Be Green on the Deep Blue Sea: Conserving Resources

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How fractional yachting conserves resources:
Part 2 in a series on the Advantages of Yacht Shares

(April 2, 2010) Destin, FL — Think about it. The vast majority of boats sit moored in marinas unused for weeks on end. In fact, a boat is only used about 20 days per year on average according to Boating Industry magazine. They also report little variation from region to region: Florida boats lay idle about as much as boats on the Great Lakes. Each vessel takes a substantial amount of non-renewable resources to produce. Does it make sense to expend 100% of a resource to utilize it only 10% of the time? Is shared yachting a more environmentally friendly way to own a boat? Absolutely!

In the old days, boats and yachts were constructed of wood - a naturally regenerating material. However, in the 1960s the construction material changed to fiberglass which is a form of plastic made of glass strands and resin. Resin is produced from oil. It takes a lot of oil and plastic to produce a 40’ boat.

A typical fractional ownership arrangement has eight users per boat. Thus, there are eight people utilizing a single asset instead of eight separate boats. The savings in natural resources it takes to build these boats adds up quickly. If only one boat is built for fractional ownership instead of eight, approximately 100,000 pounds of plastic is saved - that’s about the same as three million plastic water bottles!

There are other resource savings. Most yachts have two massive diesel engines, each weighing several thousands pounds and made from iron and an assortment of other heavy metals mined from the earth. Yacht share saves the need to produce 14 engines. That in itself is an 85% savings in natural resources.

The yacht share form of ownership is better aligned with the way we live today. It saves money and conserves resources for the future as well. So, next time you have the urge to get out on the deep blue water, consider going green and go fractional.