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 Hulda Winnes will become the first PhD specialised in the environmental field at Shipping and Marine technology at Chalmers University. Photo: Cecilia Österman
Measures for sustainable shipping
A research project at Shipping and Marine technology at Chalmers University of Technology aims at making shipping a sustainable transport option without compromising with the competitiveness of shipowners who act in environmental issues.
Any activity that contributes to pollution also leads to costs for cleaning up, health care, et cetera, so called external costs. Estimates of these costs can be used as indicators on the importance of reducing the most costly pollutant and for choosing the most cost-effective measures from a societal perspective. A research project on Shipping and Marine Technology at Chalmers aims at finding out how application of cost-effective technologies under harmonised regulations and economic incentives can contribute to a competitive and environmentally sane ship industry. Shipowners’ costs for installation of cleaning equipment or high quality fuels are put in relation to the so called external costs, the costs for environmental damage. What is found is that one euro invested in internal engine modifications such as slide valves saves societal costs of around 550 euro per year (low estimates for ships in the North Sea) in avoided health care costs and environmental clean-up costs. The new design of valves reduces NOx formation with up to 20 per cent. For a ship with an engine of around 10,000 kW this means avoiding around 140 tonnes of NOx-emissions per year.
There are still high levels of uncertainty in the cost calculations when it comes to what effects and impacts that are included in them, still, they function well as indicators. The results in the first project report also shows that SCR technology, which has the highest NOx reduction potential of the commercial abatement techniques is not the most cost-effective alternative from societal point of view. One euro invested in SCR gives around ten euro in return. However NOx is still more beneficial to commit to than SO2, which has even lower return figures due to high premia and installation costs of finer quality fuels and scrubber technology. Once again, it is important to stress that from a company perspective the cost-effectiveness of the different techniques should be based on other calculations. The results from this project will show which regulative measures that are beneficial and promotes environmentally conscious shipping.
Reduced speed changes the emission
One factor contributing to uncertainty in the external cost calculations relates to the ship exhaust emissions during manoeuvring. The reduced speed changes the emission composition in the exhaust gases and since this normally occurs in populated areas it is important to have a clear picture of what comes out of the ship chimney. More measurements are definitely needed and this autumn, Chalmers plans to do some initial field measurements in the Port of Göteborg together with IVL (Swedish Environmental Institute).
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| Destinies of emissions are dependent on weather and meteorological conditions. Photo: Magnus Hägg |
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With the new data, conclusions on the contributions of ship emissions to concentration levels in sensitive areas can be drawn. It will also give some information on which emissions that are most urgent to reduce in these areas.
Another important aspect is how far the emissions from ships are transported in the air. It is certain that a large part reaches shore, even when the ship sails transocean. How large, on the other hand, is still unclear. This information is of great importance when concluding on what should be embraced by new regulative or incentive based systems. Likewise, this can be an influence for technological innovations. The destinies of emissions are highly dependent on weather and local or regional meteorological conditions.
Finally, the parts all put together will give a picture on the differences in environmental impact from ship emissions in port and ship emissions at open sea. The project will also provide insight to what regulative measures that are most cost-effective, both from societal and shipowner perspective.
The project ends in December 2008 and shortly after that Shipping and Marine technology will hopefully have its first PhD specialised in the environmental field
//Hulda Winnes
Latest update 30-08-2007 15:30 |
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