Royal Caribbean has awarded WR Systems the right to supply its Emsys (Emissions Monitoring System) to Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas ship.

The Emsys system will monitor performance and provide emissions compliance data for an EcoSpec Exhaust Gas Cleaning System. This new tech will be installed sometime in mid-2011.  This is a test program to see if it can be implemented fleet wide to reduce Royal Caribbean's environmental footprint.

The Emsys system is based on solid-state Laser technology and has been awarded full Type Approval from the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) in line with the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) MARPOL Annex VI NOx Regulations, and the IMO Exhaust Gas Cleaning System Guidelines. The system also carries the MED wheelmark.

The Emsys system is unique in that it includes the first sensor that can measure Particulate Matter that is "outside of the stack".  This is important because it reduces the capital cost and eliminates the need to install sensitive measurement equipment in each of the monitored exhaust stacks. The integral Particulate Matter sensor has been developed to meet the requirements of the forthcoming US 'Emissions Control Area' (ECA) regulations, where Particulate Matter has been included in the regulatory language.

Royal Caribbean's Senior Vice President of Marine Operations, William S. Wright, chose Emsys because of its low maintenance and high accuracy capabilities, "It is important for RCL to demonstrate, with the highest accuracy and traceability, the emissions reduction performance of the EcoSpec emissions abatement system. As part of our on-going environmental commitment to reduce our air emissions, the Emsys system can provide the necessary data for both compliance purposes and our own internal technology evaluation criteria".

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a new rule that forbids cruise lines from dumping sewage off the coast of California.  The proposal covers nearly all of California's shoreline and applies to passenger ships larger than 300 tons and to all other oceangoing vessels larger than 300 tons that have sufficient sewage holding tank capacity.

A statement by the EPA claims the ban would stop 20 million gallons of sewage from entering California coastal waters.

A spokesperson for the Cruise Lines International Association, which represent the world's major cruise lines including Carnival, Princess, Holland America, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, tells USA TODAY its members as a policy never release sewage within three miles of coastal waters. Moreover, says the association's Lanie Fagan, a California state law already bans the practice.

The current laws of international maritime law do allow for the discharge of untreated sewage by ships at least 12 miles from a shoreline.

This new rule will allow for 60 days of comment before going for a vote.

Royal Caribbean released its 2009 Stewardship Report yesterday and in it, quite a bit of information regarding the cruise line's environmentally conscious initiatives were outlined in it. Chief among them was Royal Caribbean cut fuel consumption by 3.7 percent in 2009 thanks to better designed ships, smarter sailing practices and energy efficiency measures that include installing solar window film in every ship in the fleet.

In 2009, roughly 4 million passengers traveled on a Royal Caribbean ship to 400 destinations and according to the report, 

The reduction of 3.7 percent less fuel per available passenger cruise day (APCD) beat a year-over-year reduction goal of 2 percent and consuming about 30,000 metric tons less in fuel than planned. Royal Caribbean compared this reduction in pollution to taking 13,000 mid-sized sedans off the road for a year.  Royal Caribbean boasted that since 2007, it has reduced fuel consumption by 7 percent per available passenger cruise day.

Royal Caribbean's immediate goal is to reduce fuel consumption per APCD by at least 2.5 percent each year and plans to set higher targets as new technologies develop.

Chairman and CEO Richard Fain commented in the report, "In our daily operations, we face two primary energy challenges: How to efficiently utilize clean, secure and affordable energy, and how to minimize our impact on the environment related to our air emissions and greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint."

The Royal Caribbean Twitter account announced that Mariner of the Seas, Radiance of the Seas and Serenade of the Seas had won the prestigious Port of San Francisco Environmental Gold Award.  The annual award recognizes vessels for demonstrating “the strong environmental commitment of Princess Cruises in the areas of air emission reduction, waste water treatment, and recycling and disposal programs for solid waste.” This distinction is awarded by San Francisco’s Cruise Terminal Environmental Advisory Committee.

The CTEAC operates the program to recognize cruise lines that are committed to environmentally responsible operations, include the deployment of ships using reduced emission system technology or cleaner-burning fuel.

Royal Caribbean ships have long been proponents of environmental awareness and their ships have a number of "green technology" elements on board such as advanced wastewater purification systems, window tinting and operational conservation measures.