Introduction
Ecocats is a company that designs and builds fuel-efficient powerboats. There is an interesting market here because few transportation products are as inefficient as powerboats. To put this into perspective, a fast monohull motorboat might consume 100 litres of diesel to travel 40 miles. However, 100 litres of diesel in a large family car would be sufficient to travel 850 miles. Car manufacturers have been concentrating hard on fuel economy for at least 25 years, and cars have become better, by any measure, and more economical (equals less polluting) to run.
In the UK’s small powerboat sector, there has been no equivalent search for fuel economy, because the imperative is not there. Marine diesel is cheap. Although the UK government is not minded to increase the price of marine diesel Ecocats has, nonetheless, concentrated on developing a far more economic powerboat, one which uses one third or less of the fuel of its size-for-size, speed-for-speed competitors.
At Ecocats, we believe it would be hypocritical to design an environmentally friendlier product, but to build it in an environmentally unfriendly way. This philosophy has two impacts on our company; the way we run our business, and the new materials we are developing for boat building. This submission therefore focuses separately on the three key elements of Ecocats:
§ The Product
§ The Materials
§ The Process (where we address the specific issues highlighted on the entry form)
Ecocat – the Boat
When it comes to powerboats, environmentally-speaking:
One thing is very clear:one hull bad, two hulls good:
§ In a catamaran, the weight of the boat floats on two hulls. This allows each hull to be slimmer and shallower in cross-section than the single hull of an equivalent monohull. Slimmer, shallower hulls move more easily through the water, requiring less power to achieve equivalent performance. This has a cumulative knock-on effect. Less power requires less weight of engine and less weight of fuel. Less weight to carry means that a catamaran can be built lighter, and thus requires even less power to achieve equivalent performance. The net effect of more easily driven hulls, less power and less weight is a fuel consumption of approximately one third or less that of a similarly sized, similarly performing monohull. One third of the fuel equates to one third of the pollution.
§ Less weight in the boat means less materials are required to build it. Less material has to be transported to the manufacturing site and reduced materials transport has a beneficial effect upon the landside environment. Less material used in the build process also means less energy is required to build a boat, with the associated benefits.
§ Because a catamaran is lighter than an equivalent monohull, it has to push less water aside to achieve equivalent performance. It therefore produces considerably less wash. In tests conducted by Southampton University’s School of Ship Science, Ecocat’s wash was measured at between a third and a half those of an equivalent monohull. Less wash produces less bank and beach erosion (helping to reduce silting) and less disruption to wildlife. Operating at low speeds, Ecocat is – effectively – wash free, something that simply cannot be achieved with a monohull.
§ Although not strictly proportional to horsepower, more power means more noise. As less powerful craft, Ecocats’ products cause less noise disturbance than their monohull competitors
Early prototypes of Ecocat have proved themselves in operation. One, in private ownership, serves as a film boat for events like the Oxford-Cambridge boat race where speed combined with low wash (and a stable platform) is an enormous benefit. The other, powered by rechargeable batteries, serves as a sightseeing boat on an inland lake where hydrocarbon pollution and wash would be detrimental to the lake’s ecology.
With the Ecocat principle proven in real-life operations, Ecocat then addressed its primary market – commercial craft, particularly those used for harbour operations and marine patrol. This segment was chosen because vessels of this type are in intensive operation. Ecocats’ contribution to reducing emissions in the marine environment is much more significant if its products replace gas-guzzling craft that operate day in, day out, often on a 24/7 basis, rather than leisure craft which may only be used for a hundred or two hours per annum.
Ecocats’ first commercial product is the E32, a 32 foot catamaran, two of which have been sold to the Port of London Authority. Each E32, with its twin 35 hp engines, will replace a 35 foot monohull powered by a single 306 hp engine. The horsepower ratio of 70:306 mirrors closely the fuel savings. E32 is expected to use 70/306ths (23%) of the fuel of the boat it is replacing. In addition, they will be able to operate at higher speeds when needed, while creating less wash, and causing less riverbank damage and wildlife disturbance.
Materials
Harbour operations vessels equivalent to the E32 are generally constructed of FRP (fibre reinforced plastic), where the fibres contribute strength, the plastics impermeability. The fibres are usually a form of glass strand, but can be high modulus aramids like Kevlar. The plastic encapsulating the fibres can be any one of several compounds:- polyester, vinylester, orthophthalic resin, epoxy and the more expensive polyurethane resins.
