Corvus Energy Wins 10-Year Contract For Hybrid Ferries In Scandinavia (Assignment 3 - Topic 1)

[Arslan Ijaz]

https://cleantechnica.com/2017/04/24/corvus-energy-wins-10-year-contract-hybrid-ferries-scandinavia/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+IM-cleantechnica+%28CleanTechnica%29

[Wojciech Trawinski]

A quick google search will tell you just how fuel efficient (or in this case in-efficient) ocean liners are. Averaging 54 feet per gallon of fuel, its safe to say that investing in hybrid technology is a good idea. Just like the Energy observer catamaran, Scandlines too is taking up the fight about global warming. The Baltic, North, and Norwegian Seas play such a big part of Scandinavian lifestyle, so its good to see Scandlines making efforts toward preserving them. Not only will this push increase the efficiency of its own ships, but by doing so Scandlines can set an example to other commercial ocean liners such as Maersk or DHL to also look into going green as well..

[Arslan Ijaz]

It is a good initiative to use the hybrid ferries for longer routes to reduce the amount of pollution. But it is still not pollution free advancement because these ferries are still using diesel engines. As these ferries are using lithium ion batteries to store energy from the charging points so for long routes it will not be possible to fully use the electric energy to run the engine. I would say instead of moving towards hybrid ferries, they could have moved towards solar powered ferries with an alternative option of wind and water driven turbines to generate energy. This way they could actually go towards pollution free green future. 

As Wojciech mentioned about Energy observer Catamaran, they were using completely pollution free technology. Since Corvus is an energy storage battery company, so it is good for them but overall this is not a real advancement towards green future. There will still be a "plume of deadly diesel emissions following behind" on the long routes. 

[Dobhal, Shivani]

I think this is a great step by Scandlines towards cutting down pollution created by use of diesel-powered ferries. I also kind of get why it would be a while before complete electrification of all ferries in certain countries as it could potentially require a lot of initial investment in terms of capital. However, certain Scandinavian countries such as Norway, Sweden and Finland have already embarked on the mission to completely electrify this mode of transportation and are harnessing electricity for their 'e-ferries' through large wind turbines. Studies suggest that using renewable energy for these ferries helps cut down the operational costs big time while also reducing the use of fossil fuels up to 19000 tones per year. Corvus energy's hybrid ferry, although not fully electric, will help in certain aspects such as making the onboard experience a bit better for the passengers as well as workers. The amount of hot fumes generated a result of fuel combustion will be reduced significantly and that would make the travelling experience in these ferries a little better. So this is definitely a step in the right direction and like I said, there are other Scandinavian countries already using fully electric ferries so the notion of using renewable energy for powering these ferries is not unconceivable.

[Chun S]

A great portion of air pollution of transportation is coming from ferries, we have seen there are more and more countries start replacing its ferries by the electric ferry. For example, Sognefjord in Norway has ferries that fully operated by electric. But it is the same problem of Tesla’s electric cars, the electricity is still coming from power companies where still generate the pollution. The only difference is the power company has better waste capturing system to stop the waste going into water or air.

[Martinez, Alfred S.]

Scandlines is absolutely moving in the right direction as far as making an attempt to become more environmentally friendly. Although, there were no qualitative figures mentioned, Scandlines did note that the fuel consumption of its ferries were significantly reduced. This alone can potentially be a very attractive factor and incentive for other ferry operators to follow suit. 

Another driving force that I picked up on was Norway's ColorLine, "The 525-foot long Color Hybrid will carry 2,000 passengers and 500 cars and will operate between Sandefjord and Stromstad. It is expected to use only electric power in Sanderfjord itself and near the docks at either end of the route." From quote, it leads me to believe that there may be stricter environmental laws in Sandderfjord than Stromstad. Perhaps if other cities gradually implement stricter environmental laws, it would facilitate the expansion of greener ferry operators.

[Agustin Quintana]

I think hybrid is the right technology for large transportation vehicles. Fully electric engines are not realistic for large vehicles which need to travel often and for large amounts of miles. It is great that Scandlines is moving in this direction and I think many other transportation company's will follow. Next step is for Scandlines to show tangible data on the impact of their hybrid engines.