Last week, the Ellen, the world’s largest all-electric ferry, completed its maiden voyage in Denmark.
From a press release by Leclanché, the provider of the batteries to power the ferry:
The world’s largest all-electric ferry, named Eferry Ellen, made its first commercial trip early this morning, Thursday, August 15, 2019, connecting the ports of Søby and Fynshav, on the islands of Aerø and Als, in southern Denmark. This revolutionary ship, capable of carrying approximately 30 vehicles and 200 passengers, is powered by a battery system with an unprecedented capacity of 4.3MWh provided by Leclanché SA (SIX: LECN), one of the world’s leading energy storage companies
The company claims that the 60 m long ferry will “prevent the release of 2000 tonnes of CO2, 42 tonnes of NOX, 2.5 tonnes of particulates and 1.4 tonnes of SO2 into the atmosphere” on an annual basis.
The Ellen can sail approximately 40.7km between charges, giving it a range that is seven times longer than any other fully electric car ferry. The distance between Søby and Fynshav is 17.2km miles, and it’s 15.2km between Søby and Fåborg. This means that it is capable of making a round-trip between the destinations and returning to the charging station in Søby to get topped up again.
While the Ellen has zero direct emissions, its batteries are charged by electricity from the Danish electrical grid. Even so, an electric ferry is likely to have a far lower carbon footprint than a comparable diesel-powered vessel. In comparison, electric vehicles on shore, powered from the grid by fossil fuels, have a carbon footprint up to 68% lower than internal combustion vehicles.
The situation is even better in Denmark, however, which gets a significant percentage of its electricity from wind power. In 2017, Denmark’s electricity sector used wind power to produce the equivalent of 43.4% of Denmark’s total electricity consumption.
That percentage will only increase. This week, Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik officially opened what is claimed to be the largest offshore wind farm in Denmark. The Horns Rev 3 project consists of 49 turbines and has a total capacity of 407MW, expected to generate enough electricity to power 425,000 households.
It will support Denmark’s low carbon ambitions and boost wind power production in the country by 12%.
And Greenland is still not for sale.
Why in God’s name would the US need or want to buy Greenland? If Trump has that much money, he should take care of the sick and homeless he is willing to ignore.
Why would Trump want Greenland? They don’t deny climate change or other science, and are more likely to laugh at Trump than go along with any of his policies.
Remember the late great recession? Greenland locked up the men who mismanaged their money. We just gave ours more money.
I like their philosophy.
Whether Trump actually wants to buy Greenland or not is really a moot point. What he has done by suggesting it is having a conversation as to why it would be in US best interests to have a stake in the game and pointing out that China and Russia are both becoming an issue in the area. It is classic Trump to start a controversial dialog just to raise awareness of the situation and to draw attention to what he (and in this case others) believes should be an actionable item. Denmark obviously doesn’t agree with the sale, but now they are under the gun not to sell mineral rights to China, who already has a shareholder stake in Greenland Minerals, Inc.
Who knew it was an issue until Trump wanted to buy Greenland?