Japan launches first solar cargo ship

December 19, 2008 The Toyota Vehicle Distribution Center at the Port of Long Beach

The Toyota Vehicle Distribution Center at the Port of Long Beach. The world's first cargo ship partly propelled by solar power took to the seas on Friday in Japan, aiming to cut fuel costs and carbon emissions when automakers export their products

The world's first cargo ship partly propelled by solar power took to the seas on Friday in Japan, aiming to cut fuel costs and carbon emissions when automakers export their products.



Content from AFP expires 1 month after original publication date. For more information about AFP, please visit www.afp.com .

Similar stories from PHYSorg:


Russian cargo ship blasts off for International Space Station

created Jul 24, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Researchers define challenging carbon-emissions targets for U.S. auto industry

created Jan 28, 2009 | popularity 2.1 / 5 (10) | comments 13

Swiss team unveil pioneering solar plane

created Jun 26, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (42) | comments 21

Is trash the solution to tackling climate change?

created Sep 29, 2009 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Germany's biggest solar park inaugurated

created Aug 20, 2009 | popularity 3.7 / 5 (6) | comments 3


print this article email this article download pdf blog this article bookmark this article     Stumble it Digg this share on Facebook retweet share on Reddit add to delicious
Rate this story - 3.4 /5 (8 votes)

Rank Filter

Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

  • CreepyD - Dec 19, 2008
    • Rank: 4.3 / 5 (3)
    Do these things really guzzle that much fuel for that 0.2% to be worth it?
  • Jarrid - Dec 19, 2008
    • Rank: 3.5 / 5 (2)
    I suppose a little baby step is better than not trying it at all.
  • TJ_alberta - Dec 19, 2008
    • Rank: 3.7 / 5 (3)
    The cost of the solar cells are probably something like 0.2% of Toyota's advertising budget - which is probably where the money came from.
  • vlam67 - Dec 19, 2008
    • Rank: 1 / 5 (2)
    I hope this one has more luck keeping working than every single solar sail-powered apparatus/experiment that were launched into space that for one reason or another, never worked.
  • Velanarris - Dec 19, 2008
    • Rank: 3.5 / 5 (2)
    The cost of the solar cells are probably something like 0.2% of Toyota's advertising budget - which is probably where the money came from.

    Toyota doesn't ship anything other than plans. They're successful because they buy local resources, build a plant and start building cars, avoiding tariffs the whole way. As for a solar powered ship, does it even have enough surface area to devote to PV panels to go past 0.2%?
  • Corvidae - Dec 19, 2008
    • Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
    Do these things really guzzle that much fuel for that 0.2% to be worth it?

    Cargo ships measure fuel usage by tons used daily at a specific speed. Also, most of them burn bunker fuel, which is barely this side of coal as far as being dirty. As for being cost effective, I'm betting the para-sail idea would save more and cost less in the long run. I think I read savings of 15-20% on fuel costs from the sail, but that's probably exaggerated a bit.
  • runninglate - Dec 20, 2008
    • Rank: 3.5 / 5 (2)
    Toyota doesn't ship anything other than plans...
    says Velararris

    lol, Nippon builds a giant freighter and Toyota uses it to ship plans!!! Toyota must have a lot of paperwork... but according to the article, Toyota is using the ship to ship cars!!! Imagine that.

  • david_42 - Dec 20, 2008
    • Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
    "a solar-based propulsion system. So far solar energy has been limited to supporting lighting and crew's living quarters."

    TJ is probably right about the source of the money. You would have to be in marketing to be this clueless.
  • vladik - Dec 20, 2008
    • Rank: 3 / 5 (3)
    "Resource-poor Japan has been looking for ways to reduce its dependency on foreign oil."

    Fusion power is the only hope for humanity. All other options are just expensive waste of time.
  • zbarlici - Dec 20, 2008
    • Rank: 3 / 5 (1)
    Electric propulsion by means of a light-weight nuclear fusion reactor, which has just passed a milestone...

    http://tiny.cc/EnTJl

    I beleive they are trying to keep it low-key for the time being..

    The company that developed this fusion reactor has been contracted by the US Navy for over a decade to research and develop an electric propulsion to be used on tankers/carries/ etc.... and hopefully the next step will be a 100 megawatt continuous-operation scale-up.
  • zbarlici - Dec 20, 2008
    • Rank: 2 / 5 (1)
    R. Nebel - "If Polywell pans out, nuclear fusion could be done more cheaply and more safely than it could ever be done in a tokamak or a laser blaster. The process might be able to produce power without throwing off loads of radioactive byproducts. It might even use helium-3 mined from the moon. "We don't want to oversell this," Nebel said, "but this is pretty interesting stuff, and if it works, it's huge."
  • Velanarris - Dec 20, 2008
    • Rank: 4 / 5 (1)
    Toyota doesn't ship anything other than plans...
    says Velararris

    lol, Nippon builds a giant freighter and Toyota uses it to ship plans!!! Toyota must have a lot of paperwork... but according to the article, Toyota is using the ship to ship cars!!! Imagine that.


    Let's see 6,400 cars, that couldn't possibly be for the other islands in Japan's island chain would it?

    It's a short range experimental vessel, it won't be shipping the East West trade routes.

December 19, 2008 all stories

Comments: 12

3.4 /5 (8 votes)
  • Stumble this up

  • Digg this

  • share this

  • hide
  • Related Stories




  • hide
  • Relevant PhysicsForums posts

  • Motor Control H-bridge
    created 2 hours ago
  • Nonlinear State-Space
    created Nov 28, 2009
  • Ultrasound heating of metals
    created Nov 28, 2009
  • Friction coefficient
    created Nov 28, 2009
  • More from Physics Forums - General Engineering

Other News

Google said it will let publishers set a limit on the number of articles people can read for free

Google to let publishers limit free website access

Technology / Internet

created 42 minutes ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 2

Google on Tuesday said it will let publishers set a limit on the number of articles people can read for free through its search engine.


'Outbreaks Near Me' app now available for Android mobile phones

Technology / Software

created 57 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- "Outbreaks Near Me," an up-to-the-minute disease-tracking system released as an iPhone application in September, is now available for use on Android mobile phones, greatly increasing the number of people ...


New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo

Facebook, MySpace ban New York sex offenders

Technology / Internet

created 43 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Facebook and MySpace have closed the accounts of 3,533 convicted sex offenders in New York state under a law combating online predators, officials said Tuesday.


Dutch PhD student develops device to combat noise

Technology / Engineering

created 2 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Johan Wesselink of the University of Twente, The Netherlands, has developed a device to actively combat noise nuisance. This invention curtails sound waves and vibrations by producing anti-noise. The researcher is confident ...


Rupert Murdoch

Murdoch: Media must get readers to pay for online

Technology / Internet

created 4 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 5

(AP) -- Media companies wishing to thrive in the digital age need to persuade consumers to pay for news online by providing compelling information in any form they want, News Corp. Chairman and CEO Rupert ...