Increasing energy efficiency in shipping - WordPress.com

Posted on December 10, 2012 - Hannes Johnson is a PhD student and Project Manager at Shipping and Marine Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. 

Upcoming licentiate seminar

It’s time for my licentiate seminar, roughly two and a half years after starting this PhD position.  A shorter thesis will be presented and discussed.

The seminar will be held here at Chalmers on the 7th of March next year. Exact time and venue will be announced. Assistant Professor Patrik Thollander from Linköping University, who has published extensively on energy efficiency in industry, will be the discussion leader.
The thesis will discuss the role of energy efficiency in shipping in a climate change context, including a short summary of the rebound effect debate; give an historical overview of energy efficiency in shipping, going back to the oil crises of the 70s (yes, most of the measures have been discussed before); provide a review of the energy efficiency gap and barriers literature and its relevance to shipping; and cover various energy management systems.
Finally, based on an action research project involving two Swedish shipping companies the thesis includes a discussion of ways in which researchers can contribute to further understanding of how to achieve greater energy efficiency in the shipping sector. This could in turn produce better policy, better management practices, as well as of course more, and better, research. The thesis will be made available here as soon as it is done, probably end of January.
We’ve just failed in Doha to produce a global deal on GHGs emissions in the near term, implying we might not see a peak in global emissions until hopefully next decade. Most scenarios leading to a fair chance of staying below a 2 degree warming assumed a peak in this decade, as this was more cost-efficient. A later peak means sharper, more expensive, cuts. Such scenarios include commitment from the shipping sector to a radically different degree. More energy efficient ships and operational practices are necessary but not sufficient. Are countries up for discussing a “complete decarbonisation” of the shipping sector during MEPC 65? Staying below 2 degrees now might require it.



Post to be found at:
http://energyefficientshipping.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/upcoming-licentiate-seminar/