Some years ago I was amazed how much fuel a Canadian patrol frigate (ship) burned on a regular basis while sailing. I was so amazed that I pursued a thesis on the life cycle assessment of biofuels wanting to find out different options instead of extreme fossil fuel consumption. Unexpectedly, as is often with research, my thesis found that as long as we continue to use fossil fuel and continue to streamline and perfect the processes used to produce fossil fuels, producing anything other than fossil fuel or fossil fuel based products would be more fossil fuel intensive (more greenhouse gas intensive) and less what we want. Check out my thesis in the pdf below:
Products like biodegradable dog poop bags, cotton clothing, recycled gold from computer parts made into engagement rings, algal biofuel, bamboo toothbrushes etc. would all be more fossil fuel intensive to produce than their counterparts (e.g. plastic bags and plastic toothbrushes) because they aren't made with fossil fuel as part of their makeup (like polyester is made with plastic, which are made from fossil fuels) and the processes used to make them hasn't been optimized. So, how much fossil fuel does a 4,770 tonne (metric) Canadian patrol frigate burn while sailing anyway?Answer: Sailing continuously, up to 300 tonnes of fossil fuel a week. Let's pick the high side for our quick comparison purposes to put this number (300) into perspective. Comparison scenario: |