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Michelin makes giant sails to make shipping greener

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Green Shipping - Level 0

Michelin makes car tyres and guide books. Soon, it will help to make ships more environmentally friendly. About 2.5 per cent of the world's greenhouse gasses are from ships. Oil tankers, container ships and cruise ships use fossil fuels. Michelin has made giant sails. These will cut the CO2 ships produce by 20 per cent.

Sails are 5,000 years old. Michelin will use them on today's biggest problem – climate change. Sailors fill the new sails with air to get them to their full size. They are 280 square metres in size. Michelin thinks the sails will mean there is less CO2 in the air. It added that wind is a great fuel because it is free.

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11 online activities    |    8-page printable   (PDF)

Green Shipping - Level 1

The company Michelin makes car tyres and guide books. However, it is now helping ships to be more environmentally friendly. It has made giant sails to make shipping greener. Shipping produces 940 million tons of CO2 a year – about 2.5 per cent of the world's greenhouse gasses. Oil tankers, container ships and cruise ships use a lot of fossil fuel. The new sails could cut the amount of CO2 ships produce by 20 per cent.

Michelin is using old technology on today's biggest problem – climate change. Boats have used sails for 5,000 years. The new sails are different. Sailors fill them with air to get them to their full size. They are 280 square metres in size. Michelin hopes to start selling them in 2022. It said: "Our aim is to contribute to the de-carbonization of [sea] transport." It added that the good thing about wind is that it is a free fuel.

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11 online activities    |    8-page printable   (PDF)

Green Shipping - Level 2

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Most people link the company Michelin with car tyres and guide books. However, the company is helping ships to be more environmentally friendly. It has tested giant sails that will make shipping greener. Shipping produces a lot of carbon dioxide. Oil tankers, container ships and cruise ships use fossil fuels to move around the world's oceans. The industry produces around 940 million tons of CO2 a year. It produces about 2.5 per cent of the world's greenhouse gasses. The new sails could cut the amount of CO2 the shipping industry produces by 20 per cent.

Michelin is using the old technology of sails on the most urgent problem the world faces today – climate change. Boats have used sails for 5,000 years. The new sails are different. Sailors fill the sails with air to get them to their full size. The sails can be lowered quickly if a ship needs to sail under a bridge. The sails are 280 square metres in size. Michelin hopes to start making and selling them in 2022. A company spokesperson said: "Our aim is to contribute to the de-carbonization of maritime transport." He added that the good thing about wind is that it is a free fuel.

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11 online activities    |    8-page printable   (PDF)

Green Shipping - Level 3

Most people associate the company Michelin with car tyres, guide books and stars for quality restaurants. However, the French tyre maker is now helping ships to be more environmentally friendly. The company has tested giant sails that it hopes will make shipping greener. Shipping currently produces a lot of carbon dioxide as oil tankers, container ships and giant cruise ships rely on fossil fuels to move around the world's oceans. Experts say the industry produces around 940 million tons of CO2 annually, and that it is responsible for about 2.5 per cent of the world's greenhouse gasses. Michelin's engineers say their revolutionary new sails could reduce the amount of CO2 produced by the shipping industry by 20 per cent.

Michelin is using the ancient technology of sails to tackle the most urgent problem facing the world today – climate change. Boats have used sails for 5,000 years to cross oceans or travel along rivers. The new Michelin sails are different. They are inflatable. This means a ship's crew can fill the sails with air to inflate them to full size. The sails can be deflated quickly if a ship needs to sail under a low bridge. The sails Michelin tested are 280 square metres in size. The company hopes to start manufacturing and selling them in 2022. A company spokesperson said: "Our aim is to contribute to the de-carbonization of maritime transport." He added that the good thing about wind is that it is a free fuel.

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25 online activities    |    27-page printable    |    2-page mini-lesson

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