Ocean-going ships look to wind power

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/world/11/23/1123windsail.html

Ocean-going ships look to wind power

Proponents say kites will help slash fuel consumption.

By Shelley Emling
INTERNATIONAL STAFF
Friday, November 23, 2007

LONDON — It's not just planes, trains and automobiles that are striving to be green.

With the price of crude oil near $100 a barrel, the big cargo ships that are the lifeblood of global trade are looking once again at a free energy source — wind.

Companies are manufacturing kites the size of football fields that can be deployed with a flexible cable from the bows of huge vessels. Rising nearly 1,000 feet above sea level, they catch winds that are as much as 50 percent stronger than at the surface and help pull the behemoths along.

The kites are a throwback to a simpler era when ships relied mostly on wind. But these days they also address the very new-age worry of climate change.

Proponents say kites, which let captains throttle back their ship's engines, will help slash fuel consumption by as much as 50 percent under optimal conditions.

Cutting back the amount of fuel burned also curbs emissions of greenhouse gases.

By some estimates, the shipping industry discharges twice as much carbon dioxide as air traffic.

One major player in the kite business, SkySails in Hamburg, Germany, initially developed kite-propulsion systems for luxury yachts in 2001.

Today the systems are also being installed on cargo ships.

The first such ship to be outfitted with SkySails will be the 460-foot Beluga SkySails belonging to the Bremen, Germany-based shipping company, the Beluga Group.

It's set to make its debut voyage Dec. 15, hauling windmills from Esbjerg, Denmark, to Houston.

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http://www.wintecc.de/Filme/Beaufort_Explenationvideo_512k.wmv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2umdKznDkfA
http://www.wintecc.de/