An Interesting Read

[alansmith]

Came across an article the other day about charter yachts going green in both the sailing and motor boat sectors of the industry. Thought I would share it with you.

I had no idea how much fuel the superyachts consume. But this article was not hammering on the wealthy people but showing how the "Eco Green" people have influenced the yachting community to start thinking differently in design.

I will copy and paste:

"Fuel burn is built into the DNA of superyachting the way calories are packed into the richest of chocolate fudge; some of faster yachts, like the 120-footers that can push 20 knots, may burn more than 200 gallons of fuel every single hour to achieve those decadent cruising speeds. If a charter client cruises, say, four hours a day for a week on such a yacht, then the total carbon emissions work out to about 123,000 pounds.

To put that into perspective, the average car, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, produces less than 11,000 pounds of emissions per year. The math can make the stink from a belching diesel seem all the more rancid to eco-minded charter clients, which is why more and more yachts are offering the Yacht Carbon Offset solution and other services like it. The retail agency Boatbookings.com recently added a “carbon calculator” to its website, letting charter clients see not only how many pounds of emissions different charter yachts produce, but also what it would cost to offset those emissions as part of the total charter fee. (That 123,000 pounds can be offset for a donation of less than $500, according to Boatbookings.)"

Somehow in my fluttering about the internet I have lost the article's source. Forgive me for that. The article goes on to tell how different manufacturers in the same segment of boating...say 100 foot diesel yachts...have changed the engines, designs, and carbon footprints to use less than half of what a boat manufactured 10 years ago. LED lighting, desalinators to get rid of the plastic bottles that so many careless sailors pitch overboard, solar panels to reduce generator run times, coilings around water tanks from generator pump hoses to bring water up to temp, and so forth.

Slowly we are changing. I only hope it isn't too little too late.

[Gadagirl]

Was this the article? Cool idea, thanks for sharing!

Green is Good - YachtWorld Charters

[JPA Cate]

Even to extremely wealthy people, there is an appeal for less expensive weekends out on the water, it gives you more thousands for fine wine, etc.

Ann

[alansmith]

Gads, bingo! That was the exact article. Thanks for that.

[Paul J. Nolan]

Zero emissions: set sail.

Paul