Will wind power the future of shipping?

Marine shipping is responsible for more than 2 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. But within the industry, there are some innovators who are working to cut emissions...using the ancient technology of sails. Emma Keeling is in Portsmouth, England to find out more about BAR Technology’s WindWings. Designed in Britain the sails were manufactured in China - a global powerhouse in the shipbuilding industry. The sails were installed on the Pyxis Ocean container ship which left China for Brazil in August 2023. They won’t replace engines entirely - but aim to cut down a ship’s lifetime emissions by around 30 percent.

[@fakiirification]

shipping was carbon neutral 120 or so years ago. Bring back the wind jammers and an entire career path of proper deck hands and you got a deal. sign me up, i'd love to climb the rigging and set sails around cape horn!

[@tzabarisolary5310]

Good !

[@dnomyarnostaw]

Old technology. The Rotor ships of the Maersk Line are waaay more efficient than even these wing sales, plus have the advantage of not even needing trimming every time the wind direction changes.

[@billhanna8838]

So more fiber glass for landfills like windfarm blades - Green LOL

[@realnutteruk1]

They're wings! We build plenty of wings in Britain! Why couldn't the Airbus wing factory have made them??

[@litestuffllc7249]

maybe you could use wind assisted; it obviously won't work as the entire source of power; the wind doesn't blow much of the time at sea. What are you going to do then; let everyone die on board like the old sail ships stuck in dulldrums? Sailing could help save energy when the wind blows which isn't all that often at sea.

[@tomhermens7698]

What happens in a windforce 10 ??

[@fakiirification]

your shipment arrives a few days earlier. LOL

[@dnomyarnostaw]

They add increased loading on the wings, requiring trimming. The biggest problem is that gusts will make the ship heel over, and some ships cant exceed 6 degrees due to cargo constraints. Rotor ships that Maersk use, don't have that problem, and produce way more power.

[@zeuso.1947]

It's wind assisted, not wind powered.

[@alexandrevaliquette3883]

STUPID Claim: "aim to cut down a ship’s lifetime emissions by around 30 percent." Why nobody did the easy math before wasting any resources in that stupid project? Q1: how much power is required to move the boat? Q2: how much power a perfect sail can bring? Q3: how strong the cable or sail material have to be to hold that power/tension? Q4: how convenient this solution would be Q5: what is the expected ROI To get 30%, it mean that sometime, you will get way more than 30%, so... refer to Q3 and stop the madness. Maybe the ROI is still good, maybe you can extract 1% and that would be awesome. But please don't make stupid 30% claim, you loss all credibility.

[@SuperPhexx]

well.. why don't you do the math?

[@alexandrevaliquette3883]

​@@SuperPhexx Because it's just obvious for anybody who can think by himself: For thoses who can't: Let take a Panamax who require 30 000kWh of power to move. 30% of that would be 10 000kWh (or 36 000 megajoules). You need a safety factor to account for gust of wind and to be able to harvest faster wind if you want to reach your 30% goal. In a nutshell, you need a system of sail that can harvest more than 100 000 megajoules of power. About 20 industrial wind turbine, spaced 100 meters (330 feets) from each other.

[@SuperPhexx]

@@alexandrevaliquette3883 This is so incredibly bad I just can't 😂 BTW, have you noticed that smart people never argue with 'This is so obvious that anyone who can think by himself(sic)'

[@alexandrevaliquette3883]

@@SuperPhexx I generally don't have problem to argue with smart people and anybody who take the time to genuinely ask the proper questions to understand a situation. Here, the wind can be a great asset, but never 30%, unless you are ok to wait longer... Way longer. 1-5% is probably achievable, and that would be great. Have a great day

[@Tom-dt4ic]

@@alexandrevaliquette3883 I don't know what you do for a living, but unless it is exactly what I do for a living, then I would have no hope, and I mean NO HOPE, of waltzing into your place of work and blithely pointing out this or that issue that somehow you'd NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT BEFORE!!! So why in the name of buttkiss do you think you have any hope of telling these engineers a single useful thing about their line of work??? It takes a real combination of arrogance and stupidity to make a comment like you did, two qualities that these days are in all too great a supply.

[@tzabarisolary5310]

Good !