Comments on: World’s First Solar-powered Ship by Nippon Yusen KK and Nippon Oil Corp http://www.greenpacks.org/2008/08/29/worlds-first-solar-powered-ship-by-nippon-yusen-kk-and-nippon-oil-corp/ Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:43:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Alex http://www.greenpacks.org/2008/08/29/worlds-first-solar-powered-ship-by-nippon-yusen-kk-and-nippon-oil-corp/comment-page-1/#comment-11696 Alex Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:30:06 +0000 http://www.greenpacks.org/?p=934#comment-11696 Dear Dave, you say : "6.5% of the fuel they use would come out to more than $1.4 million per year." ...which means that 100% of fuels costs is 162400000$. Don't you think that is unrealistic? No ship pays 162 million dollars/year for fuel. 1 ton of crude oil is no more than 80 dollars/ 1000 liters. Which means according to your assumption, the ship would consume 2030000000 liters/ year. 2 billion liters / year !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think so. This 40 KW solar PV installation would need quite a few years to return its cost. It would probably need to be replaced before it did... Dear Dave,

you say : “6.5% of the fuel they use would come out to more than $1.4 million per year.”

…which means that 100% of fuels costs is 162400000$. Don’t you think that is unrealistic? No ship pays 162 million dollars/year for fuel.
1 ton of crude oil is no more than 80 dollars/ 1000 liters.
Which means according to your assumption, the ship would consume 2030000000 liters/ year.

2 billion liters / year !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t think so. This 40 KW solar PV installation would need quite a few years to return its cost. It would probably need to be replaced before it did…

]]> By: Dave http://www.greenpacks.org/2008/08/29/worlds-first-solar-powered-ship-by-nippon-yusen-kk-and-nippon-oil-corp/comment-page-1/#comment-1344 Dave Sat, 30 Aug 2008 01:42:39 +0000 http://www.greenpacks.org/?p=934#comment-1344 Of course, 6.5% of the fuel they use would come out to more than $1.4 million per year. Although it will cost money to install, it will save money in the long run. And in business terms, one year is not a very long run at all. Most businesses would be happy to see a return on an investment after 5 or 10 years. The purpose of commercialising it is to make it easier to convince ship owners to fit the solar panel system to their cargo ships. The money they make will be a nice bonus but the environmental impact will be more important (at least to me). I'm sure you're already aware of the kite-powered cargo ships that save 30 - 50% of their fuel with an enormous kite that is automatically deployed from the bow of the ship. Of course, 6.5% of the fuel they use would come out to more than $1.4 million per year. Although it will cost money to install, it will save money in the long run. And in business terms, one year is not a very long run at all. Most businesses would be happy to see a return on an investment after 5 or 10 years.

The purpose of commercialising it is to make it easier to convince ship owners to fit the solar panel system to their cargo ships. The money they make will be a nice bonus but the environmental impact will be more important (at least to me).

I’m sure you’re already aware of the kite-powered cargo ships that save 30 – 50% of their fuel with an enormous kite that is automatically deployed from the bow of the ship.

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