Viking Lady is states to be the world’s most environment friendly ship. Equipped with the state-of-the-art and unique fuel cell technology, this green ship is bound to make a difference to environmentally sustainable sea transport.
What makes Viking Lady different from the other ships is its fuel cell technology, specially designed for marine use. This enables the ship to generate energy more efficiently and reduce emissions to air. Fuel cells convert fuels more efficiently than traditional combustion engines, which results in reducing pollution, loss of energy, and greenhouse gas emissions. The fuel cell and combustion engines of Viking Lady are powered by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
The making of the Viking Lady is a significant development in the wake of the ever-increasing need for sustainable energy generation for marine and offshore use. True to its invention, Viking Lady has many advantages such as:
- Reduced CO2 emissions by 20%
- Reduced NOx emissions by 180 tons, an equivalent to the annual emissions of 22,000 cars
- Ability to carry operations quietly
These features make the Viking Lady, an ideal ship which has frequent stops in busy harbors located in populated areas. With shipping being the most cost effective means of transportation with about 85% of world’s trade, emissions from shipping are a major concern to the environment. Viking Lady’s ability to control such emissions will improve the quality of air and public health, and improve the global climate. Green ships such as these consume less fuel and cut operational costs.
The fuel cell technology is the most unique and pioneering feature of the Viking Lady. A fuel cell converts the fuel’s chemically stored energy directly to electricity through a reaction with oxygen in the air. The process is similar to that of an ordinary battery, except that a fuel cell does not need to be recharged; it operates as long as it is supplied with a suitable fuel, such as hydrogen, LNG, methanol or biogas.
With the innovative fuel cell technology, the Viking Lady promises a cleaner and greener future for shipping. Further advances to this technology such as LNG-fuelled steam turbines and fuel cells, can reduce the ship’s fuel consumption up to 30-50%, CO2 emissions up to 50% and NOx, SOx and particle emissions to negligible values.
Efforts must be made by the policy makers to provide suitable conditions for such technologies to become commercially available and viable.
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