Maritime Emission Manager Course

It is often possible to reduce energy consumption on board by working towards more conscious and optimal operation of ship machinery and systems. These could be achieved more effectively if planned for each mode of operation. Examples of measures that can be considered include:

• Avoidance of unnecessary energy use via switching off the machinery when not needed. All non-essential and not-required machinery and equipment that do not affecting the ship and personnel safety should be stopped whilst in port and at sea to reduce the load on diesel generators. Such items should be identified first and then procedures for the execution of tasks to be developed and implemented.
• Avoidance of parallel operation of electrical generators, when one is sufficient for the purpose.
• Optimized HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) operation on board. The HVAC system operation should be aligned to outside weather conditions either via automatic settings or manual operations (more important for cruise ships).
• A proper coordination should be maintained on board between deck and engine departments especially for use of machinery/equipment items such as steering gear motors, bilge and fire pumps, winches and mooring equipment, deck cranes and service and deck compressed air usage, etc. so that to reduce loads on generators.

The above activities will lead to reduce electrical power demand. More jobs could be coordinated and bundled together so that two generators could be run more effectively and for a shorter period of time. This could be achieved via system planning and more coordinated actions (MariEMS 2017).