Maria Anastasaki, "Sustainability assessment of energy autonomous fishing vessels", Diploma Work, School of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece, 2016
https://doi.org/10.26233/heallink.tuc.65891
This study aims to assess the sustainability of energy autonomous fishing vessels. The type of fishing that was investigated in depth was trawling. To collect the necessary data for the preparation of this study, a fishing vessel was selected to be used as an example. Energy audits were performed on the vessel to determine its energy needs during a day at sea. The total energy load of the trawler was determined and also the individual parts of which it is composed of. A statistical analysis was preformed from the fishing vessel’s available data (total lifetime at sea). The purpose of the study is to investigate and evaluate different scenarios that could be applied to the vessel to achieve energy autonomy. Fishing vessels around the world are completely dependent on oil. This implies major air pollution due to the large oil consumption used for maritime transport. The constant fluctuations, rapid and unpredictable changes of oil prices have caused major problems to the fishing sector. Two scenarios were formed to assess the viability of energy autonomous fishing vessels. The first scenario explored the possibility of applying renewable energy to the trawler to cover the electrical needs of the ship (totally or partially). The second scenario explored the possibility of consuming biodiesel instead of oil. From the scenarios that were explored it was concluded that the total coverage of the electrical load from RES was physically impossible, because of limited free surfaces on board the fishing vessel. The possible coverage of the electrical load by RES is less than 5%. In the second scenario, it is possible to replace the current fuel with biodiesel fuel produced at the local area without needing to replace the main engine of ship. In conclusion to replace the use of oil is important to the wellbeing of the environment.