Tool for environmental efficient ship design

Abstract

Energy consumption and related emissions are the most important environmental effects of transport. This applies to all transport modes even though the contribution from waterborne transport in general is less severe than for instance from road transport. Also the environmental effects from waterborne traffic can be substantially reduced, but this will depend on, among other, better design methodologies and tools. Use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the ship design process may help the designer to optimise a project concerning energy use over its entire life span. As part of “The Energy Efficient Ship”-project funded by the European Commission and a number of small and medium sized enterprises, a prototype ship design tool is developed. The purpose of the tool is to assist the designer in reducing not only the energy consumption during the entire life span of a ship, but also important environmental aspects. The tool is developed for design of fast ferries, containerships and fishing vessels. The paper presents the computer model including a case study demonstrating its use in design of a long lining fishing vessel. Environmental effects of alternative conceptual choices in the design phase will be demonstrated.