Green Race Proposal

Technically this is not the proper forum but the sail connection is at least present.

I am proposing a new race to generate interest and progress in green marine technology. The idea is an open race with simple rules to encourage efficiency and speed in boats, and by extemsion, ships. To ensure practical results applicable to commercial shipping, the race would be long distance between 2 commercially significant ports, not necessarily the same ones each year.

Rule 1: any and all means of propulsion permitted, but each entry must achieve a minimum transportation efficiency (ET), equal to say, 95% of the best result in the previous year; first year to have arbitrary target.

Rule 2: because size makes for greater efficiency, either the maximum displacement will be limited (preferred) or ET will be adjusted according to displacemnt using a suitable formula (potential for argument there).

Rule 3: any fuels may be used. I would like to see a way to measure consumption by fair market value of the fuel, however using the thermal value is more practical.

For the purpose of this event Et is defined as:

ET = distance x displacement x speed / consumption

Note: the winner is first to arrive not the best ET, as sail, manpower and solar boats will achieve infinite ETs!

 

Long distance commercial shipping is neither sustainable nor "green" in any way. See "The 100 Mile Diet", "Think Global, Act Local", etc. Thinking "green" means becoming more self sufficient, not depending on junk shipped to you from thousands of miles away. People need to produce their own food and energy, down this path lies freedom and independence.

Make the race short, no more than 100 miles. Include a perishable cargo, say vegetables, at least 500 pounds, or maybe a ton? Impose a maximum budget, receipts required, say $2500 CAD. This will encourage re-cycling and eliminate the need to control size or displacement. And zero emissions during the race, any fuel or propulsion you like, just no emissions other than pure water.

 

Good input. There’s more than one element in what you wrote:-

make do with less
do it more efficiently
generate less emissions

-and they’re all important. I was looking to make an impact on the last two.

Non-commercial competition can have a big beneficial impact if it’s done right. It’s got to be fun to watch and challenging to do. There’s some neat stuff in what you suggest but it might lead to a small-scale race that did not catch public attention, and a short distance, zero emission race might not lead to ideas that could be adopted commercially in the immediate future, although in the long term it might.

I don’t think the equivalent of the windjammer is likely to have a commercial impact in our lifetimes, but anything that might lead to more efficient hulls and propulsion systems -including auxiliary sails- would be great. If the materials and design knowledge we have today had been available 100+ years ago power might not have taken over from sail except as a standby.

 

Somewhere in this forum, there is a thread that describes some similar race objectives. I think (not sure) that it might have been posted by one of our Aussie friends.