Clean Technologies News

Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, and Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Jonathan Wilkinson, introduced Canada’s draft framework to cap pollution from the oil and gas sector on December 7. The aim is to reduce emissions and remain competitive in a shifting global market. “No sector of the economy should be allowed to emit unlimited pollution, not when we are all driving toward the same goal of net zero by 2050 to ward off the worst impacts of the climate crisis,” said the ministers in a statement.

Trade is a major cause of global warming. Think of all those goods travelling from far away on polluting ships – and raw materials and components whizzing across the world in complex supply chains.But the right trade policies can also do a lot to save the planet. The solution is to tax trade in carbon-intensive goods and get rid of tariffs on clean ones – while also subsidising green technologies and stopping aid to dirty ones. And to do all this fairly.Trade wasn’t prominent at COP27, the United Nations climate conference which just finished in Egypt.

The Biden administration on Thursday unveiled a plan to accelerate development of next-generation floating offshore wind farms by slashing the cost of the technology by 70% and setting a goal for it to power 5 million U.S. homes by 2035.The announcement was the latest in the White House's push to bolster the nation's fledgling offshore wind industry as part of its climate-change agenda.Wind turbines that float on the ocean's surface are an emerging technology necessary for projects off the coasts of California…

Auxiliary wind propulsion systems provider Norsepower Oy Ltd. announced a contract with Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Co. Ltd. for delivery of single Rotor Sails onboard two newbuild liquefied natural gas (LNG)-powered, wind-assisted CO₂ carriers commissioned by the Northern Lights JV. Northern Lights JV is developing the transportation and storage component of Norway’s Longship project to decarbonize industrial emissions.The two liquified CO₂ carriers will be equipped with one 28x4m Norsepower Rotor Sail on each vessel.

ION Geophysical Corporation announced its climate-smart, digital platform, Marlin SmartPort, has successfully fulfilled its role to help monitor greenhouse gas emissions in the Data-Led Emissions Management (D-LEMA) project.The D-LEMA project is part of the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC) launched in March 2021, funded by the Department for Transport, and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK. As part of the CMDC, the Department allocated more than £23 million…

Norsepower said it has been granted approval in principle for its Rotor Sail technology solution from classification society, RINA.The Norsepower Rotor Sail solution is a modernized version of the Flettner rotor – a spinning cylinder that uses the Magnus effect to harness wind energy to propel a ship, allowing the main engine to be throttled back to improve fuel efficiency and to obtain a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, without compromising the service speed. According to Norsepower…

Yara Marine Technologies is accepting applications for the second edition of its 3-month tailored startup accelerator program, Yara Marine X, a program that offers companies a opportunity to develop and pilot their innovative solutions while supported by Yara Marine.To apply for Yara Marine X, Click Here.“We are committed to enabling a clean transition to a decarbonized future. We are innovators at heart and always pursuing the improvements we need to make real sustainable change," said Thomas Koniordos, CEO of Yara Marine Technologies.

Northern Xplorer AS (NX) announced itszero-emission, luxury cruise concept, designed to feature 'clean' technologies including fully electric propulsion, battery energy storage, hydrogen fuel cells and auxiliary renewable energy supply (wind and solar power). Northern Xplorer will provide opportunities to travel ‘off the beaten track’, connecting passengers with unique locations in the Nordic countries in a personal way,” said Rolf André Sandvik, the company's founder and CEO. Sandvik is a master mariner with extensive experience with cruise lines NCL and Crystal Cruises.

Despite transporting roughly 90% of the world’s cargo, the shipping industry has so far been underrepresented in the global decarbonization discussion. This rhetoric is however changing. For the first time in history, shipping was officially on the agenda at the UN climate change conference, COP26. Likewise, the recent United Nations General Assembly saw leaders from the U.S., Australia, India, and Japan place shipping at the top of a list of pledges, with plans to form a “Green…

At the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) on climate change, the Port of Antwerp and the Port of Montreal have signed a cooperation agreement to support the creation of the first green shipping corridor in the North Atlantic.Through this agreement, the two ports pledge to mobilize their respective public- and private-sector partners alike in the assessment, identification, development and adoption of shared or complementary solutions and infrastructures. Together, they intend…

Amazon.com Inc and IKEA are among commercial users of container shipping that will opt for zero-carbon marine fuels by 2040 in a new initiative aimed at speeding up decarbonization in the maritime sector, executives said on Tuesday.With about 90% of world trade transported by sea, global shipping accounts for nearly 3% of the world's CO2 emissions and the sector is under growing scrutiny to become cleaner.The initiative, which was organized by the non-profit Aspen Institute and has nine signatories so far also including Unilever and Michelin…

Norway's oil and gas reserves have made it one of the world's wealthiest countries but its dreams for deep-sea discovery now center on something different.This time, Oslo is looking for a leading role in mining copper, zinc, and other metals found on the seabed and in hot demand in green technologies.Norway could license companies for deep-sea mining as early as 2023, its oil and energy ministry told Reuters, potentially placing it among the first countries to harvest seabed metals for electric vehicle batteries…

