It’s a fact that today’s cruise ships belch out a ton of gases. Literally a ton. The power plants on 100,000 ton ships grind through a lot of petrol.

Here’s an idea – sails!   Just like in the old days.  True, we do have a few large pleasure craft on the seas with sails, but not many. I once took a vacation on the sailing tall masted “Windjammer” cruises.   This was over 30 years ago…and I don’t know if they are still in business.  Think Club Med-type fun….toga party, beer games, etc.

Anyway, our craft was a retired Coast Guard training ship with three masts. It worked.

Enter a little known company, Peace Boat. It’s not a start-up and but is looking for investors. They are now trying to get funding, and they have cut a deal with a shipbuilder. It hopes to be open for business in 2020.  The idea is to become a low-carbon model for the cruise industry and move for climate action world-wide.

Called the “Ecoship,” it will use sails (10 of them), solar panels, wind turbines, and liquid natural gas. Estimates are of about a 50% cut in carbon dioxide when compared to a standard cruise ship of comparable size. How many passengers will be accommodated?  2,000 is the target – that’s a nice size.

Look at these goals:

20% cut of propulsion energy
50% cuts on electricity load
Integrated heat recovery and reuse system
Fuel adaptability and future readiness

Related: Evolution of Cruise ship power plants means lower emissions.

As the rendering shows, the proposed ship kinda looks to me like a whale or maybe supertrain on the waves.

Thinking out of the box.

Subscribe to get news like this weekly.  Send  us your comments.