Production of glass fibre is an energy intensive process, involving raw materials like soda lime glass, silica sand, calcium oxide, soda and magnesium which are mixed and then smelted in a furnace at 1500°C. Although the raw material used for glass fibre may be recycled glass, once used in FRP, the glass component can no longer be extracted and recycled.
The plastics used to encapsulate the reinforcing fibre strands are petrochemicals, manufactured by refining crude oil. Apart from the energy used in transporting crude oil from well to refinery to end user, and the energy cost of refining, these plastics are drawn from fossil fuel sources which are non-renewable. Every FRP boat built depletes oil reserves, and in doing so creates pollutants, greenhouse gases, and end-of-life disposal pollution.
Environmentally friendly disposal of FRP is virtually non-existent. Pilot studies have examined various possibilities (grinding, melting, chemical breakdown, incineration for energy recovery) without finding a viable solution. Landfill is the usual fate of FRP, but long-term that is a non-sustainable option.
Ecocats is very aware of the environmental problems associated with FRP, and is addressing them in two ways. Firstly, through reduction. Ecocats’ products use only, approximately, one third the quantity of FRP of an equivalent monohull. Also, tight control during the manufacturing process ensures that waste during construction is kept to an absolute minimum.
Secondly, Ecocats is very active in research into bio-composites. Working with the universities of Plymouth, Newcastle, Bangor and Warwick, Ecocats has produced prototype FRP panels where the fibres comes from jute or flax plants, and the resin from rape-seed oil. Both the fibre and the resin are from sustainable sources and the resulting products, when life expired, can be recycled through composting or bio-degradation.
Ecocats has recently secured a contract from an international cosmetics manufacturer for the production of retail display units using bio-composite mouldings. Ecocats expects to begin incorporating bio-composite components in non-critical structures of its catamaran range within the next 18 months.
The Process
In building Ecocat and associated products we continue to work closely with EnVision, a consultancy which specialises in environmental impact reduction.
Energy
§ We use energy-efficient lighting (25% of the power, 10x lifespan)
§ We close down electric and electronic machinery when not in use. Even on standby, modern equipment still consumes a few watts of current. We avoid this
Pollution
§ We mould components using a closed moulding process, which virtually eliminates potentially harmful volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions
§ We use computer communications extensively, saving paper production pollution, and postal delivery pollution
§ We recycle office, canteen and factory waste, thereby helping minimise new production pollution from raw material conversion
§ Composite manufacture is not, inherently, a noisy operation. At our location we have no residential neighbours. Nevertheless, we restrain noise, for the sake of local wildlife, water users and our workforce
Waste and Resource Management
§ We recycle plastic, glass and paper and packaging from office, canteen and factory sources
§ We plan production carefully, to buy in exact quantities of materials, to avoid creating waste in the first instance
§ We mix resins and measure fibres, etc, in precise quantities, to avoid having ‘overs’ at end-of-work stage
§ We ask all suppliers to send shipments using the least amount of packaging commensurate with adequate protection
Water efficiency
§ We use very little water in the manufacturing process (we probably use more water making tea, than making boats)!
§ When water is used, it is usually for washing and cleaning. If cleaning agents are required we use bio-degradable products
§ Water is metered and taps are never left running, or dripping
Transport
§ We recruit locally where possible to avoid commuting miles
§ Our employees are encouraged to walk or cycle to work
§ For those travelling longer distances we actively encourage car sharing
§ If goods and materials are available locally, we source locally to avoid long distance transport emissions and pollution
Purchasing & the local economy
§ We buy from local distributors, wholesalers and retailers wherever possible
Building & land use
§ Ecocats works in what is, effectively, a recycled building. It is the old swimming pool complex of HMS Raleigh, an RN shore training establishment
§ As such the building is not constructed to modern energy efficiency norms. We have done what we can, within the constraints imposed upon us by our landlord, to insulate and draught proof the building and we continue to pressure our landlord to make improvements that will increase the sustainability of the premises
Community Participation
§ We actively support local sports clubs, especially rowing and soccer
§ We maintain good relations with local schools, hosting school visits, work experience placements, involvement in technology coursework, etc.
