29 December 2020 09:00 Technology Design
Justin Ratcliffe
Much has been written about Tier III regulations and reducing nitrogen oxide emissions, but NOx emissions are only part of the drive towards the decarbonisation of shipping. Following the adoption and entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change, in 2016 the International Maritime Organization (IMO) outlined its own roadmap for a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 compared to 2008 levels.
Photo: Jeff BrownThe yachting sector has so far been excluded from the strategy, but with a revision planned for spring 2023 and aware that the industry is under pressure to lead by example, Van Oossanen Naval Architects in the Netherlands was prompted to initiate an in-house research project to look into the eco-friendly yacht of the future.
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Floating Power Plant (FPP) is building a wave energy Power Take-Off (PTO) test bench. The company is collaborating with Fritz Schur Energy, Seasystems and Aalborg University.
The project has just received DKK10.81 million (€1.5 million) in funding from the Danish Energy Authorities (EUDP).
The test facility is expected to be finished in March 2022, and it will produce test data for the following years that will be used when FPP launches combined wind and wave power facilities, eg. in Grand Canary.
The scientists at Aalborg University have kept up with the challenges of wave power for more than 20 years, and Associate Professor, Morten Kramer, recognises the potential of the project: “This project can crack open one of the hardest nuts to crack, that has kept wave energy technology from becoming a stable part of the energy supply.”
Danish Firm Working on World s largest Wave Power Test Facility The test rig uses a large hydraulic cylinder to simulate the motion from incoming waves. This allows thorough testing of the
Power Take Off (PTO) system on dry land. The PTO is the part of FPPs technology that transform wave motions into electricity.
Denmark-based clean-tech company Floating Power Plant (FPP) said Friday it was building what it said was the biggest wave energy PTO (Power Take-off) test bench in the world.
The company is collaborating with Fritz Schur Energy, Seasystems, and Aalborg University in Denmark. The project just received 10,81 million DKK (about 1,5 million €) in funding from the Danish energy authorities (EUDP). The test facility is expected to be finished in March 2022, and it will produce test data the following years, that will be used, when FPP launches combined wind- and wave power facilities e.g., in Grand Canary, the company said.
US firm Monarch Tractor has developed an all-electric and autonomous tractor in a bid to mitigate the effects of climate change and help farmers meet growing demands.
While traditional diesel-powered tractors produce approximately 14-times more emissions than an ordinary car, according to the US firm, the Monarch Tractor has no tailpipe emissions due to its fully electric powertrain.
In addition to cutting harmful emissions, the California-based company designed the vehicle to increase labour productivity and maximise yield to support farmers existing operations.
The company claims it is the world s first fully electric, driver optional, smart tractor integrated on a single platform.
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Chinese truck OEM, Shandong Pengxiang Auto has specified Allison’s 4800 Off Road Series
TM (ORS) fully automatic transmission for its latest wide body mining dump (WBMD) truck. Thirty units of the 90-t model have been delivered to Sinohydro Bureau, an engineering and construction services company for hydraulic, hydropower, road, dam, harbour, bridge, airport and other civil infrastructure projects. Another 20 WBMD trucks, with 96-t GVW, have been delivered to a mining site in Inner Mongolia.
The WBMD is a heavy-duty, off-highway truck used for transporting rocks and ores in opencast mines. The WBMD truck has a higher loading capacity than standard dump trucks and is designed to take on undulating routes with potholes, obstacles, slopes and curves.