Canada’s premier nuclear science and technology laboratory is examining opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants from marine vessels in Canada.Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) said Monday it has been awarded a contract by Transport Canada to develop an assessment tool to examine clean technologies that could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the release of other pollutants from vessels. Using what is known as CNL’s Marine-Zero FuelTM (MaZeFTM) Assessment Tool…

UK-based Envoy Group has acquired a marine engineering company, Avantis Marine, to target carbon reduction and clean energy solutions for offshore markets.Avantis specializes in marine engineering with a focus on environmental performance and clean technologies for the shipping, oil and gas and passenger transport markets. The business is headquartered in the Marshall Islands, and operates from bases in the UK, Monaco, Dubai, Singapore and Miami. Iain MacGregor, CEO of Envoy, a 2019 spin-off from oilfield service company Global Energy Group…

Norwegian shipowners have laid out plans to make the country's fleet entirely climate neutral by 2050, surpassing the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) target to halve shipping emissions within the same timeframe.The Norwegian Shipowners' Association on Tuesday revealed its member shipping companies have adopted four goals to reduce their environmental footprint. Members will first cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 50% per transported unit by 2030, compared to 2008. From 2030, members will only order vessels with zero emission technology.

New Research Doubles Service Life Estimate of Marine Workboat Engines, Reveals Big Opportunities for Diesel Emissions Reductions.It turns out that commercial workboat engines are staying in service more than two times longer than predicted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), according new research from the Diesel Technology Forum (DTF) and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). That says a lot for the quality of marine engines, but at the same it isn’t necessarily a good thing.

The Port of Long Beach and six other international seaports recognized for advancing innovative environmental initiatives are combining forces to launch the "World Ports Climate Action Program."Long Beach will join port authorities in Los Angeles; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Hamburg, Germany; Barcelona, Spain; Antwerp, Belgium; and Vancouver, Canada in developing projects to address global warming and meet the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement, a United Nations-led effort to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions."This partnership helps to raise awareness about global warming throughout the port industry and ensures that we are working toward the same goals on an international scale," said Mario Cordero, Executive Director of the Port of Long Beach.

Silverstream Technologies said its Silverstream System air lubrication technology has been retrofitted onto the cruise ship Diamond Princess, part of Carnival Corporation’s Princess Cruises brand.The system has been in operation since June 2017, reducing fuel consumption and related CO2 emissions. It recently completed its final contract trials, which demonstrated that the original performance expectations were exceeded with net efficiency improvements of over 5 percent at the design service speed…

The port of Rotterdam achieved throughput of 232.8 million tonnes in the first six months of 2018. That is 2.2% less than in the first six months of 2017.Container throughput, one of the strategic priorities of the Port Authority, rose by 5.9% (in tonnes, 6.2% in TEU) by comparison with the first six months of 2017, including a new throughput record in May.The market share of Rotterdam by comparison with the other ports in the Hamburg-Le Havre range increased from 30.9% (Q1 2017) to 31.2% (Q1 2018)¹However, the rise in container handling did not offset the fall in the throughput of wet and dry bulk. The decline in bulk goods was mainly seen in the throughput of coal…

DNV GL, the world’s largest resource of independent energy experts and certification body, is today showcasing the final reports in a study which demonstrates the commercial and technical feasibility of the offshore wind market In India. Co-funded by the European Union (EU), GPCL and ReNew Power the Facilitating Offshore Wind in India (FOWIND) project will enable organisations to make future investments in the region. India has made strong commitments under the UN Paris Climate Agreement and announced ambitious renewable energy goals in 2015, targeting 175 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2022, including 60 GW from wind energy. To date…

The Port of Rotterdam Authority is calling on the Dutch Government to form a coalition with countries in North-West Europe so that a joint CO2 price can be introduced. At the Port Authority’s Energy in Transition Summit 2018 on the RDM site in Rotterdam, Port Authority CEO Allard Castelein made a powerful case for a much higher CO2 price in conjunction with a new industrial policy for the Netherlands. At the summit, the Port Authority also revealed the results of the CO2 impact of marine and inland shipping. The Port Authority announced that it would introduce an incentive of in total 5 million euros to support vessel owners and charterers that experiment with low-carbon or zero-carbon fuels to promote climate-friendly maritime shipping.

Clean diesel technology upgrades for large tug and switcher locomotive engines cost only $4,379 to $15,201 per ton of nitrogen oxides (NOx), compared to more than $30,000 per ton of NOx for many other diesel emission reduction projects. The Diesel Technology Forum (DTF) and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has released a report documenting the significant emission reduction benefits that can be gained by replacing older engines in tug boats and switcher locomotives with the latest clean diesel models.

Environmental compliance challenges are nothing new to the cruise industry. Initiatives to enhance environmental compliance, from clean technologies to improved processes and procedures, have significantly reduced the impact cruise vessels have on the environment and improved the quality of discharge. These onboard initiatives address what is in the vessel’s control, but cannot simplify the increasingly complex regulatory environment in which cruise lines operate. Enforcement of environmental regulations is on the rise as international…