Synthetic Sebum Makes Slippery Sailboats

sonnejw0 writes "Sea-faring vessels are a major contributor of greenhouse gas production due to a deficit in international laws and inherent inefficiencies at sea, such as barnacle build-up on hulls. Many marine animals avoid the build-up of drag-inducing barnacles through secreting oily residues from their pores or through the nano-molecular arrangement of their skin. Sailors regularly defoul their hulls, removing the barnacles at dry-dock, which requires them to reduce the amount of time they have at sea. Some synthetic chemicals in paints have been used to prevent barnacle build-up but have been found to be toxic to marine animals and thus outlawed by several nations. Now, engineers are trying to replicate the skin of marine animals to produce a slippery hull to which marine bacteria cannot attach, saving fuel costs and improving speeds."

Comments

It's a start

[Taco Cowboy]

A surface that inhibits barnacles is only a start, for there are other things one can do to make a ship more eco-friendly

One if obviously a more fuel efficient engine

The other is to improve the design of the propeller to make it more efficient while lessen the drag

Then there is the need for a much lighter material for the construction of the ships

Last but not least, new designs of ships are also needed.

Re:It's a start

[0100010001010011]

Go Nuke. They did it once http://www.atomicengines.com/ships.html, but made it more of a 'show' boat than a work horse.

* The Savannah was designed as a showboat. Her purpose was to demonstrate American technology as part of the "Atoms for Peace" program. Pretty lines and luxurious staterooms were more important than cargo capacity or loading ease.
* She made politically motivated port calls, not economically motivated ones.
* She was a one of a kind ship, required to support a specialized infrastructure by herself.
* There were some difficulties with union negotiations. She spent almost a year tied to the pier because of the deck officers did not want the engineers to make more money than they did.

With the air craft carriers no one seems to have a NIMBY problem. You could move quite a bit of cargo with a few lbs of uranium.

So it'll require hiring some more staff (Like an actual engineer and maybe some armed guards). The US Navy has managed to not have any nuclear powered vessel captured by pirates.

Heck I wouldn't have a huge problem if the US Government wanted to own and operate a super-super cargo ship if it ran on Nuclear energy. The amount of oil those ships burn is measured in thousands of gallons per mile.

Fire Hose Liner?

[handy_vandal]

Maybe we can line fire hoses with this amazingly slippery material?