The BIG STINKERS?

[HAHA]

How about nuclear powered, extremely powerful tugboats, maybe catamarans or even submarines. Cargo would be loaded on seaworthy barges that can be towed and quickly dropped off and collected along the trade routes. The tugboats would be running more or less constantly to get maximum ROI. Moving the barges in and out of docks would be handled by smaller vessels.
A nuclear tugboat could also double as a mobile powerplant if needed or if normal business was slow for some reason. Maybe even the navy can adopt such a system and put their airfields on barges. They can rent nuclear towing capacity when needed and don't have to bind huge capital into their current type of specialized solutions.

[Arragonis]

I've highlighted the problem with the report, below.

Originally Posted by suspectnumber961

The Guardian has reported on new research ....

They run a lot of scare stories like this. A few years ago they were encouraging people to travel by ship instead of flying.

[Big Dave]

All things old are new again – sailing ships, twenty-first century style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyLjISR6XQQ

In this case its an awfully dinky ship with just one sail. Probably the sail cannot get any bigger or it parts the line. Wonder if multiples are possible. It’s just a control problem to keep them from tangling each other up.

Here’s a bit bigger ship.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP0x7...eature=related

[suspectnumber961]

Soot And Methane Reduction Key To Slowing Global Warming And Saving Lives, Study Finds

Two dozen scientists from around the world ran computer models of 400 different existing pollution control measures and came up with 14 methods that attack methane and soot. The idea has been around for more than a decade and the same authors worked on a United Nations report last year, but this new study is far more comprehensive.

All 14 methods – capturing methane from landfills and coal mines, cleaning up cook stoves and diesel engines, and changing agriculture techniques for rice paddies and manure collection – are being used efficiently in many places, but aren't universally adopted, said the study's lead author, Drew Shindell of NASA.

If adopted more widely, the scientists calculate that would reduce projected global warming by 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit (0.5 degrees Celsius) by the year 2050. Without the measures, global average temperature is projected to rise nearly 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.2 degrees Celsius) in the next four decades. But controlling methane and soot, the increase is projected to be only 1.3 degrees (0.7 degrees Celsius). It also would increase annual yield of key crops worldwide by almost 150 million tons (135 million metric tons).

[Ladogaboy]

Well, I can personally speak to the issue with rice paddies. Either you burn the excess straw, or you "soak" it so that it slowly breaks down -- and not well at that. So you have a choice of methane or smoke. I'm not as concerned with the methane, though, because most regions that support growing rice paddies would be mostly marsh/swamp anyway. They would be naturally occurring methane producers even if man weren't involved.

[gone-ot]

I say:

1) capture and "burn" the methane, and turn it into CO2 (wink,wink) !

2) ferment the cuttings & staulks into acohol and burn it, too, for more CO2 (wink,wink)!

[Arragonis]

Originally Posted by suspectnumber961

Two dozen scientists from around the world ran computer models of 400 different existing pollution control measures and came up with 14 methods that attack methane and soot. The idea has been around for more than a decade and the same authors worked on a United Nations report last year, but this new study is far more comprehensive.

I've highlighted the problems with this idea above. This is another of those areas which is far too complex to "model" unless they have a real world example which matches the model both before they created it and in reconstructions afterwards.