Diss. Malmö : World Maritime University, 2025

This thesis extends the scope of maritime decarbonization studies by incorporating cradle-to-grave assessment of energy and water use versus greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction. This framework is employed to question the sustainability of decarbonization strategies centered on synthetic fuels and GHG offsetting techniques. The thesis first introduces a ship energy model to predict ships’ fuel consumption from various design options for propulsion and energy generation systems. Validated on real data, the model yields energy predictions with 11% accuracy at 90% confidence. The energy modeling tool is further incorporated into a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) framework, addressing GHG, water, and energy footprints of ships from cradle to grave.