With all the bad news around us every day, why not take a luxury cruise and forget about everything for a while?
🚢 https://www.ecowatch.com/europe-cruise-ships-sulphur-emissions-air-pollution.html
#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #Capitalism #BusinessAsUsual #Pollution
@pavsmith @breadandcircuses
Popular cruise ship ports do not have enough electricity infrastructure for ships to use whilst at dock. They need to run their engines when tied up, leaving these places with terrible air pollution.
And the sulfur scrubbers just shift the problem.
https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2019/09/articles/pollution/smoke-and-mirrors-cruise-line-scrubbers-turn-air-pollution-into-water-pollution/
“Scrubbers effectively turn air pollution into water pollution,”
@robloblaw @breadandcircuses but isn't that true simply of the refining and delivery processes. sure that's all true. pipeline loss is about 0.3% of global emissions.
electricity in port, yes, the bigger ports like Southampton have that. it's good though as long as you're not using fossil fuelled power!
most of the big ports are seeking to do that for all ships in harbour.
a second problem though is ships awaiting cargoes. they sit at sea idling. singapore is simply amazing for that! (all the "dots")
@pavsmith @breadandcircuses
https://www.iea.org/reports/global-methane-tracker-2024/understanding-methane-emissions
The energy sector was responsible for nearly 130 Mt of methane emissions in 2023
Fugitive emissions may low in advanced economies with newer infrastructure, but what about Russia or Uzbekistan?
Shipping no longer uses the dirtiest fuels. Cruise ships do.
Cruise ship destinations are often islands with limited access to a renewable grid. Even mainland cargo ports have trouble getting enough interconnect capacity to fully electrify.
@robloblaw @breadandcircuses "Shipping no longer uses the dirtiest fuels. Cruise ships do." - sorry but the opposite is true. attempts to eliminate bunker fuels in the merchant fleet have been defeated simply by a lack of jurisdiction. summary: it's utterly cheap, and we all want cheap goods.
the cruise industry is also heading for LNG and new ships are now routinely powered by LNG. this is not true of the merchant fleet.
i won't and cannot deny that cruise ships cause CO2e "emissions". everything does. people throwing uneaten food is a huge problem. but... it is 0.01% of global emissions. wouldn't your time and energy be better used fighting a material cause of emissions like, oh, i dunno... flaring of uncombusted fuels in refineries. they do it because it is a cheap way to rid themselves of waste, and the sky is a big place to store that. 8% of global emissions.
@robloblaw @breadandcircuses yes, which is a fabulous thing, but it is still going to be hard to police merchant shipping on the open sea where there is no clear jurisdiction.
however... the sudden obsession with sulphur is an odd one. two reasons. SO2 produced by burning that fuel is 44% as damaging as baseline CO2.
the best one of the lot, though, is that there is a problem that lowering SO2 might actually exacerbate climate change! this is a fascinating article from Imperial: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/253873/climate-change-accelerates-record-breaking-pace-sulphur/
plus, of course, there is the "best intentions" problem. who knew there could be consequences!!! https://interestingengineering.com/lists/environmental-protection-measures-that-backfired
Bread and Circuses
Paul McO'Smith III
robloblaw
