Blowing in the Wind

[YankeyMCC]

(snip)
SkySails' system consists of an enormous towing kite and navigation software that can map the best route between two points for maximum wind efficiency. In development for more than four years, the system costs from roughly $380,000 to $3.2 million, depending on the size of the ship it's pulling. SkySails claims it will save one third of fuel costs. It recently signed its first contract with Beluga Shipping of Bremen, Germany, for one kite, but says it expects to sell 300 more within five years. Beluga says that the giant kite will help the company meet environmental regulations as well as cut fuel costs.
(snip)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13325827/site/newsweek/


Just a first impression without any deep analysis or thought...I'm a little conflicted emotionally about this piece. On the one hand, interesting and kinda cool that someone is coming up with a way to at least try and save some energy. The cost in fuel of moving these massive ships has been something that's been on my mind a lot lately after seeing one of those "Modern Marvel" or "Big engineering" shows recently (don't remember the specific show) and listening to the speaker boast about the speed with which these ships can move and their massive scale.

But on the other hand is this just the first step into regression? Don't get me wrong 'regression' in some ways is probably a good idea in some areas (increasing the use of windmills where they make sense for instance) but putting a sail on these big ships somehow brings to my mind scenes from "Road Warrior" with their scavenged and improvised vehicles or other scifi 'post-apocalyptic' images of old trucks being pulled by horses etc...