Renewable fuels will change the landscape

When asked what his view was of one of the significant changes likely to happen in the future (the next 40 years or so), Matt Conroy, Maersk Line’s trade and marketing manager, proved himself a supporter of renewable fuels. “One of the areas in which we have not yet fully realised the benefit of the research and development invested is the use of renewable energy,” he said. “This is definitely an area where we foresee significant gains over the next four decades within the shipping industry. This will reduce the dependence on the conventional bunker fuel and as a result Co2 emissions.” As he said, these renewable fuel types are lower emission power sources which will help shipping lines comply with the emission control legislation in the pipeline. From estimates available to Conroy from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), there are worrying statistics for any industry that is heavily dependent on fossil fuels. The burning of fossil fuels produces around 21.3 billion tonnes (21.3 gigatonnes) of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, but it is estimated that natural processes can only absorb about half of that amount. So there is a net increase of 10.65 billion tonnes of atmospheric carbon dioxide per year (one tonne of atmospheric carbon is equivalent to 44/12 or 3.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide). Carbon dioxide is one of the greenhouse gases that enhances radiative forcing – defined as the difference between radiant energy received by the earth and energy radiated back to space – and contributes to global warming, causing the average surface temperature of the earth to rise in response. This, the vast majority of climate scientists agree, will cause major adverse effects. But renewable fuels are more forward looking than just being lower emission power sources. They will also be a vital answer to the not-so-distant time when the global reserve of fossil fuels runs dry. If information published by the on-line encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, is to be believed, it is not likely to occur in the lifespan of most of FTW’s readers. But, it is certainly due to happen in the lifetimes of their children. The estimate for the years of production left in the ground with the current proved reserves and outflow is: Coal: 148 years Oil: 43 years Natural gas: 61 years And the years of production left in the ground (with the most optimistic proved reserve estimates) published by the Oil & Gas Journal on World Oil is: Coal: 417 years Oil: 43 years Natural gas: 167 years Remember, fossil fuels are nonrenewable resources because they take millions of years to form, and reserves are being depleted much faster than new ones are being made. The production and use of fossil fuels raise environmental concerns. Therefore, as Conroy said, a global movement toward the generation of renewable energy is under way to help meet increased energy needs.