A new strategic approach of energy management onboard ships supported by exergy and economic criteria: A case study of a cargo ship

Abstract

The fossil-source energy consumption in maritime transportation is an important input which affects the operating costs. In this market, cargo ships with potentially represents up to 78% of the total global maritime transportation are considered as vessels with a high fossil fuel consumption. These ships need effective energy management to reduce environmental pollution from fossil fuel and to manage sustainable energy-related costs in commerce. In this study, an energy efficiency strategy framework was developed primarily to support efficient energy management as the decision support element in ships. Considering the ship's cruising processes, energy efficiency and economic effectiveness were examined as based on the exergy approach and the economic criteria. In this context, two new criteria were developed: the "Environmental Cost Index (ECI)" and the "Energy Efficiency Index (EEI)". According to the analyzes results, the energy and exergy efficiencies in the sample ship's cruising processes were found as 38.33% and 35.82% respectively, and the calculated ECI was 0.41. These reference values showed that the fuel-related loss cost of the ship was 19.05%. At the end of the study, some evaluations were made on the implementation of the energy efficiency strategy and its effects.