Bert Robbins wrote:
What source of energy is being used to produce the power that feeds the
ship electricity?

Gravity. Nearly all of the power used by the City of Seattle is
generated by falling water.
That's a system that wouldn't work in most of the country, for obvious
reasons, but up here where we get a lot of water falling all the time,
using falling water -or water flowing through a pipe to turn a turbine-
leaves the air a lot cleaner than it would be if we burned oil or coal
for electricity. Some of the outlying cities hooked up to Puget Power
do get some electricity from a coal plant in Montana.



Hooking up to the City of Seattle's power grid allows the cruise
ships to turn off their engines while docked in Seattle, reducing fuel
consumption and eliminating diesel emissions from the ship's stack.

Does the ship save money by using shore power?

"The City of Seattle, Holland America Line, Princess Cruise Line, the
Environmental Protection Agency and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency
have been vital partners in this achievement," Davis said. "We are
very thankful for their ongoing support and their willingness to forge
ahead."

Does it save money?

The beginning of a study to determine the feasibility of using seawater
scrubbers to remove pollutants from cruise ship diesel emissions also
was announced today Holland's MS Zandaam, one of the ships operating
out of Seattle in 2007, will test the seawater scrubbing equipment.

Sounds like a good thing.

The study is made possible with the assistance of a $300,000 grant from
the U.S. EPA/West Coast Diesel Collaborative, a $100,000 contribution
from the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency and $50,000 from the Port of
Seattle. Other partners in the study include: BP, CAT Diesel Power,
Environment Canada and the Port of Vancouver (Canada) Authority.

Does shore power save money?

"We're excited to play a role in testing this promising new
technology," said Port of Seattle CEO Mic Dinsmore. "The shorepower
and seawater scrubbing programs are clear examples of the maritime
industry bringing economic benefits and environmental stewardship to
our community."


Does shore power save money?

Does shore power save money?

Hard to say. It might be sort of a push. Our electric rates are some of
the lowest in the nation, and the cost of fuel to run a generator
aboard a ship isn't going down any.

However, some of these decisions have to be made while taking into
consideration factors other than "what's the cheapest way to do it"?
For instance, the cheapest way to handle on-board sewage would simply
be to pump it directly overboard without treatment and without regard
to location. You probably wouldn't want to see that at your home port,
regardless of whether the cruise operators could be slightly more
profitable as a result.

On a cool, still, morning I can look out over Elliott Bay and see
enormous dark clouds of diesel exhaust hovering above most of the ships
anchored there. That's a consequence of commerce, but if we can
eliminate some of that and still keep the ship traffic there is no
reason not to do so. IMO