According to Lloyd's Register's new edition of its technical publication for the marine sector, Horizons, since the early 1980s, there has been marked acceleration in interest and increased pressure for greater regulation for environmental protection.
Lloyd's Register said that much of what the company did in addressing environmental issues was intrinsically linked with safety issues. Rules for double hulled tankers, for example, were developed as a consequence of major oil pollution incidents but were also designed with safety in mind.
Sustainable ships are ships that have a long term future that will meet future trading requirements, will burn less fuel, cost less to run and be safer to operate.
This will be the era of low carbon shipping. To achieve the levels of carbon being suggested to meet global targets, Lloyd's Register said that all aspects of ship design, construction, operation, maintenance and dismantling will need to be critically examined to identify the best ways of reducing the emission levels during ship manufacturing processes and operations.
The global goal to achieve significant greenhouse gas reductions over the next few decades will only be possible through the efforts of a large body of engineers finding solutions to an array of issues.
Reductions will come about from a combination of the following:
• different fuels (gas, higher distillates, bio-fuels, fuel cells, other)
• alternative propulsion systems (a return to sail)
• more efficient machinery systems
• more efficient hulls
• more fuel efficient operating conditions (energy monitoring, more effective maintenance, improved routing and better maintenance, ship pooling).
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