Jun. 12, 2024
Patricia Stathatou (third from right), a researcher at the Renewable Bioproducts Institute, with the carrier vessel's crew members. (Credit: Patricia Stathatou)
Ocean shipping, the backbone of international trade, is significantly more energy efficient than air or land transport. However, cutting down on ocean freight carbon emissions will require a great deal of collaboration and effort.
Stathatou preserving water and washwater samples from the vessel's scrubber so they can be stored and analyzed later in the lab. (Credit: Patricia Stathatou)
Stathatou prepares to measure particulate matter emissions in the vessel's funnel — a very windy area of the ship. (Credit: Patricia Stathatou)
When people think of greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, what often comes to mind are airplanes and land vehicles like cars or trucks. But as efforts to slow climate change are ramping up, the spotlight is on another form of transport: ships.
The U.N.’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set targets to reduce shipping greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030 and 70% by 2040, aiming for net-zero by 2050. Shipping currently accounts for about 3% of global annual greenhouse gas emissions, and the pressure is on shipping companies to meet these ambitious goals.
Across Georgia Tech, researchers are working toward a sustainable future for ocean shipping. This includes Valerie Thomas, the Anderson-Interface Chair of Natural Systems Professor in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, and in the School of Public Policy. She is scholar of energy systems, sustainability, assessment, and low-carbon transportation fuels, and her work touches many aspects of the maritime industry.
Read the full story here.
