Viable Bridge to Emissions Reduction

摘要

On a tonnage basis, most of the world's goods move over water. Indeed, compared with other modes, the maritime industry remains the most efficient means of transporting goods. Maritime shipping emits considerably less carbon per ton of cargo shipped compared to air or land transport. However, maritime shipping still represents a significant portion of total worldwide carbon emissions, accounting for approximately 3% of the total output. As with other transport sectors, there are many technological opportunities for lessening maritime shipping's climate change impacts.Climate change is a critical challenge to the commercial interests, environmental welfare, and national security interests of the United States. Nevertheless, with a growing range of emerging technologies, alternative fuels, alternative vessel designs, and new regulatory schemes, it is critical that new approaches are adopted with care. By not examining the effects of new technologies on a truly end-to-end, or a complete lifecycle basis, the best intended approaches may, in fact, have more severe climate impacts while simultaneously upending the fight against climate change. In this context, the role of marine engineering in greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation must be applied holistically, using a variety of supporting engineering disciplines.