Without entering into a debate about whether climate change is man-made or not, I actually think the debate should be about clean air.
As an example, last year my wife and I cruised the beautiful Norway fiords and one thing I noticed which surprised me was the haze and smog including the distinctive “farty” smell of burnt sulphur (actually sulphur dioxide – combines with water vapour to form acid rain) which is being pumped from the smoke stacks of the cruise ships, including the one we were on, using bunker fuel.
This is a real dilemma for the Norwegians. On the one hand they love the tourism boom the ships bring but at the same time the ships burning bunker fuel are destroying the pristine natural wonder that the tourists are there to see.
Investigating this further, I found out something which amazed me. The emissions in the form of grubby contaminants from only 16 container ships burning bunker fuel was approximately equal to the emissions from all cars in the world combined.
I found the reference here.
Given the thousands of ships burning bunker fuel on the move at any one time around the planet's seven seas, it is scary to think how much of these contaminants including sulphur are being continuously pumped into the atmosphere and the volume of acid rain being created.
So the “green” minded who buy electric cars to “save the planet” but continue buying goods shipped from overseas and take the annual cruise to the Bahamas are fooling themselves.
Ironically, the solution to the pollution caused by ships using bunker fuel is simple: swap bunker fuel for LNG.
LNG is cleaner, more efficient and readily available; and because of its high octane rating is less expensive on a calorific value basis than bunker fuel – and there are NO grubby contaminants.
The by-products from LNG are heat, carbon dioxide and water vapour.
In my opinion, it seems a lot simpler and offers a more immediate positive impact to improve air quality worldwide if the G7 can implement swapping bunker fuel for LNG as a ships fuel.
Further, it will be a fraction of the cost of the current fossil fuel electricity substitution and electric car subsidies.
