AN EVALUATION OF ENERGY CONSERVATION APPROA CHES FOR SURFACE SHIPS

Abstract

ABSTRACTLower Fleet operating costs and independence from foreign fossil fuel resources are the goals of energy conservation efforts for Navy surface ship. This paper describes an evaluation of a wide variety of energy conservation approaches. A standard 20‐knot, 300‐hour Destroyer mission is established so that all of the approaches can be compared on a total fuel required basis. The approaches studied include use of aluminum hull construction; light weight machinery; trail‐shaft or cross‐connect operation for twin screw ships; improved performance propulsors; advanced power plant types, such as COGAS or cruise engines; use of energy storage techniques to improve ship service generator performance; electrical load reductions; improved performance ship service generators; hull drag reductions; crew size reductions; design margin reduction; reduced performance requirement (such as top speed); and habitability standard reductions. The overall results can be effected by reductions in range requirements as well. Mission duration was held constant at 45 days throughout the study.The results of the study indicate that the combination of these various possible improvements may reduce the fuel used to be as low as one‐third of the current levels. Weight reductions are very effective for achieving significant fuel savings.