ABSTRACT
The continuous increase in global maritime freight transport has led to an increase in emissions. The port of Heraklion was selected as a case study to investigate the environmental impact of shipping in wider areas. Two different maritime fuels were examined: the conventional maritime fuel, marine diesel oil (MDO), and an alternative maritime fuel, liquified natural gas (LNG). To carry out this study, real data from the port of Heraklion, the Lloyd’s Register Fairplay (LRF) Sea-Web database, and literature reviews were used. The bottom-up method was adopted for data processing. The results of this study demonstrate that alternative maritime fuels, such as LNG, could drastically reduce SO2, NOx, PM, and CO2 emissions.
ABSTRACT
The increase in the number of patients in health care centers boosts electricity consumption. Such a load jump also adversely affects the energy supply, in particular, in rural off-grid systems. To overcome the mentioned challenges, some innovative and practical approaches with available optimization tools should be employed. This study addresses the possibility of developing a challenge prediction-based method for optimizing a reliable and affordable hybrid renewable energy system (HRES) to aid with energy challenges associated with pandemic conditions. The results indicate that the PV/diesel/battery hybrid system with a maximum energy cost of $0.141/kWh and a renewable fraction of more than 50% can meet demand even during the most severe load jumps. Furthermore, the fuel constraints during pandemic years can increase the energy costs up to 2.5 times, and the required photovoltaic installation capacity by about four times. Due to the 20.1% PV output boost, Vertical-axis tracking systems are recommended in areas with limited PV installation space. It is concluded that, by considering the likely effects of pandemics, the supplied energy cost to the rural health clinic equipment and water treatment loads would be between $0.113-0.200/kWh.