Kite Sailing
Will The Maiden Voyage of A New Ship Equipped With Giant Kite Spark A New Future of Ocean-Going Vessels? Why?
On a blustery day, the kite can provide up to 35 per cent of the vessel’s power, according to its creators.
If the maiden voyage is a success, the team that came up with design hope to double the size of its kites to 320 square metres, and expand them again to 600 square metres in 2009. By 2015 they hope to fit out 1,500 ships.
What is more important?
They say it will save the Beluga’s operators 900lb of fuel per DAY. Did you ever imagine a return to “sail” ships in this century?
Is it equally important that it will take a slice out of the 800million tons of greenhouse gases the world’s merchant fleet belches into the sky each year???
Is it important to look at the COMMERCIAL side of the saving of non-renewable fuel costs, AND also the CO2 savings aspect??? Or is global warming the main point of this development?
see link…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=509738&in_page_id=1811
The initial cost is massive, and there’s a maintenance and manpower issue that no one talks about.
As fuel prices rise, stuff like this may become more common.
I question the safety issue, though. If something goes wrong and the kite gets into the prop, could be a real problem if the tether wraps around the shaft at the base of the prop.
As chief mate on a tanker, I can tell you that I already work 12-24 hours each and every day. I don’t need more things to worry about, and neither do my crew. I’m also the relief (fill-in) captain of a research boat, and from an operational standpoint, it’s another system to worry about. Great in theory, and I hope it becomes economically viable, but have enough to do without worrying about new technology messing with my day-to-day workload. Worrying about my boat, the idiots on her, and the weather is enough for one person.
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