Besides the obvious advantage of minimal to no environmental impact, the offshore machines will be anchored in deep water and out of sight, making them more acceptable to the consumer. Also, the power factor of wind offshore is typically 2 to 5% higher than onshore. This has the effect of increasing production and lowering cost. Since numerous LNG tankers are being declassified each year and taken out of commission due to LNG-related safety issues, they could be safely used for liquid air transport. This option would be lucrative to the ship owners and their shareholders. It could be thought of as large-scale ship repurposing. The ship building industry would also get a substantial bonus from the new ship construction cost being 3 to 5% lower, considering savings recognized from needing fewer safety systems during loading, transport and off-loading. Industry as a whole would take advantage of the absence of environmental and safety issues which cost money and time by replacing LNG with liquid air. Safety factors alone limit 95% of the world’s ports from receiving natural gas. Liquid air would be a new and welcome industry to these ports. Transporting, loading, and unloading liquid air on land alone costs approximately 10 times more than utilizing LNG tankers offshore.
