![]() Silverstream has cut the overall energy needed, however, by filling air release units- small cavities built into the underside of the ship-with air. It requires energy to compress air and position it so that bubbles flow in a steady stream along the hull of a large, flat-bottomed vessel. Fuel savings of a few percent might not sound like much, but Silberschmidt says shipping firms can spend between US $5- and $10-million on fuel for a single average-sized vessel every year.Ĭruise lines Norwegian and Carnival have already installed Silverstream’s devices on some of their vessels, and more installations are due to be announced soon, says Silberschmidt. Silberschmidt says that, over time, air lubrication can reduce fuel consumption by five to 10 percent. It’s a bit like gliding your hand through a gently bubbling hot tub versus a still bathtub. The concept underpinning the device-air lubrication-is not new, but advancing technology is allowing the company and its competitors to retrofit existing ships with air lubrication systems, or include them in new vessel constructions.Īir is less dense than water, which means that the bubbles reduce the resistance between the ship and the sea around its hull. ![]() One contender is Silverstream Technology’s eponymous Silverstream System, a device installed in a ship’s hull near the bow that generates a carpet of air bubbles flowing all the way to the ship’s stern. With the push to make shipping more efficient, ship owners are looking for new ways to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. But this friction can be reduced in an innovative way, says Silberschmidt, with the help of millions of tiny bubbles, each just a millimeter across. For more than a century, gigantic steel vessels have been ploughing the oceans, generating seemingly unavoidable-and surprisingly costly-friction between ship and sea. ![]() Water is not as yielding as you think, says Noah Silberschmidt, founder and CEO of UK-based Silverstream Technologies. ![]()
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