Airplanes for sure. If solar gets crazy efficient, that will help. But with other fuels the plane gets lighter and more fuel-efficient as it flies. With batteries, the plane is just as heavy when it landed as when it took off.
There are some really interesting companies working on hydrogen for planes though, which might be the one sector that could really make that work and has good incentives to do so.
For ships, they used to be wind powered (sails) and some are going back there again, at least for wind-assisted hybrid kind of models. Throw turbines on there and you can even “sail” into the wind while recharging a bit. It’s also less weight sensitive than airplanes for obvious reasons, so batteries aren’t immediate nonstarters.
Airplanes for sure. If solar gets crazy efficient, that will help. But with other fuels the plane gets lighter and more fuel-efficient as it flies. With batteries, the plane is just as heavy when it landed as when it took off.
There are some really interesting companies working on hydrogen for planes though, which might be the one sector that could really make that work and has good incentives to do so.
Great podcast episode about that here
https://www.everybodyinthepool.com/items/episode-8-transcript%3A-what-if-planes-only-emitted-water
For ships, they used to be wind powered (sails) and some are going back there again, at least for wind-assisted hybrid kind of models. Throw turbines on there and you can even “sail” into the wind while recharging a bit. It’s also less weight sensitive than airplanes for obvious reasons, so batteries aren’t immediate nonstarters.