Port of San Francisco Tests Out Shore side Power

Princess Cruises Island Princess was the first ship to hook up to shore side power while docked in San Francisco. The ship literally plugs into power cables from the dock. Several of Princess Cruises ships are equipped with the ability to plug into ports that offer this.

By integrating the ship into the cities power grid, they can reduce emissions produced by the ship’s power generators.

San Francisco is the fourth port where ships can integrate into the local power grid. Juneau Vancouver and Seattle are the others.

Odd fact: this process is known as “cold ironing.”

Editors note: While this is a step in the right direction the power has to come from somewhere. So if its coming from a coal plant somewhere else, is it really that much better?