause. Similarly and only months later, May 2021, had the ‘X Press Pearl’ been nuclear powered then a major port for a populous nation in the global South would have possible been the site of a significant exclusion zone due to a non power plant related incident. If the ‘X Press Pearl’ had on board a fired up but ‘safe’ molten salt reactor and found herself having to dissipate the residual energy associated with the possible 12.5 megaWatt power cycle would a stable cool down have been possible? Would there have been sufficient heat energy contained in the power system to facilitate a hydro thermal explosion? In a casualty ships may capsize, like the ‘Karin Hoej’ off of Bornholm in the Baltic early December 2021, in which situation any safety system reliant on gravity might not work. It might also be worth bearing in mind that part of the TMI near miss the fault of the navy trained operators focusing on not letting the primary cooling system 'go solid'. The actions of the captain of the 'Costa Concordia', Francesco Schettini, may also be relevant; the consequences of his actions, whether due to ineptitude, an isolated act of incompetence or driven by a corrupt corporate culture, illustrates well one of the dangers of releasing nuclear energy into commercial shipping. As a second point if you fit 'walk away safe' reactors on ships you will need duplicate drive trains as there are seldom salvage tugs around when you really, really need one. A nuclear ‘dead ship’ drifting around NUC (not under command) would be a disaster waiting to happen and duplicate systems increase expense. Land based nuclear power plants have a few issues but are immobile, stable and usually well regulated. Reactors on ships by their very nature are able to move between regulators, bump into each other and roll over. Regulation of ships by both / either flag state or port state has problems and adding any nuclear regulatory obligations on to those already overstretched facilities would be very taxing for all involved. This is not about 'can it be safe' it is all about 'will it be safe'. Furthermore while merchant ships may be 'taken up from trade', as the RN would say, or may be captured or impressed by non state quasi military entities by way of piracy, cargo ships are not military vessels. They therefore do not have the same inherent level of self protection and internal discipline. Why not use nukes on merchant ships? It is down to engineering, finance, socio-political attitudes and safety.

I have a Nebula account just to get your amazing series on D-Day, not to mention everything else. Thank you for the best content on the internet!