Marine Log - June 2008 - (Page 69)

BY JOHN D. MCCOWN ENVIRONMENT ABOUT VESSEL EMISSIONS THE DIRTYTRUTH A day doesn’t go by when you don’t read more about greenhouse gases and their effect on climate change. Vessel emissions do contribute to greenhouse gases, but that’s not what I’m going to really talk about today. I’m going to talk about the particulate matter aspect of vessel emissions as it relates to self-propelled vessels that burn residual fuel. In the marine sector, this is the proverbial 800-pound gorilla and the environmental issue of our time. The good news for the tug and barge sector is that this issue represents an extraordinary opportunity for our sector and I believe that opportunity will present itself in a major way in 2010. Simply put, greenhouse gas primarily refers to carbon dioxide and it is determined by the quantity of fuel used. Generally speaking, it doesn’t vary among fuel types and the prime way to reduce carbon dioxide is to just use less fuel. Using a gallon of gasoline results in about the same amount of carbon dioxide as using a gallon of residual fuel. Particulate matter, on the other hand, is determined by the quality of the fuel used and it varies considerably. It’s really a measure of the dirtiness of fuel and takes into account a host of elements and foreign matter. On that score, the residual fuel typically used in self-propelled vessels is pretty far down the totem pole. As the name implies, residual fuel is what is left over after all the refined product has been pulled out of crude oil. As a left over product that is itself unrefined, it includes a concentrated amount of the original impurities in crude oil. Because of this, even crude oil itself has more energy content than residual fuel. The difference is made up by impurities and foreign matter and its those impurities and foreign matter in residual fuel that result in extraordinarily high particulate matter. One type of particulate matter results from sulfur and it is such a key type that it is measured separately. Sulfur emissions are known to be hazardous to human health. Residual fuel also includes concentrations of heavy metal elements such as vanadium, mercury, lead and arsenic. I don’t know much about any of those, other than they aren’t good for you in any amount. It’s all these impurities that make the particulate matter from self-propelled vessel emissions the focus of everything you’ve been reading about the past couple of years related to vessel emissions. This issue has quickly moved to the center of the radar screen for a couple of reasons. The first is that while the fuel used in most internal combustion engines has gotten consistently cleaner over the years, the fuel typically used in ocean going vessels remains unchanged. To put this into perspective, consider there are roughly 35,000 self-propelled vessels that move 13 billion-ton miles of cargo each year, comprising some 95% of world trade. To move that cargo, those self-propelled vessels account for less than 3% of worldwide fuel consumption. In general terms, it’s a similar percent of total greenhouse gases. Sounds pretty good so far, but when you take into account the fuel quality aspect, it deteriorates precipitously in terms of its particulate matter contribution. Because residual fuel is so much dirtier than the more distilled fuel products in cars and almost all other internal combustion engines, while vessels are near and in port, they comprise a significantly larger portion of local particulate matter emissions. Based on various studies, many coastal and port areas now point to vessels as being responsible for 30% to 40% or more of total particulate matter emissions. When you take into account the further initiatives already under way to make vehicle and other mobile emissions sources even cleaner, and line that up with the projected growth in marine transport without any changes in fuel quality, its not surprising that particulate matter from vessels is expected to be the majority of total particulate matter in many coastal and port areas in 10 years absent any changes. PREMATURE DEATHS TIED TO PARTICULATE MATTER Those statistics are why you started to see this issue more actively discussed starting a couple of years ago. The data and its trends were alarming to the experts in the environmental area, for good reason. And as they think, so go the policymakers and the public at large. The standard industry answer that it’s a complex issue that had to be dealt with globally began to wear thin and just wasn’t being bought anymore. California regulators and various port authorities in the state began to take unilateral action to reduce vessel particulate matter emissions that they knew were harming their citizens. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) estimated that vessel particulate matter emissions could be tied to some 800 premature deaths per year in the state. SWITCH TO RESIDUAL FUEL Various ways of addressing vessel particulate matter emissions, from plugging into electric power at dock to sulfur JUNE 2008 YEARBOOK MARINE LOG 69 www.marinelog.com http://www.marinelog.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Marine Log - June 2008

Marine Log - June 2008 Contents Editorial Second Thoughts Update Inside Washington Innovation Needed to Meet Crew Shortage Optimism Abounds Despite Slowing Economy Can Shipping's Shopaholics Keep Up the Buying Binge? Can Congress Keep Navy Shipbuilding Off the Rocks? Fitting the Ultra-deepwater Pieces Together Generation Next Higher Demand, Higher Prices Demand Up For Large Combination Vessels The Dirty Truth About Emissions SSAS: Realizing Its Potential Fuel Saving Technology Newsmakers Tech News Contracts Events Buyer's Guide Website Directory ML Marketplace Tech Talk

Marine Log - June 2008

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