Aurora Expeditions Completes Largest Antarctic Season

Aurora Expeditions Completes Largest Antarctic Season

Photo credit Spacejunkie2 - Flickr photostream https://flic.kr/ps/GkiQt

Aurora Expeditions has completed its largest Antarctic season to date, operating 30 voyages, facilitating an estimated 819 landings and welcoming a 30 percent increase in expeditioners representing 56 nationalities, according to an announcement.

“This season represents a significant milestone for Aurora Expeditions,” said Michael Heath, chief executive officer at Aurora Expeditions.

“Delivering 30 voyages to Antarctica, including a return to East Antarctica, and operating three ships in the region for the first time reflects both our heritage and how we continue to evolve.”

The 2025-26 program included the launch of the company’s third expedition vessel, the Douglas Mawson, in Sydney in November ahead of its inaugural Antarctic season.

This was the first time in the company’s 35-year history that Aurora operated three ships simultaneously in Antarctica.

The season marked a return to East Antarctica after 15 years, alongside the introduction of Active Antarctica voyages featuring 14 included activities.

The Douglas Mawson reached 78 degrees 44.405 minutes south, marking the southernmost voyage in history, the company said.

Aurora also recorded 2,835 polar plunges, delivered 269 on board lectures and saw expeditioners contribute thousands of hours to on board citizen science programs supporting initiatives such as whale and seabird monitoring, oceanographic data collection and polar ecosystem observation.

The program introduced AI-powered routing technology and microplastic filtration systems to Antarctica.

The season also marked the introduction of drone-supported scouting used to assist bridge teams with real-time ice and landing site assessment.

 

Everllence and Plastic Fischer Fight Against Plastic Waste

Everllence and Plastic Fischer Fight Against Plastic Waste

Everllence has signed a three-year sponsorship agreement with social enterprise Plastic Fischer, which will see the clearing of rivers near Everllence locations in India of plastic waste.

Plastic Fischer is a Cologne-based startup that combats ocean plastic pollution while creating jobs in emerging countries. As part of the partnership, regular joint-collection campaigns with employees will take place at Everllence locations in India.

Everllence said in a press release that the partnership will enable Plastic Fischer to collect and recycle between 450 and 500 tons of plastic over the next three years.

A total of seven floating barriers will be installed in Vadodara and Bangalore to capture plastic from the river. The startup will also use the funding to open two material-recovery facilities to sort and recycle the collected materials.

In the first year, these measures are expected to create 20 local jobs.

Uwe Lauber, CEO of Everllence, said: “Protecting oceans and waterways is especially important to us. Plastic Fischer has been carrying out impressive work in this field for many years, and we are proud and happy to support their mission.”

Karsten Hirsch, CEO and founder of Plastic Fischer, said: “We are very pleased to take our next big step with Everllence and expand into two new locations at once.”

“This long-term support will help us build infrastructure and drive sustainable change on-site. We are proud to have earned Everllence’s trust to build a flagship project with a strong local impact together,” Hirsch added.

Michael Melzer, head of experience communications and responsible for donations and sponsorships at Everllence, said: “What convinced us about Plastic Fischer, in addition to our shared commitment to protecting waterways, was its local approach.”

“Together, not only can we fight plastic waste, but we can also make a contribution to local economic development around our Indian sites. Furthermore, our employees in Bangalore and Vadodara can volunteer in the cleanups; it’s a great cooperation,” added Melzer.

Plastic Fischer uses barriers called TrashBooms to capture plastic directly in rivers.

Non-recyclable waste is processed in cement plants, serving as a more environmentally friendly alternative to landfill or incineration, as it produces no residues like ash and simultaneously replaces fossil fuels.

AIDA Cruises Makes Green Moves in Shoreside Office

AIDA Cruises Makes Green Moves in Shoreside Office

AIDA Cruises has been investing in a future-proof and sustainable business model as part of its Green Cruising Strategy, according to a press release, also highlighting what it is doing at the company's headquarters in Rostock and in Hamburg.

Using reusable packaging instead of disposable packaging or avoiding packaging altogether is one of the many examples.

With the reopening of the employee cafeteria after the pandemic, for example, two sustainable deposit systems were introduced for grab and go meals with REWBOWL and RECUP.

The company said it also provides its employees with fruit without packaging.

Coffee specialities are available freshly ground from modern coffee machines. Water can be drawn from water stations in the tea kitchens.

Printers office-wide have also been reduced, with central printers serving multiple employees and using recycled paper.

