Implementing energy management systems in shipping – a short introduction to the research project

This blog reports the progress of a research project conducted at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden – “Implementing Energy Management Systems in Shipping”. Related themes are also discussed. The project focuses on understanding and developing best practice for shipping companies who want to become more energy efficient. An action research approach is taken into implementing an energy management system according to ISO 50001 and the IMO Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) in two Swedish shipping companies. Part of this research is also DNV, supporting with knowledge from their own energy efficiency projects. The project is financed by the Swedish Energy Agency and will run from 2010-2015.

Will the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) lead to decreased CO2 emissions?

Our paper on a comparison between the SEEMP, ISM Code and ISO 50001 was just accepted for the next International Association of Maritime Economists’ conference in Taipei this September.

From the abstract:

The IMO Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) is the sole international regulatory instrument expected to affect rising CO2 emissions from shipping in the short-term. In this article, we discuss present gaps in the SEEMP guidelines through a comparison with the international standard for energy management systems, ISO 50001, and with the International Safety Management (ISM) Code, which sets requirements for safety management systems in shipping companies.

We show that the SEEMP lacks crucial features found in typical management system standards, such as requirements on policy and management reviews. Moreover, best-practice in the form of the ISO 50001 addresses important aspects, such as monitoring, energy auditing, design, and procurement processes in much more detail. In the context of previous research on these instruments and on energy efficiency in general, we argue that these gaps may be detrimental to the success of the SEEMP, both from the societal perspective of CO2 abatement and from the perspective of companies’ success in energy management. This requires further attention by academia, policy-makers and industry.

UK CCC: Reducing CO2 emissions from UK international shipping requires measures “beyond” EEDI

The UK Committee on Climate Change (CCC) just released their report “Scope of carbon budgets – Statutory advice on inclusion of international aviation and shipping”, on how and why to include international shipping and aviation in UK carbon budgets.

How to allocate emissions in such a way that it is possible to define “UK international shipping” is not entirely trivial. I’ll post some implications for Sweden, where only domestic shipping emissions are included in the CO2 accounting, later. Meanwhile, some interesting details regarding future CO2 emissions from international shipping accountable to the UK can be found. Specifically, we see scenarios where emissions from shipping are reduced, contrary to previous assessments on international shipping, for example as discussed in a below post. The following graph (on p. 41, Figure 3.4) details three different scenarios:

In the high emissions scenario the authors assume that measures do not go beyond the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) (the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) is not mentioned). In the central scenario, speed reductions, size increases, and limited biofuel use, are also included. In the low emission scenario, “strong policy action to incentivise full take-up of abatement potential from technological and operational measures”, further increases in ship size, and increased biofuel use are assumed.

The impact of such measures are in the same range as that projected by others earlier. The reason as to why the UK can see a decrease in emissions is probably that the scenarios are based on a flat demand scenario–annual growth in transportation work (tonnes-miles) is estimated to range from -0.1% and 0.1%, depending on carbon price. This is a substantially different demand than that typically assumed for international shipping. In the IMO 2nd GHG report, demand growth is rather projected to range from 0.9% in a low growth scenario to 5.4% in a high growth scenario (p. 95, Table 7.7).

The International Research Conference on Short Sea Shipping

I was in Estoril outside Lisbon in Portugal this week, on the 2012 Short Sea Shipping conference, to present an article on possible challenges for short sea shipping companies when addressing energy efficiency based on the research we do (e-mail me for a copy). A splendid conference at very nice venue, with plenty of discussions on mitigating environmental impacts of shipping.

It does take quite some time from writing to publishing research – I believe the abstract of the article was sent in in July last year.  But it seems we’re gaining speed now. If all goes well, another three articles will be ready this year: on an energy management audit in one of the companies of the project; on the relation between the SEEMP, the ISM Code and ISO 50001; and a deeper look into the potential for greater port efficiency as an opportunity for shipping companies to reduce speed and thus increase energy efficiency.

IMO: CO2 emissions from shipping projected to continue increasing, despite new regulation

DNV and LLoyds recently finished a report on the effects of the new IMO regulations for CO2 emissions, the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) and the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP). It is clearly shown that in the high growth scenario, with high uptake of the regulations, emissions from shipping will roughly double by 2050:

In the low-growth-low-uptake scenario emissions will also continue to rise:

The increased demand of international transport easily compensates any efficiency improvement. Much further work is thus needed. As a reference, the European Commission goal for shipping in 2050 is a 40-50% reduction, as can be found in the 2011 Transport White Paper.

Third meeting held!

Just a short update: As the companies are speeding along with their implementation plans, this meeting focused on issues related to ISO 50001 certification, and the SEEMP as a tool in that process.

Post summer update: ISO 50001 and MEPC 62

A lot as happened during the summer. Firstly, the International Standard Organization (ISO) published their standard for energy management systems, ISO 50001, in June. A short commercial is actually up on youtube:

Some interesting examples can be found in their press release, both from smaller and larger companies: “[Ken Hamilton, Director, Global Energy and Sustainability Services, Hewlett Packard] cited the experience of two plants. One of them was a plant owned by a major company, Dow Chemicals. The plant reduced its use of energy by 17.9 % over two years. At the same time, ISO 50001 principles are also successfully implemented by small businesses as shown by the experience of the other plant, CCP, of Houston, Texas, employing 36 people. In two years, it achieved energy savings of 14.9 %, worth USD 250 000 a year with zero capital investment.”

Further, Marco Matteini, at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), underlined “the importance and relevance of ISO 50001 for organizations in emerging economies.”

Later that summer, I was an observer during the 62nd meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) at IMO, together with some fellow PhD students from Chalmers and the School of Business, Economics and Law at Gothenburg University. All in all a very interesting experience to witness such a historic meeting. Whether or not the measures proposed will be sufficient to curb increasing CO2 emissions and encourage improved energy efficiency remains to be seen and would be an interesting topic for further research.

Second article on its way to Lisbon

An abstract detailing the second article from this research project has been accepted for the 2012 International Research Conference on Short Sea Shipping, SSS2012. It will be held during 2-3 April, in Lisbon, Portugal. The title of the article is “Barriers and drivers to energy efficiency in short sea shipping – a case study”.

First article on its way to Santiago

The first article written as part of this project, titled “The Energy-Efficiency Gap in Shipping: Barriers to Improvement”, has just been finished, and will be presented at IAME2011, a conference arranged by the International Association of Maritime Economists in Santiago, Chile, in October this year.

I also gave a talk on this topic last week, at the latest Lighthouse Ecoship seminar. In other sectors, a discussion on what obstacles or barriers hinder the diffusion of energy efficiency measures has been active since the oil crisises of the 70s. In the talk, I put this discussion in a shipping context.

Second meeting

Great second meeting covered at the Lighthouse webpage:

“The group met again in February, to follow up on the implementation plan and exchange knowledge. Hot topics in the discussions included success factors in setting up measurement and data management systems for performance management, and how to use the right KPI:s to create the motivation within an organization.”