Electro-technologies for energy efficiency improvement and low carbon emission in maritime transport

The global share of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships is on the rise which will become a significant portion leading to climate changes and other environmental issues unless reduction measures are taken. Therefore, the International Maritime Origination (IMO) and other regulatory bodies have set limits for emissions and defined emission controlled areas. As a result, alternative fuel such as Hydrogen and liquefied natural gas (LNG) that are low in greenhouse gas emission and competitive in cost are gradually being entered into the shipping industry. However, these alternative fuel technologies are still in the developing stage and the necessary infrastructure is not fully developed yet. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that majority of the ships continue to burn fossil fuel for the foreseeable future. A promising and viable solution for reducing the emissions is to reduce the fuel consumption through efficiency improvement. In this context, electro-technologies are shown to be capable of playing a vital role in improving fuel efficiency and thereby reducing emissions. The aim of this paper is to present a review on recent advancements of electro-technologies that help improve fuel efficiency of ships. A hybrid electric ship propulsion system is discussed as an example to show the potential of electrotechnologies in improving the fuel efficiency.