Japan to Send their Ships Solar
With the entire planet in a crazy attempt to make everything from transport to washing green, it comes as no real surprise to see another industry take up the challenge. And, as with a lot of things technological, Japan is leading the way.
Japan’s biggest shipping company – Nippon Yusen KK – is going to be working with Nippon Oil Corp to develop solar panels capable of partially powering their vessels.
The plans will see Nippon Yusen invest approximately 150 million yen, $1.4 million USD, into the development of the solar panel system to be designed by Nippon Oil. The panels will be capable of generating 40 kilowatts of electricity, compared to a 3.5 kilowatt generating solar panel that you might install on your own home.
The panels will be placed atop 60,000 ton car carriers being used by Toyota Motor Corp, and save up to 6.5% of fuel oil normally used in powering the large diesel engines. Such a system is hoped to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by between 1 an 2 percent, which equates to about 20 tons a year, according to Hideyuki Dohi, general manager at Nippon Oil’s energy system development department.
And when are they looking to do this? “If it’s possible, we want to aim for the full commercialization of the system in the next three to five years,” Nippon Oil Executive Vice President Ikutoshi Matsumura told reporters.
Image Courtesy of Nippon Yusen KK
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This is FANTASTIC – we need so little room really to harvest solar energy – just the confidence to back this new (well actually very old) energy source.. Good for the Japanese ! We can all help to make wise climate change resource decisions – read the emergency triage response to current climate change crises at
ActonClimate
This is FANTASTIC – we need so little room really to harvest solar energy – just the confidence to back this new (well actually very old) energy source.. Good for the Japanese ! We can all help to make wise climate change resource decisions – read the emergency triage response to current climate change crises at
ActonClimate
6.5% doesn t sound like much, but at that scale I bet it is.
6.5% doesn t sound like much, but at that scale I bet it is.
Pingback: Japan’s solar ships | greengrowthguys.com
It sounds too good to be true, let me explain what I mean.
With an investment of ONLY 1.4 million USD these solar panels will be 11 times more efficient than the current solar panels.
What exactly do I miss here?
It sounds too good to be true, let me explain what I mean.
With an investment of ONLY 1.4 million USD these solar panels will be 11 times more efficient than the current solar panels.
What exactly do I miss here?
Oil, increasing in price, diminishing in supply, and soon to be exhausted if satellite surveys are any indication! We, the civilized world depend very heavily, for daily survival, on cheap light crude! Do we have a ready replacement? Hell No! We just plow on, towards an uncertain future, doing what we can to get through today! Corporations , usually easily dissolved at first signs of liabilities or losses are strange bedfellows for environmentalists looking towards sustainability for all mankind, but welcome aboard, at any rate, and may you find great sucess in this endeavor!
Oil, increasing in price, diminishing in supply, and soon to be exhausted if satellite surveys are any indication! We, the civilized world depend very heavily, for daily survival, on cheap light crude! Do we have a ready replacement? Hell No! We just plow on, towards an uncertain future, doing what we can to get through today! Corporations , usually easily dissolved at first signs of liabilities or losses are strange bedfellows for environmentalists looking towards sustainability for all mankind, but welcome aboard, at any rate, and may you find great sucess in this endeavor!