Caution, technology

If you start researching climate-neutral ships, you realize that there have been an increasing number of projects in the last ten years that aim to free the maritime world from fossil fuels. Wind is celebrating a renaissance. Multi-masted schooners or brigantines, modern sailing ships equipped with the latest technology, are sending out a signal that freight can also be transported without emissions. Old ships and new ships based on old models can be found on the seas as luxurious sailing cruise ships. But the wind remains a somewhat unreliable source of propulsion.

So how can we arrive at our destination on the other side of the ocean without a combustion engine, in a climate-neutral way and reliably according to schedule? Fuel cells are increasingly crystallizing as a solution. They transform hydrogen into electricity. This then drives electric motors and provides the energy for hotel operations. However, it is clear that there is still no experience of testing this over the long term. Much is still under development.

Save Planet Liners has confidence in the technology and is convinced that major advances will be made in the efficiency of fuel cells over the next few years.

Hydrogen initially seems to be the best solution as an energy source. Hydrogen can be transformed directly in the fuel cell, produces zero emissions and can be produced in a green way. However, liquid hydrogen requires 4.8 times the volume of diesel for the same amount of energy and only liquefies at -253°C. The large volume and the high energy consumption for cooling argue against its commercial use in long-distance passenger shipping.

After analyzing several alternative energy sources, the decision was made to use green methanol. Methanol is liquid and can be stored in tanks like gasoline or diesel. It only needs 2.4 times the volume of diesel to store the same amount of energy. It is also biodegradable. Disadvantage: Methanol is toxic and very flammable.

A plant for the production of green methanol is currently being built in Stade, which will produce 200,000 tons of green methanol per year. Production facilities are being built throughout Europe. Plants for the production of green methanol are also currently being built on the east coast of the USA.

But Save Planet Liners doesn't want to do without the wind either. We have opted for Oceanwings from the French company Ayro. The USA17 boat won the America's Cup with Oceanwings in 2010. The boat and wings were designed by naval architects VPLP and later developed further and industrialized as a fully automated product. Oceanwings are vertical wings that can be reefed when the wind is too strong. Compared to traditional sails of the same surface area, they generate around twice the power. They also allow a much higher course upwind. At a cruising speed of 12 knt, taking into account the annual weather on the North Atlantic, the energy saving for our ship on a voyage from Hamburg to New York is 40% thanks to Oceanwings.

Design, aesthetics and well-being

The design and aesthetics of the interior and the lounge areas on the outside of the ships play a major role in the well-being of the passengers. Good design is long-lasting; you never get tired of the design of the rooms. This characteristic, together with the materials used, determines whether the design is also sustainable. If the ship's interior has to be replaced every ten years because it no longer reflects the current zeitgeist, the associated consumption of resources is immense.

Design always takes place in history. The difference lies in whether the designer only superficially takes up aesthetic trends or whether a more intensive examination of social, technical and cultural developments takes place and a design language derived from this is developed on this basis. A design created in this way can be assigned to a historical epoch, but retains its artistic and aesthetic value indelibly.

However, well-being also requires heterogeneity. A room in which everything appears to have been cast from the same mold looks interesting and may have a high aesthetic value, but we usually don't feel comfortable in these rooms. In order to feel comfortable, we need a certain degree of individuality in individual objects, which contrasts with the uniformity and orderliness of the thoroughly designed room. Heterogeneity also refers to the texture of the surfaces and the age of the individual objects.

In Japan, a new aesthetic of "wabi-sabi" characteristics (simplicity, naturalness and acceptance of reality) developed in the late 16th century as an alternative to Chinese perfection and splendor. The tea master Rikyu helped this aesthetic to achieve a breakthrough in tea art by placing the roughly shaped folk art of Japan and Korea, created by anonymous local craftsmen [...] on the same artistic level as the smooth, perfect Chinese treasures" (Koren, L.: Wabi-sabi für Künstler, Architekten und Designer, Japans Philosophie der Bescheidenheit; Wasmuth, Tübingen, 3rd ed. 1997).

The technical perfection, man-made materials and geometric shapes that have found their way into our everyday lives in the modern age often seem cold. Inspired by the Japanese wabi-sabi, simplicity, natural materials or materials reused in other forms, as well as design heterogeneity should convey a sense of security to the passengers on board and contribute to their well-being. Save Planet Liners is committed to this goal. What's more, we will encourage our passengers to bring a small object they love onto the ship and place it in their cabin to make them feel at home during their stay with us.

Research

The challenge for the energy budget is the long distance and the hotel operation. In addition, Save Planet Liners' goal is to use as few resources as possible and have as little impact as possible on the marine ecosystem. Three objectives are to be pursued in a research project funded by the BMWK:

I. Development of an energy management platform that controls all energy producers as well as consumer groups and energy storage systems using artificial intelligence (AI).

II. Development of a weather routing system to calculate the route for Save Planet Liners' ships that consumes the least amount of energy generated by green methanol and at the same time generates the most renewable energy.

III. Conducting a digital test using a model with digital twins in different scenarios to verify the expected performance of the weather routing and energy management platform.

The planned research project has three milestones: MS.04.01 Approval of funding for the research project, MS.04.02 Decision on the energy source and the storage medium and MS.04.03 Completion of the research project.

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