The Port of Aalborg announced that it achieved to be the first CO2-neutral port in Denmark, along with being among the few CO2-neutral ports in the world.
Hence, since 2010, a series of initiatives have resulted in significant energy savings and reductions in CO2 emissions. However, the investments have not only benefitted the environment; the energy saving investment projects have been handled as individual business cases on similar terms as other investments.
The initiative to become Denmark’s first CO2-neutral port commenced in earnest in 2010, when the annual energy consumption produced CO2 emissions of 1,240 tons. The Port of Aalborg chose to become certified in accordance with the international standard of environmental management, ISO 14.001. The certification entailed some very ambitious environmental goals, which has been met through a series of concrete initiatives.
The consumption of diesel, electricity and district heating make up the CO2 accounts of the Port of Aalborg, and diesel in particular constitutes the biggest and most difficult item. The diesel consumption has been reduced continuously by replacing vehicles and machines. The latest initiative concerns the installation of three charging stations at the harbour area along with replacing the official car of the guard on duty with an electric car. Meanwhile, the port has intensified its use of surveillance cameras, which reduces the need for driving.
“And since the electric car runs on wind and solar energy, it simply does not get more sustainable than that”, Brian Dalby Rasmussen, Environmental Compliance Coordinator at the Port of Aalborg, says.
- In 2012, the port’s works office, along with other buildings, was renovated in accordance with the most rigorous standard for energy efficiency, namely the Passive House Standard, which among other things reduced the heat consumption in the building with a total of 85%. During the same year, the port initiated its renovation of roadway- and local lighting. A lighting control system was implemented, allowing all workers to control the lighting via their smartphones, while the first light sources at one of the larger harbour areas of 45,000 square meters were replaced with energy efficient LED-lighting. Since then, the vast majority of the lighting plants at the Port of Aalborg have been renovated systematically and given LED lighting.
- In 2013, the Port of Aalborg constructed the then largest solar cell system in North Jutland, with an annual production capacity of 80,000 kWh, which is enough to cover the consumption of electricity in the Port’s operating department and administration buildings.
- In 2014, the port’s four large mobile cranes were replaced with three new cranes. These cranes have a significantly lower consumption of electricity and diesel, and the capacity is now appropriately adjusted in accordance with the current work tasks. Despite a significant growth in cranage tasks in 2016, the total energy consumption is actually lower than before.
- In 2015, the freight terminal at the Port of Aalborg was renovated and reinstated. The freight terminal replaces the need for transporting goods through Europe by road, as it significantly reduces the consumption of energy per ton-km.
By the end of 2015, the Port of Aalborg had achieved a reduction of nearly 40% on the consumption of electricity and a corresponding 41% reduction in CO2 emissions from the collective use of electricity, diesel and district heating.
In connection with the Port of Aalborg’s purchase of port facilities at the Nordjylland Power Station, a 2 MW Siemens wind turbine was included in the deal. The wind turbine produced approximately 4 million kWh in 2016, which meant that the port’s CO2 balance reached break-even point when the energy production of the wind turbine was included in the total energy accounts of 2016.
Regarding what is next for the port, the following statements were made:
“On the energy side of things, we are now CO2-neutral, which means that the next step will be to get rid of the fossil fuels, being the diesel oil”.
“From 2018 we will have the necessary port reception facilities to receive black and grey water from cruise vessels in particular, enabling us to treat the waste water ashore rather than having it discharged at sea. We are also focusing our efforts to transport more goods by rail or by containers via the port’s container terminal. We have also entered into a long-term collaboration with Aalborg University, which will help us define and unfold sustainability as a business strategy”.
“We are currently planning the construction of another solar cell system on one of the port’s larger office buildings”.
Source: Port of Aalborg