§ Our Production Director lectures on sustainable design and manufacturing processes at Cornwall College Camborne
Employee Practices
§ We provide frequent input to our staff on minimising the environmental footprint of our manufacturing and administration processes
§ We take great care that our working practises comply not just with the letter of health and safety legislation, but also with its spirit. Our objective is to be a zero accident, zero work-related illness employer. To date we have achieved that objective
§ We encourage our employees to look for more environmentally friendly solutions to all manufacturing processes and problems, rewarding their initiative in this area
Environmental Management
Ecocats has an environmental policy, and encourages all employees to become familiar with it, and to act in accordance with it
We are working towards ISO14001 accreditation
Undoubtedly our single most important environmental contribution to sustainability is our product, the Ecocat. In confirmation, we quote extensively from our first customer, the Port of London Authority, which invested much of its own time, expertise and resources in co-operating with us to produce a vessel which would meet its own sustainability criteria and make those achievable for other harbour administrations:
“Traditional designs of patrol and safety/rescue craft, whether of semi-displacement or planing hull form, including rigid inflatable boats, create substantial wash when required to move at high speed, for example when responding to an emergency. Indeed, it is not unknown for rowers and others in small vessels to be caused substantial distress by a rescue craft necessarily passing at high speed to another’s emergency. Furthermore, the large wash created at speed may be damaging to the riverbank environment and the high resistance created by the wash causes high fuel consumption, with subsequent depletion of fuel resources and high atmospheric emissions.”
“The Port of London Authority’s Marine Engineer and Harbour Masters recognised the importance of providing river patrols in vessels that cause the least wash, at the range of normal and emergency patrol vessel speeds.”
“To assess the qualities of semi-displacement and planing catamaran hull forms, against the existing semi-displacement monohull, the School of Engineering Sciences, University of Southampton, was commissioned to undertake a series of computational and model tests. Professors Philip Wilson and Tony Molland are recognised experts in the field of ships’ wash studies and took the lead in the theoretical study. They first proposed suitable models and systems of analysis for the series of computational tests to determine wash characteristics not only for optimisation of the potential new designs but also, for confidence in the theory, the conditions created by the existing craft.”
“The computer modelling established that the theoretical principles were valid and that potential benefits exist, in the likely water conditions, from using a catamaran launch in place of the existing monohull”
“To progress the work, three models were constructed, at one fifth scale, suitable for physical tank test trials at the GKN site on the Isle of Wight. The results of the trials corroborated the computational studies and exposed some interesting wash characteristics which occur most notably in shallow water, as vessel sped increases”
“The research and trials programme demonstrated that, for low to medium speeds (6 – 20 knots), the semi-displacement (catamaran) hull form’s wash and resistance performance was marginally better than the planing catamaran hull, which performed better at higher speeds, as might be expected. It came as no surprise that both catamarans were substantially better than the existing semi-displacement monohull design, but the reduction in the height of wash and vessel resistance were considerable. At given speeds, wash heights were typically 1/3 of the monohull’s and the wave energy substantially reduced – offering commensurate savings in power requirement, fuel consumption and, thus, emissions.
SUMMARY
Throughout the research, design and build phases of the project, the combination of:
§ optimised low-wash characteristics, vessel displacement & performance in design; and
§ careful attention to materials selection and processes in construction
should provide patrol vessels which significantly improve safety for “customer” and “stake-holder” river users and, through the reduced resistance - principally achieved through wash reduction - substantially reduce the vessels’ carbon footprint from operational fuel consumption and subsequent emissions.
The first Ecocats E32 patrol launch is now in service, with the second vessel of the class expected in early 2007. The vessels have a large operational platform, flexible to a variety of tasks, and will carry all equipment and resources required for duty, yet have a displacement approximately half that of the current patrol launches.
The hull form is expected to allow normal patrol speed of 6-8 knots to be achieved with virtually no wash and emergency response to be achieved, at 18 knots, with one third the wash wave-height and substantially less wash energy (approximately one fifth of current) than that created by the current semi-displacement monohulls. While similarly safe and environmentally responsible characteristics but a higher speed might be required in operation by other authorities, the absence of petrol on the tidal Thames constrains power and performance to that available from the Yanmar diesel outboard motors selected. In PLA service, fuel consumption, across the power range, is substantially reduced, providing economy and reduced atmospheric emissions.
In sum, this research, development and design work has added substantially to the potential for improved safety in inland waterway patrol and rescue craft, while also providing benefits to both the riverbank, atmospheric and water environments. This joint initiative, by industry (both client and designer/builder) and academia, should establish a new level of “best practice” in small commercial and recreational vessel design, which is now available to the benefit of other UK and overseas port, inland water and rescue authorities and the general public which they serve.”