Let’s start with an assumption: in terms of global impact, we can already consider boating a more than sustainable activity. The absolute pollution burden of our boats is very little. For example. qhow much greenhouse gas was emitted in 2014? As reported by various agencies and associations, for example, the IPCC, Epa and Sybass*, 9.86 billion are the Total tons of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere (mainly carbon dioxide -CO2– and nitrogen oxides -NOx– more or less in the ratio of 10 to 1 to each other).
The role of recreational boating? Less than 0.001%
And out of this nearly 10 billion, what role does transportation play? The figure is around 14 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. And within this sector to litter the most are, in order, shipping (the transport of goods by ship), aviation and cars, which together exceed 99.3 percent. The remaining 0.6 is finally the responsibility of recreation. In short, we are not the culprits of climate change because we emit 0.00084 % of those 10 billion.
In any case much can be done, but more importantly much has already been done. A boat today is much less impactful than the same boat 10 years ago. And driving the search was more than the desire to be environmentally friendly, the desire to spend less. In other words, being more sustainable is a win-win choice: you pollute less because you consume less and therefore spend less.
“A boat produced today consumes 25, 30 percent less than the equivalent boat in 2000,” illustrates Giovanna Vitelli, vice president of the Azimut Benetti Group. How were these results arrived at? Trivially with research. The shipyards listened to the market, which, in part due to the 2008 crisis, wanted boats that were less fuel-hungry rather than fast. The work was carried out by designers and builders was thus aimed at “improve water lines to make them more efficient and improve lightweight construction, to have boats that need less power to achieve the same performance, with the understanding that today extreme speed is no longer felt to be something desirable at all“, explains the Piedmontese manager.
In other words, it means that top speed is no longer the first figure you read when choosing a boat, but that today you do not have to go slow to consume less. So even on production boats, carbon elements began to appear, especially for the superstructure and reinforcements-all solutions that remove weight in favor of efficiency. Thanks to hull lines, construction, and engines, you can sail while consuming very little, or go fast while consuming much less than you used to.
“Even without waiting for the arrival of the new hulls that manage to consume 40 percent less, but are wider and therefore need rethought berths, we already have in addition to the engines also much more efficient generators, and reducing fuel consumption when not traveling is another aspect on which we have grown a lot from this point of view.”, recalls Luca Bassani, creator of Wally and a great visionary in terms of the evolution of the sailing and motor yachting world. But not only that, also in terms of climate efficiency.
Research for sustainability, but what does it mean?
The Arcadia yachts, to cite perhaps the most emblematic with regard to this aspect of sustainability, have light openings made with krypton-filled double glazing instead of air, and so the temperature inside is eight degrees lower than outside. And we deliberately did not address the catamaran issue here, which will be one of the hot topics in the next issue of Motor Boats on newsstands. The two hulls are much more efficient and therefore fuel-efficient boats, at least in travel. For sure, the next step for even more sustainable boating will involve construction materials, but only as far as fiberglass is concerned, because metal boats are almost already 90 percent recyclable. In any case, today people sail at the same speed with smaller engines and lower power ratings, with lower consumption for the same power and with less need for energy when using on-board utilities. To have zero-impact boating still takes more, but the path started is in the right direction.
*IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change under UN auspices.
*EPA: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
*SYBASS: Association of Superyacht Builders
That 30-meter “monster” that sails without consuming a drop of fuel
