The world’s first large ship to partly use solar energy to help power engine-related devices took to the seas on Friday in Kobe, central Japan.
The Auriga Leader, a car freighter jointly developed by Nippon Yusen (Japan’s largest shipping company) and Nippon Oil, has 328 solar panels on board, that produce 40 kilowatts of power. This is enough to generate about 0.3% of the energy needed for engine-based devices and about 7% of the electricity need for lighting and other purposes.
This doesn’t sound like much at first, but the ship is about 200 meters long and weighs more than 60,000 tons. The Auriga Leader will initially be used to transport Toyota cars to various overseas markets. 6,400 cars can be exported this way.
Nippon Yusen and Nippon Oil have invested a total of $1.68 million into the solar panel system.
I have come to believe the Japanese’s saying “Make something brief and smart, it will demonstrate how intelligent you are rather than talking about it” http://www.youtechno.info
Not to mention that transcontinental ocean vessels are NOT part of the mandate of emission reduction in Kyoto protocol or Copenhagen talks. Hats off for NYK who’s actually doing something rather than talking about it or giving out empty promises.
well, considering the amount of pollution these ships pump out into the atmosphere, I guess this is a big step in the right direction