Reducing the World’s Carbon Emissions is no longer a can do, it’s a must do.  In our collective role as Oil & Gas producers, and users, it is incumbent on us to do our utmost to minimize our impact on the environment whilst maintaining a production level that enables society to carry on functioning, yet, through our actions, to try to instill in the individual the need to adapt their lifestyle to meet environmental demands.

Do you know your carbon footprint?  It is defined as the amount of Carbon Dioxide [CO2] released into the atmosphere through activities related to your lifestyle. According to government figures, the average person in the UK is deemed to have a carbon footprint of 10 tonnes of CO2 per annum based on the type of car they drive, heating in the home, holiday flights etc.

It is interesting to note that transportation accounts for 13.5% of all CO2 emissions and it is this area that we can affect as individuals or indeed as Marine Logistics Providers.
The following table gives us a breakdown on an individuals activities and their annual CO2 impact:

Secondary Lifestyle is based on type of food you eat and clothes you buy and the frequency at which you go out for entertainment as this expends energy and when we compare this with a cargo run using a standard PSV we can see that the impact is quite staggering.

A 60 hour cargo run to the central area [120 miles from Aberdeen] will work out as follows:

Transit to and from the installations would take approximately 24 hours and the average vessel will burn 9 tonnes of fuel during this time.  Standby & Working at the installation will last for 24 hours and the vessel burns approximately 3 tonnes.  Finally, time in port discharging and loading cargo will account for 12 hours or 0.5 tonnes of diesel burned.  This gives us a total figure of 12.5 tonnes of diesel which works out at 14,700 litres and since 1 litre of diesel releases 2.68kg of CO2 [as per government figures] we get a total release of 39,396kg of CO2.

Using Government figures we can see that each voyage is equal to the total annual output of 4 people and so far this year we have saved just under 1,150 tonnes of CO2 emissions through vessel sharing which is equivalent to the annual emissions of 115 people - a figure well worth achieving.

If we then divide the 1,150 tonnes by the average car emissions per annum [2.880te] we can see that the reduction in CO2 emissions is equivalent to removing 399 cars off of our roads for the whole of 2008.