If we stopped relying on gas and oil imports tomorrow, the number of vessels sailing our seas would also be slashed by half overnight.

Tankers make up half of the world fleet, and their only purpose is to move oil and gas around the world.

@fabio Ok but how many of those would be replaced by vessles transporting the materials for solar panels, solar panels themselves, or related green tech. I have no doubt it is less, but any honest analysis or assertation on this topic would include that since it is not accurate or fair to say those ships would be eliminated when clearly they would be replaced, at least partially.

@freemo I don’t have an estimate within reach of the shipments carrying green techware, but my working assumption is that that number (in steady conditions) may be at least 1-2 orders of magnitude lower than oil/gas tankers.

After they’ve been built, you need to replace a solar panel or a wind turbine after about 2-3 decades of operation, while you need a continuous supply of oil or gas to burn in order to produce energy.

The only trade that is likely to increase is probably that of lithium and cobalt, as energy storage becomes a more widespread practice, but again the lifespan of a high density battery is much, much longer than that of a barrel of oil.