Type of works: design and manufacture of EcoCamel water-saving aerated shower heads and tap aerators.
LD Lines, a UK passenger ferry company running from Portsmouth to Le Havre, have announced a pilot scheme with their ferry ship, the Normal Spirit. This ‘green initiative’ has seen this single ferry achieve savings in excess of £210,000.00 a year, created further potential profits of over £240,000.00 a year and reduced it‘s Annual Carbon Footprint by over 640 Tonnes, and all for an investment of just £2,700.00.
LD Lines’ ‘green initiative’ looked to new ways to reduce the amount of water and energy that was used onboard. The company installed 160 EcoCamel aerated showerheads and 250 EcoCamel tap aerators/flow regulators throughout the 85 cabins, 70 crew quarters and 1 galley.
The installation of EcoCamel water- and energy-saving equipment reduced the ferry’s overall energy consumption by a staggering 1 metric tonne per day, as less water needed to be heated, further boosting LD Lines’ bottom line. By carrying less water the Norman Spirit was also able to take an extra 40 tonne lorry onboard, rendering an additional £240,000.00 per year to their potential income.
LD Lines’ spokesperson Jim Bate says, “Over the past three years, the Norman Spirit has used on average 50 tonnes of water a day, at a cost of £25,000.00 a year. The EcoCamel showerheads and tap aerators have seen our water consumption drop by 70%, giving us a saving of around 14,000 tonnes of water a year.”
EcoCamel, the UK’s leading aerated showerhead, uses 50% less water than a conventional showerhead. Independent tests run by the Liverpool John Moore University, found that by aerating the water inside the EcoCamel showerhead, the flow rate drops from 12 litres with a conventional showerhead to 6.7 litres. The EcoCamel tap aerators/flow regulators also provide an additional saving of 22.5 litres per minute of water.
EcoCamel spokesperson Ray McKie says, “Following the 3 month pilot we identified that over a year the passenger ferry, the Normal Spirit, could save £210,070.00 in water and energy costs as a result of simply installing the EcoCamel showerheads and the tap aerators / flow regulators.”
The hidden benefits of this ‘green initiative’ are ongoing.
“I’ve been a Chief Engineer for over 20 years and I’m absolutely over the moon” says Jim Bate, “with less water being used, tanks are re-filled every three or four days instead of every day, this means that the ships carpenter, who would normally oversee this work, can be released for other duties.
“Further maintenance benefits are also coming to light” explained Jim. "In the past we’ve had problems with spillages from shower trays onto our cabin carpets as the ship rolls. Because we now use less water, there’s not a drop, which means that the carpets need changing far less often.
“It will also be interesting to see the positive effect that this installation of EcoCamel equipment has on the general maintenance of the hydrophore system and water heaters, which now need to work at a greatly reduced rate to effectively supply the ship with hot water.” he added.
With the money invested returned in just 5 Days, LD Lines are looking to retrofit their entire fleet with EcoCamel showerheads and tap aerators/flow regulators.
The Results
- Cost of fitting the EcoCamel shower Heads and tap aerators: £2,700
- Cost of water before the installation: £22,700
- Cost of water after the installation: £6,810
- Cost of energy before the installation: £1,939,245.00
- Cost of energy after the installation: £1,745,065.00
- TOTAL SAVINGS - WATER: £15,890.00
- TOTAL SAVINGS - ENERGY: £194,180.00
- TOTAL SAVING: £210,070.00
- RETURN ON INVESTMENT: 5 DAYS
- ANNUAL CO2 savings: 620 Tonnes