Holistic energy mapping methodology for reduced fuel consumption and emissions

Abstract

There are increasing concerns and regulations regarding the emission of pollutants from shipping. Therefore, regulations such as the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) and Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) have been made mandatory to cope with climate change concerns. To put these efforts into practice, the Energy Efficiency Operational Indicator (EEOI) was introduced in 2009 to account for the fuel consumption, distance travelled by the vessel and cargo mass. However, it is stated that these do not apply to ships that are not engaged in transport work such as research vessels and tugboats. These short sea shipping vessels have been neglected under current indexes and it is not possible for their properties to be quantified since current indices are for vessels carrying loads. The numbers of these specialised vessels are increasing in local waters, and are closer to coastal communities where concerns and impact from these pollutants would be more direct. In the IMO greenhouse gas study, options for improving energy efficiency in terms of design includes the concept, design speed and capability, hull and superstructure, power and propulsion whilst the principle of energy efficiency in terms of operation includes fleet management, logistics and incentives, voyage optimisation and energy management. A reliable energy flow breakdown architecture and diagnostics for these smaller vessels is important and will contribute to an understanding of the energy production, distribution and consumption on-board. This feeds into the IMO plan to encourage energy management. A systematic approach consisting of five distinct stages is recommended to accomplish a holistic approach for energy efficiency management. This includes understanding of energy flow breakdown architecture, vessel survey to understand operation and conduct, review existing sensors and new sensor installation, sensor communication and data processing, and finally data analysis. These stages are addressed in this paper to provide an overall understanding of a robust energy efficiency audit procedure and sensor matrix. This includes unifying the existing on-board sensors with the proposed new sensors for additional data collection where primary parameters are not readily available. Inferred secondary parameter calculations are also applied where direct data collection is not possible. This will allow information from the vessel to be transmitted to a common platform to enable detailed data analysis. The aim of this work is to improve energy management and monitoring, which leads to understanding and managing consumption of energy. A case study of this methodology has been carried out on the Princess Royal, a Newcastle University research vessel. Recommendations for further testing and optimisation of this methodology will be applied to tugboats and Offshore Supply Vessels (OSV)