There are also discounted public transportation programs and even company bicycles, which can be rented privately and free of charge.

For business trips within Germany, the company uses rail as the preferred mode of transport.

For many years now, all office buildings in Rostock and Hamburg have been supplied with 100 per cent electricity from renewable sources.

New particulate removal system to be tested on a cruise ship

The newly developed Wet Electrostatic Precipitator (WESP) is designed to capture particles of PM2.5 and below from ship emissions (source: Ecospray)

Italy’s Ecospray will install a recently developed system to eliminate particulate matter and black soot from ship emissions Called a Wet Electrostatic Precipitator (WESP), the first unit will be installed on a cruise ship. Testing will be conducted in collaboration with RINA and SGS in order to validate and assess the technology.

Founded as an engineering company 15 years ago, Ecospray was acquired by Carnival in 2016. Known for its exhaust gas cleaning systems (ECGS) technology, Ecospray has broadened its clean technology portfolio to target the maritime energy transition market.

The WESP system was developed to eliminate visible smoke from the stack, especially during engine start-up and at low loads, by capturing particles (PM2.5 and below) and part of condensable species (SO₃).

It can be installed downstream of the DeSOx tower and has low-pressure drops and high removal efficiency. WESP can be integrated into an existing DeSOx tower or installed as a stand-alone unit, for both open-loop and hybrid EGCSs.

Likening it to the use of EGCSs for diesel engines, Ecospray project management leader Filippo Lossani said, “WESP is a ‘bridge’ technology, meaning it’s a true transition technology which will guide us towards the 2030-2050 [decarbonisation] objectives.” Added Mr Lossani, “Considering the ever-increasing focus on issues involving environmental sustainability and health – and given the growing demand for the reduction of polluting emissions – we expect that the standardisation process of dust and particulates will be the necessary next step, and we are ready.”

SGS will also assist Ecospray with the laboratory analyses to test system performance of WESP, while RINA marine senior director Andrea Cogliolo, said the class society will verify and validate the installation drawings on board the ship, establish a test protocol, and issue a report on the results of the project.

SGS I&E Marine Services Geneva CH director Vladimiro Bonamin said SGS will establish the details for the analytical side of the test protocol prepared by RINA, and prepare the QAQC protocol to ensure accurate measurements.

Budweiser and CleanEarth announce Magor Brewery to be Powered by Massive Wind Turbine

Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I, a proud part of AB InBev, and renewable energy company, CleanEarth, reached a milestone in the brewer's sustainability efforts. A new wind turbine has been installed at Budweiser Brewing Group's brewery in Magor, South Wales to help power the site with renewable electricity. 

One billion pints

The newly installed turbine will supply nearly a quarter of the energy consumed at Budweiser’s Magor Brewery. As the site produces more than 1 billion pints of beer each year (including Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona and Bud Light) its power demand is considerable.

Located just under a mile from the brewery, the turbine serves the plant via a direct wire, with Budweiser Brewing Group purchasing the power from CleanEarth through a power purchase agreement (PPA).

The turbine is the latest step in Budweiser Brewing Group’s commitment to brewing its beers with 100% renewable electricity by next year and its continued investment in renewables.

Lloyd Manship, Brewery Manager at Magor Brewery, said, “Having worked at the brewery for more than 20 years, it’s amazing to see how far we’ve come in our sustainability initiatives. The installation of this wind turbine is going to make a huge difference in helping us to operate more sustainably long into the future.”

Unprecedented scale

The Vensys V136 turbine presented significant logistical challenges, especially in the transportation of the blades. The conventional route by road was dropped in favour of shipping them over 800 miles by sea and into Bristol’s Avonmouth Dock, leaving just the last 20 miles to be negotiated by road.

The combination of sheer size with the latest design and engineering technology makes the Magor turbine highly efficient in harnessing the available wind, providing an output of up to 3.5 megawatts.

This will generate 9 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year – the equivalent of powering 2,300 Welsh homes – while saving more than 2,600 tonnes of CO2 emissions. That’s well over 65,000 tons of carbon savings during its operational lifetime.

Commitment to decarbonization

The partnership between Budweiser and CleanEarth is another important step in the decarbonization of UK businesses. As Paula Lindenberg, President, Budweiser Brewing Group UK&I, said, “We’re committed to brewing Britain’s most sustainable beers. Partnerships like this one with CleanEarth help drive positive change – making it easier for people to make sustainable choices at the pub or on their weekly shop.”

