10 years ago invested in an Australian company pioneering hybrid power systems for marine vessels, starting with ferries but ambitions much larger…like oil tanker large. A decade later they may finally have a customer:
Roughly 50,000 ships carry 90% of the world’s trade cargo, and these ships tend to burn a heavily polluting oil known as bunker fuel.
“It’s like tar, you have to heat it up to make it liquid so it will flow,” says Mr Dane.“These incredibly powerful engines run on incredibly cheap but dirty fuel so what we can do in the short-term is to ensure they use less fuel.”
The industry has proved hard for governments to regulate as it does not fall into one jurisdiction, however the United Nations International Maritime Organization has recently introduced new regulations on fuel efficiency and sulphur emissions that could drive demand for Solar Sailor’s technology.
Continued at http://www.bbc.co.uk