The Port of Miami, also referred to as PortMiami, is a massive cruise ship hub and it’s about to get a little cleaner. Soon, multiple ships at a time will be able to plug into the city’s grid instead of burning fuel while at the port. Making it the first port on the eastern coast with multiple shore power hookups, as they’re called, for five cruise line terminals, including Royal Caribbean and Carnival. They are expected to be operational by next winter.

Why This Matters

Cruise ships burn heavy fuel oil, which is one of the dirtiest fuels out there. Currently, when ships come into port, they continue burning fuel, emitting CO2 and health-damaging chemicals into the air. By switching to shore power plug-ins, PortMiami will reduce its carbon emissions and improve the city’s air quality for its residents. Cruise ships burn as much as half of their fuel idling at port, so this change accounts for a significant portion of their overall fuel consumption.

Watch Miami’s Corals

While cruise ships sail in and out of PortMiami along the Government Cut, a manmade shipping channel, just below the water’s surface is a whole other world of coral reefs. And now, you can see this works thanks to the Coral City Camera livestream, run by Coral Morphological. It’s not just for the beauty of the networks -- their recordings are also science.

“We’re going to actually be able to document one year of coral growth, which has never been done before in situ on a coral reef, and that’s only possible because we have this technological connection right here at the Port of Miami that allows us to have power and internet,” marine biologist Colin Foord, co-creator of Coral Morphologic, told the Associated Press