Securing sustainability in shipping
10 Jun 2011 by Evoluted New Media
Shipping produces over 1000 million tonnes of CO2 each year, and engineers in Newcastle are leading a £3m project to revolutionise the way energy is harnessed on board ships in the hope of reducing this footprint.
Shipping produces over 1000 million tonnes of CO2 each year, and engineers in Newcastle are leading a £3m project to revolutionise the way energy is harnessed on board ships in the hope of reducing this footprint.
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Newcastle researchers hope to secure the long term sustainability of the shipping industry with INOMANS2HIP |
The INOMANS2HIP study hopes to combine conventional and renewable energy sources to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint and ensure the long term sustainability of world shipping. Measures include onboard wind turbines and solar cells, waste heat recovery systems, waste gas recycling systems and novel battery technology.
“At present there are no energy management systems mixing conventional and renewable energy sources on cargo vessels,” said project lead Professor Tony Roskilly from the Sir Joseph Swan Centre for Energy Research at Newcastle University.
“The development and deployment of such a system would be a breakthrough for increasing the energy efficiency of ships.”
The project aims to create a system whereby the different energy sources could be selected according to the operational needs of the ship while others would remain in active standby mode to be used depending on demand.
Shipping contributes approximately 4.5% of the global total of greenhouse gases each year – over 1000 million tonnes of CO2, plus other pollutants like nitrogen and sulphur oxides – double the amount produced by aviation.
INOMANS2HIP also includes researchers from Narec, Converteam in France and Wartsila in Finland and is funded through the European Commission’s Framework Programme.
It is one of three major research projects totalling £9m that the Sir Joseph Swan Centre is involved in. The Tefles study will look at reducing emissions from shipping whilst in port, and Ulysses will investigate whether ultra slow speeds can substantially improve the efficiency of the world fleet.
“The award of three European projects in the field of energy efficiency for shipping is a significant achievement for Newcastle University and the regions,” Roskilly said. “It demonstrates that whilst the North East is less attractive in traditional ship building, we still have a recognised international expertise in shipping related technology.”
