Sustainability consultancy Tunley Environmental is working with ports on the Great Lakes, including Detroit, to help them to decarbonize. Here, Alexander gives her advice on how ports can prepare for the now released $3 billion of Clean Ports Program funding.
With the U.S. Presidential election campaign stepping it up this week, with both candidates touring the battleground states, the Federal Government has just announced the lucky ports who will share the $3 billion of Clean Ports Program funding.
Tunley Environmental’s advice to port and terminal operators, especially those which have applied for electric equipment and vehicle grants, is to move quickly. It is essential ports are at the “front of the line” for highly sought after materials and equipment.
As background the grants are being made available as part of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Ports Program. The program provides funding for specific zero emissions technology such as electric vehicles, along with support for ports at an earlier stage in their decarbonization journey to develop a greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory of their activities.
The essential route to cutting those greenhouse gases is electrification of port equipment and vehicles, and continued research for a zero emission replacement fuel for cargo ships.
With the EPA grants covering some of the capital expenditure costs, electrification offers emissions reduction, reduced noise and vibration, and critically a financial advantage, as electric equipment is cheaper to run than equivalent diesel.
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