Costa Cruises Receives The ABB Energy Efficiency Award 2009 - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Forum, Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

MD11F · 10-17-2009, 02:47 AM

MIAMI (September 24, 2009) – Costa, Europe’s Number One Cruise Line, received the ABB Energy Efficiency Award 2009 this week in recognition of its efforts and progress in improving energy efficiency in its motor and drive systems.

The prize was presented as part of “Energy Efficiency Award 2009: Designing and Achieving Energy Efficiency: New Conversations,” an event promoted and arranged by Abb Sace, a division of ABB Spa. In addition to Costa Cruises’ project, initiatives implemented by Fiat Auto, a leader in vehicle manufacturing and Fiorucci, a leader in the food industry, were also honored at the ceremony.

Costa Cruises qualified for the award by installing inverters on its ships. These devices are designed to control the supply of electrical power and find the point of peak efficiency, thereby ensuring the flexibility of systems and machinery in relation to effective operational demands. The use of these variable speed drives have optimized the performance of fans and blowers in the engine room and have led to substantial energy savings combined with a reduced environmental impact.

Intelligent inverter speed control was first introduced on the Costa Fortuna and Costa Serena, while work is scheduled to install similar devices on the Costa Magica, Costa Pacifica and Costa Concordia. Meanwhile, the Costa Luminosa, which joined the fleet in May this year, and the Costa Deliziosa, due for delivery in January 2010, have both been designed with inverters already fitted on board.

The 51 inverters installed on the Costa Fortuna and on the Costa Serena, approximately 8,760,000 kWh, corresponding to approximately 1,820 tons of bunker, were saved in 12 months. There was a significant decrease in air emissions, namely 5,723 t/year of CO2.

Costa Cruises’ commitment to the implementation of energy saving systems, with fleetwide applications in a range of areas, is in line with the company’s environmental policy, which specifies obligations and targets that are far more restrictive than those enforced by mandatory international rules and requirements.

A separate collection program is in operation on all 14 ships in the Costa fleet for all of the solid waste generated. No solid waste, except for food waste or special waste, is ever discharged overboard. Approximately 400 m3 of aluminum and 2100 m3 of glass from the ships are sent for recycling each year. Most of the water used is produced directly on board using desalination plants and the ships are fitted with double bilge (oily water) separators as well as the fail-safe “white box” system enabling a further check of the oil content of effluent water. In addition, Costa carries out systematic sampling and analysis of engine, diesel generator and incinerator emissions, as well as monitoring of electromagnetic emission levels.

MD11F · 10-17-2009, 02:48 AM

The Costa Luminosa, which entered service in May this year, is the first ship in Italy and one of the first in the world to be equipped for “cold ironing,” a system whereby vessels are plugged into shoreside electrical power, enabling generators to be shut down during stopovers in port. This means the environmental impact of port calls is also greatly reduced. The Costa Deliziosa, due for delivery in January 2010, will be fitted with the same system.

Costa is the only cruise company to have its own environmental management systemdeveloped in accordance with the latest international standards (UNI EN ISO 14001, issued in 2004) and documented in a Sustainability Reportdrawn up in accordance with the Guidelines of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and certified by RINA (the Italian Shipping Register). Moreover, in 2005 Costa Cruises became the first company in the world to receive the “Green Star” across the fleet from RINA. This prestigious notation certifies that all Costa’s vessels comply with environmental standards for the prevention of pollution of the marine environment and it is actually stricter than the prevailing provisions of the international MARPOL Convention. Further confirmation of the company’s commitment to environmental conservation is reflected by the partnership established in 2005 with WWF Italia to protect the marine environment, dedicated this year to a project safeguarding the Mediterranean Sea.