Prospects for renewable energy for seaborne transportation - Taiwan example

This paper highlights the need for the development of a renewable infrastructure for marine transportation. The result of a survey performed in this study serves as information for public policy makers on the degree to which policy can or should attempt to provide guidelines and incentives in shaping the attitude or behaviors of the industry towards the application. There is a high degree of preference for renewable over fossil as energy source for both ship power and household electricity. While solar is the most favorable energy type for household electricity, hydrogen combustion (80%) is the most supported alternative for powering commercial shipping. The fuel cell (FC) is the next highly favored (64%) alternative energy that is applied onboard ship as perceived by the Taiwanese maritime industry. The result also indicates that the preference of a specific energy type onboard ship is also based upon other factors such as feasibility rather than the respondents' personal preference. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.