Hat tip to gCaptain for bringing this to my attention. The NYK Line has released more information on their Super Eco Ship concept design.
Highlights of this design include:
- 9MW of solar panels covering the entire topside cargo area
- Retractable sails between each cargo bay
- Self-unloading cargo bays
- Superconducting power link between the forward engine room and the aft thrusters
- Modular design that allows complete separation of the bow and stern from the middle cargo area (somewhat like an ITB, but the cargo ship version)
- Powered by modular LNG fuel cells
- sleek, low wind resistance design
I for one would like to see this on the oceans. Check out the concept video here.
Craig McClain is the Executive Director of the Lousiana University Marine Consortium. He has conducted deep-sea research for 20 years and published over 50 papers in the area. He has participated in and led dozens of oceanographic expeditions taken him to the Antarctic and the most remote regions of the Pacific and Atlantic. Craig’s research focuses on how energy drives the biology of marine invertebrates from individuals to ecosystems, specifically, seeking to uncover how organisms are adapted to different levels of carbon availability, i.e. food, and how this determines the kinds and number of species in different parts of the oceans. Additionally, Craig is obsessed with the size of things. Sometimes this translated into actually scientific research. Craig’s research has been featured on National Public Radio, Discovery Channel, Fox News, National Geographic and ABC News. In addition to his scientific research, Craig also advocates the need for scientists to connect with the public and is the founder and chief editor of the acclaimed Deep-Sea News (http://deepseanews.com/), a popular ocean-themed blog that has won numerous awards. His writing has been featured in Cosmos, Science Illustrated, American Scientist, Wired, Mental Floss, and the Open Lab: The Best Science Writing on the Web.
Sounds like a green Science-Fiction-Story…
Interesting concept. We’ll see what else will be possible when they start to build the first ship with this design.
Yeah, sounds like science fiction to me. That’s a LOT of solar panels, and they don’t come cheap. And how well would they stand up to pounding seas? Even if they did last, they would have to be cleaned almost constantly to keep the spray off of them.
I believe the technical term is ‘greenwashing’.
Are those retractable sails really going to produce more energy over their lifetime than the energy used carrying that extra weight and mechanical complexity? I’d like to see the numbers on that.
A superconducting link? Here’s an idea, since they are using LNG fuel cells why don’t they just put the fuel cells close to the thruster pods? I don’t believe for a second that the cost of running a cryogenic plant to keep a wire bathed in liquid helium is going to be less than the resistive energy loss on a big cable from one end of the ship to another. The other option is to have a really, really big helium store. But then you are paying the energy cost for lugging it around the world.
This sounds like an exercise in putting as many hot buzzword technologies into a video presentation than an actual engineering project.
…looks like a caterpillar.
I hope that someday, I will be aboarded on that ship if it will truly possible. It will be the best thing that will happen in my life. :)