💚 The Sails That Make Cargo Ships Greener 🌬️
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Hey fellow impactful ninja ?
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Stay impactful,
Happy Friday 👋
Here are the impactful insights that I have for you today:
- How wind-powered sails help reduce CO2 emissions from cargo ships 🌬️
- The AI-powered robot created to end recycling waste 🤖
- The eco-friendly plastics made from agricultural waste ♻
- And more… 💚
Did you know that CO2 emissions from the shipping industry are higher than those of all domestic and international flights combined?
These emissions are at about 858 million tonnes of CO2, with around half coming from container ships and bulk carriers!
Now, whenever you and I order something, we are indirectly contributing to these too. And unfortunately, we don’t really have much insight or influence into these…
That’s why I’m especially happy to share today’s top story about a technology that helps reduce CO2 emissions from cargo ships!
🌬️ How Wind-Powered Sails Are Steering Cargo Ships to a Greener Future
1️⃣ The big picture: A 43,000-tonne bulk freighter has successfully completed a six-month sea trial using a combination of diesel engines and high-tech automatic sails called WindWings. This innovative approach, blending traditional propulsion with wind power, demonstrates a significant leap towards greener, more efficient shipping. The WindWings are designed to supplement the ship’s diesel engines, capturing wind to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions.
2️⃣ Why is this good news: The trial showed that the WindWings enabled the ship to save three tonnes of fuel per day, translating to an 11.2-tonne reduction in CO2 emissions daily. This achievement is equivalent to removing 480 cars from the road for the duration of the voyage, highlighting the potential of wind-assisted propulsion to contribute significantly to the shipping industry’s sustainability goals. The technology’s success on this voyage represents a promising step towards reducing the environmental impact of one of the world’s most carbon-intensive modes of transport.
3️⃣ What’s next: The positive results from this trial pave the way for broader adoption of wind-assisted propulsion technologies in the shipping industry. The next challenge is ensuring compatibility with global shipping ports to facilitate widespread use. As the technology rolls out globally, it could lead to substantial fuel savings and emissions reductions for the shipping sector, furthering efforts to combat climate change and promote sustainable practices across international trade routes.
📢 Three More Good News
🤖 The AI-powered robot created to end recycling waste:
- San Francisco startup “Glacier” has developed an innovative AI-powered robot to improve recycling efficiency.
- Today, only 21% of recyclable material is actually processed. But with the help of AI, Glacier’s robot can separate recyclables from trash, reducing overall waste.
- This has garnered attention from major players like Amazon and is being used to enhance recycling processes in various areas including Arizona, New Jersey, and other states in the US.
🦅 A bald eagle nest was spotted in Toronto for the first time:
- Although bald eagles were only removed from Ontario’s at-risk list last year, a bald eagle nest was recently sighted in Toronto for the first time ever in a century.
- Conservation experts conclude this grand return is mainly due to the ban of chemicals and insecticides like DDT, which caused the birds to lay eggs with brittle shells. Not only is this a sign of recovering ecosystems, bald eagles are considered a good omen by Indigenous communities.
- To protect the bald eagle population, residents have been advised to avoid the area and avoid disturbing the nests.
♻ The eco-friendly plastics made from agricultural waste:
- Researchers have developed a new method to create a type of strong and durable plastic called polyamides from agricultural waste sugars.
- With an atom efficiency of 97%, this means the new process significantly reduces waste by using almost all the starting material to create the final product, making it a suitable alternative to our fossil-based plastics.
- Today, the university is increasing the scale of production for these sustainable materials to hopefully enter the market.
📢 Even More Good News Headlines From This Week
📺 The launch of the Eco-Flix streaming platform to support conservation efforts
🐋 The new no-fishing zones that give Antarctic marine species the chance to recover
🧑🔬 How scientists have found a way to enhance hydrogen generation efficiency
🏠 Why New York is installing heat pumps in apartments
📦 How Amazon is funding a recycling robots startup
🧬 How worms could aid in human cancer research
🤝 Three Important Awareness Events For This Week
💧 March 22, World Water Day:
- Every being on Earth depends on water for survival, yet 2.2 billion people around the world do not have consistent access to safe water.
- The UN created World Water Day to call for countries to cooperate on water, to meet everyone’s needs, and to foster peace.
🦠 March 24, World TB Day:
- On March 24, 1882, Dr. Robert Koch announced his discovery of the cause of tuberculosis, which was killing 1 in 7 people at the time.
- The goal of this day is to raise awareness of the devastating health, social, and economic consequences of the disease and rally support to end it for good.
🔐 March 24, International Day for the Right to the Truth Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations and for the Dignity of Victims:
- This day celebrates every individual’s fundamental right to the truth, especially in cases of human rights violations.
- It’s a tribute to victims of human rights violations and those who have devoted, and in some cases lost, their lives to promoting and protecting human rights for all.
Related: You can discover all the 115 most important awareness events (for the month, days, weeks) in our awareness calendar for March 2024!
📜 This Week in History
👨🏻🤝👨🏻 March 22, 1873: Slavery was abolished in Puerto Rico.
👩🏻🏫 March 23, 1882: German mathematician Emmy Noether was born. She provided lectures despite objections against a woman teaching and her innovations in higher algebra made her the most creative abstract algebraist of modern times.
👨🏻💼 March 23, 1910: Kurosawa Akira was born. Later in life, he gained worldwide recognition for his subtle but brilliantly composed films that combined historic Japanese themes with Western action, and is known as one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema.
💭 Quote of the Week
“People today have forgotten they’re really just a part of nature. Yet, they destroy the nature on which our lives depend.”
― Kurosawa Akira; Japanese filmmaker, painter, and first filmmaker to receive the Order of Culture from his native Japan in 1985
Share the news with your friends to make a bigger positive impact on the world and society!
Stay impactful 💚
