Ocean shipping generating as much CO2 as aviation
While emissions from aircraft have received quite a bit of attention recently, particularly because much of it is at high altitude, there have been several recent studies of shipping emissions as well. Those studies by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the German Aerospace Center DLR and by the College of Marine and Earth Studies of the University of Delaware are indicating that CO2 emissions from shipping are comparable to those from aircraft and some other emissions are much higher.
The graph above is plotted on a logarithmic scale, so each line on the vertical axis represents an increase of a factor of ten. CO2 emissions for shipping and aviation are at a similar order of magnitude while road traffic is 5-7 times higher. Emissions of NOx for shipping are not far behind road transport and almost ten times greater than aircraft, and sulfur dioxide emissions are far higher for shipping than either of the others. With most manufacturing being moved from current developed countries to lower-cost sites like China, India and other countries, the number of container ships plying the oceans is constantly climbing. That means that by 2050 the emissions of CO2 and SO2 could double by 2050 and NOx emissions could exceed road transport.
[Source: Institute of Atmospheric Physics]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jfb 2:45PM (3/18/2007)
Wow, a logarithmic scale. I love when organizations present things in fundamentally dishonest ways to gain support for their views. I was very surprised at the numbers until I looked at the scale, and I imagine the majority of the populace will just take it as a linear scale. Huzzah. By 2050 everyone who made this study will have retired.
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SteveT 5:28PM (3/31/2007)
Do you have the breakdown of vehicles i.e. Trucking, cars, motorcycles? It would be interesting to know how much of the smells from trucks and motorcycle exhaust are contributing, yet can be fixed easily
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P.S. 6:00PM (3/11/2007)
Have anyone ever looked at the sources of natural generation of CO2?
Which would show how much volcanoes, and oceans are contributing to CO2 concentration into the atmosphere?
and why does no one talks about the sun, which is the main source of energy that heats our planet?
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Clever 6:32PM (3/11/2007)
From the article "For example, the related passenger and freight transported volumes will need to be considered in addition." This is a major consideration. Does anyone have data on metric tons transported via plane vs boat?
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John Rowell 7:43PM (3/11/2007)
It's clear from this chart that the emissions from either one, aviation or ocean shipping, by itself is similar to that of all road traffic. Startling.
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Mike Z 8:07PM (3/11/2007)
I'm going to recommend this story get deleted. The scale on the graph is *VERY* dishonest. In addition, I recommend that AGB not report any any other studies by that group until they clear themselves of such fraud.
That graph is such BS, its making me mad.
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Arnie 8:25PM (3/11/2007)
About sources of CO2 and it's role in global warming, I recommend this film - a new english documentary from Channel 4. It's on Google:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9005566792811497638&q=%22The+Great+Global+Warming+Swindle%22
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P.S. 11:11PM (3/11/2007)
#7 hehe, I just watched that today, so I was somewhat coming to those facts in the movie from the beginning.
btw to ABG you guys should post the video, which is linked in 7th post ;) great watch
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Howard Lee Harkness 9:55PM (3/11/2007)
About 1200-1500 times as much stuff gets shipped by surface ship, and it generates a comparable total pollution to all air traffic. Oh, big whoop.
Oh, and the fuel consumption -- TOTAL fuel consumption, not amount consumed per ton per mile, which again differs by a factor of 1200-1500.
BTW, that factor can be roughly calculated just by pricing the transport of goods by either method. I have shipped stuff from China by air, and by boat. I don't even pay the best rates for surface shipping, because I don't ship enough stuff at a time, so the handling, LCL (less than container-load) consolidation, insurance, and transfer fees end up being 4-5 times as much as the shipping, and the shipping is about 3x what I could get for a full container-load. But even shipping only 30-40 violins at a time, the shipping-only charge is around $125 per instrument by air, and $50 for the WHOLE LOAD by surface ship, or a little over $1 per instrument. There's a factor of over 100 right there in my own personal experience. The folks that ship multiple container-loads pay less than $0.20 per violin (shipping only, not counting other fees like insurance, transfers, and customs).
Excuse me, but what was the point of this article? Another attempt to baffle innumerates with bull****?
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rgseidl 12:23PM (3/12/2007)
@ Mike Z -
I beg to differ. Not only is the logarithmic scale clearly visible but each histogram bar is also marked with the actual value. For example, while CO2 emissions from shipping and aviation are of the same order of magnitude, those of road traffic are 5-6 times higher.
The point here is not to generally demonize aviation - as is currently happening in the overheated political debate in Europe - while blithely ignoring the environmental impact of shipping. Road traffic is included simply to provide a reference that readers may be more familiar with.
Of course, there is a big difference in the value to society between shipping - which supports global trade in goods - and super-discount airfares for long weekends in another city just for the hell of it.
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