This was echoed by Dean Robson, Managing Director of CleanEarth, who said, “Too often corporate goals are not coupled with strong and effective action – but Budweiser Brewing Group has been supportive at all levels, and have acted throughout with a clarity that’s consistent with their ambitious environmental targets.

“We are proud of the work we’ve done with Budweiser Brewing Group on this project. As a result of this collaboration, CleanEarth will generate low-carbon, low-cost energy into the Magor brewery for years to come.”

Oil and Gas Refugees Are Being Courted By Clean Energy in Texas

By Brian Eckhouse and David Wethe (Bloomberg) –Jeff Bishop’s LinkedIn post gets right to the point: “Houston Oil & Gas Folks — we’re hiring in Texas” for jobs in cleantech.

His company, battery developer Key Capture Energy, is making the pitch even as tens of thousands of renewable-energy jobs have dried up amid the coronavirus pandemic. That’s because Bishop and a handful of other clean-power executives see an opportunity to recruit talent from the oil and gas industries, which have been even harder hit.

While there are plenty of overlapping skills, it wasn’t always easy for clean-power companies to lure top talent from oil and gas. Wind and solar were young and niche industries that tended to attract environmentalists. Now they’re big energy, and they appeal to a wider class of workers. Since publishing the post two months ago, Bishop has received about 200 applications.

“We’ve always wanted oil and gas folks,” said Bishop, Key Capture’s chief executive officer.

When boiled down, much of oil, gas, wind and solar is about building projects and selling the output. That requires workers with backgrounds in geology, land acquisition, engineering, finance, asset management and energy contracts.

“We are hiring oil and gas refugees for sure,” said Christian Fong, CEO at Spruce Finance Inc. The solar company moved its headquarters from San Francisco to Houston two years ago to recruit more energy veterans. It plans to boost its staff by 30%, or 20 people, during the second and third quarters.

Clean power already has momentum in Texas. It’s long been the top wind-power state in the U.S. Solar has been booming. Houston plans to power all of its city-owned properties — from fire stations to airports — with renewable energy. And now the city’s mayor is trying to bring two Elon Musk companies to the city — Tesla Inc. and SpaceX — in his push to broaden the city’s economic base beyond oil.

“We’re having to make certain adjustments,” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said. “It’s about the energy transition.”

To be clear, clean-power companies aren’t even close to being in a position to absorb the nearly 90,000 fossil-fuel jobs shed in March and April, including drillers, frackers and refiners. Renewables companies shed nearly 96,000 of their own jobs during that period as lockdowns put rooftop solar installations and other larger projects on ice.

But while some furloughed clean-power workers are already being called back to work, the pain in the oil patch continues as the industry suffers its worst downturn ever as the pandemic cripples demand.

On Wednesday, Chevron Corp. said it’s planning a 10% to 15% reduction in its global workforce this year, the biggest recent cut to headcount yet among global oil majors. It comes after oil-services giants Halliburton Co. and Schlumberger Ltd. have already made steep jobs cuts, including in Texas.

In the end, clean-power executives say they’re confident they’re better-positioned to bounce back and ultimately prevail in the struggle for the future of energy.

“We clearly see renewable energy coming out as a relative winner from this COVID crisis,” analysts from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. including Deepa Venkateswaran wrote Friday in a note to investors. “The COVID crisis will result in an acceleration of decarbonisation initiatives.”

In some instances, the pay is even better in clean power. The median hourly wage for a mid-career wind-industry worker is now $29.79, above the $26.67 for oil, according to the U.S. Energy & Employment Report from the Energy Futures Initiative and the National Association of State Energy Officials.

“Before 2020, I had never heard of any firm specifically hiring from oil and gas into advanced-energy companies,” said Nat Kreamer, CEO of the trade group Advanced Energy Economy and a founder of the solar giant Sunrun Inc. “Now you look at a place like Texas with so much work to be done in renewables and so little work to be done in oil & gas — it’s obvious.”

Houston-based Sunnova Energy International Inc. has hired oil and gas workers before, and CEO John Berger expects to hire more. 8minute Solar Energy is looking for oil and gas people with experience in power trading, greenfield development, land acquisition and mineral rights, according to CEO Tom Buttgenbach.

“Ten years ago, the idealistic change-the-world folks were attracted to clean energy,” said Bishop, whose company has installed three 10-megawatt storage projects in Texas. “Today, we still get some of the change-the-world folks, but it’s an increasing number of team members wanting stable jobs in a growth industry.”