I N S O L A T I O N

Please use our A-Z to navigate this site or return HOME

SOLAR POWERED OCEAN HARVESTER - This vessel is designed to operate in fleets to target ocean waste, zero emission. The proposed SeaVax-Calypso could conceivably capture up to 500 tons a day (green hydrogen enhanced). But there is no such thing as a free lunch & money talks. The project will have to be fully funded - or further development will not take place. Expressions of interest to: Cleaner Ocean Foundation.

Incoming Solar Radiation (insolation) is the energy reaching planet earth from our sun.

It is roughly 1.1 kilowatts per square meter before entering out atmosphere. About one kilowatt per m2 makes it to the earth's surface at the equator.

That is a lot of free energy, and it can be captured at the rate of over 21% conversion, with modern solar panels. And don't forget it is free energy from nature. All you need are the solar (photovoltaic) panels to capture all that lovely energy, as electricity.

Electricity can be used directly to power solar boats and cars, stored in batteries, or converted to hydrogen gas, for use in fuel cells - also to power ships and trucks. That is the start for the elusive Hydrogen Economy. Free of corruption and greenhouse gases from fossil fuels.

The reason this has not happened so far, is that fossil fuel companies are (in effect) paying politicians to keep them in business, with party political contributions and taxes. Around $2.4 billion a day, that governments are more than willing to accept as legalized bribery. Mainly because their policies are defective, in terms of circularity. Hence we have inflation and the cost of living crisis in 2022. Heavy taxes burden the electorate and accelerate climate change, to make up for poor policy making - based on never ending borrowing - and increasing National Debts.

A sustainable economy would necessitate cutting out, or at least drastically reducing corruption in procurement and politics. We assert that this is a prerequisite for Blue Growth. But politicians don't like anything they cannot tax. It threatens their free lunches. They may actually have to become productive - instead of making promises they cannot keep.

We need to cut out the middle men, to save the planet. A computer program would be far better at running most of the administrative functions, including elections, for a vastly reduced number of (dead-wood) cling-ons. Perhaps as many as 98% would not be needed. Those ninety-eight percent of nodding heads could work in the community. Doing something useful, to earn their living. It's a radical idea - that we don't think will catch on : )

However, in the case of emergencies and in particular the sargassum crisis, you/they/we may care to agree, that zero emission vessels will at least give those nations being deluged by the giant brown seaweed; a chance.

THE BATTLE LOST - What is brown and stinks? You might argue the G20's climate change policies : ) Sargassum is proof that the major players have fouled up big time. Once the brown peril hits the beaches, you've already lost the battle. You need to take the fight out to sea to turn the tide. By the time we have climate reversal, all these local business will probably be bust. If you believe otherwise, watch out for FLOP 27. We predict it will be more hot air and little action, as with the past 20 years of blah, blah, blah. Consequently, most Caribbean islanders would agree that sargassum is here to stay. Acceptance is key to dealing with it. And JCB's and other mechanical beach cleaners are not the way. They damage the beaches and mine the sand with the sargassum. Disposal is also a major problem, with few proper treatment plants, and burying the problem, likely to do more long term ecological damage.

MEXICAN NAVY - Because of the State of Emergency on the Caribbean Sea beaches of Quintana Roo, the Mexican Navy was seconded to haul in up to 600 tons of sargassum. But that barely scratched the surface of the problem. Normal ships use heavy diesel bunker fuels and are not specially equipped to catch floating sargassum, raising the carbon footprint - where the ideal is being carbon neutral. In addition, using manual labor to undertake such a task is not cost effective, compared to fleets of automated and autonomous drones.

Please note that 'automated' refers to the ability of a machine to harvest and sort sargassum from plastic without human assistance, while 'autonomous' refers to navigation in the first instance, and energy captured from nature in the second instance. In this case solar power. The good news is that solar panels are now a lot cheaper and more efficient than say 10 years ago.

LINKS & REFERENCE

http://www

 This website is provided on a free basis as a public information service. Copyright © Cleaner Oceans Foundation Ltd (COFL) (Company No: 4674774) 2022. Solar Studios, BN271RF, United Kingdom. COFL is a charity without share capital. The names Amphimax™ RiverVax™ SeaNet™ and SeaVax™ are trademarks.