Browsing by Author "Tenho, Noora"

Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract Majority of research on emission reductions in the maritime logistics chain has focused on ships and their energy efficiency. Also other parts of the chain, such as container terminals, retain untapped emission reduction potential. Gaseous and particulate exhaust emissions and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) rank among the top environmental concerns in ports. Main sources for these emissions are energy consumed by ships and trucks entering the port and cargo handling machines operating at the port site. This thesis focuses on emissions generated during the use phase of mobile cargo handling machines. Its main objective is to evaluate the private and social profitability of diesel-electric (ICEV), hybrid (HEV) and battery-electric (BEV) machine when GHG and regional emissions matter for the society. The profitability of each technology is measured with the net present value (NPV) method, assuming 40,000 machine lifetime hours. The harmful effects of emissions on society are monetized by estimating their social cost. Emissions included in the analysis are NOx, PM and the main GHGs from fuel combustion (CH4, CO2 and NH3). In the base case, BEV was the most profitable technology, both from the private and social perspective. The private net present costs of BEV were 6% lower compared to the HEV and 9% lower compared to the ICEV. Respectively, the social net present costs of BEV were 9% lower compared to the HEV and 12% lower compared to the ICEV. Even when the cost parameters were varied one at a time, the savings in operational costs for the BEV compared to other alternatives were significant. BEV had the lowest costs in each scenario except for when the diesel price was low. Only in the low diesel price scenario another alternative (HEV) had the lowest costs. The air quality benefits of both hybrid (HEV) and battery-electric (BEV) container handling machines are clear in comparison to the conventional diesel machine (ICEV). However, the magnitude of benefits depends on the level of damage cost applied in the analysis. The operational CO2 emissions of the BEV depend on the origin of the charging electricity. When applying the CO2 emission factor for average European electricity grid, CO2 emissions from the BEV were approximately 67% lower compared to the ICEV. With Finland’s average grid emission factor, BEV emissions were 89% lower compared to ICEV and 84% lower compared to HEV. In general, there is uncertainty about costs used in the study as they have been gathered from multiple, in part unscientific sources. The research topic is also constrained by scarcity of reliable and public information from ports and terminals. However, the future seems more promising with the increasing digitalization in the industry as well as the growing demand for corporate transparency and reporting on non-financial topics.