Slower boats to China as ship owners save fuel
Sun Jan 20, 2008 11:29pm GMT
~~~~ click for photo ~~~~A commercial vessel uses a high-tech kite designed to cut fuel consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this undated handout photo. Oil at more than $90 a barrel is concentrating minds in the shipping industry. Higher fuel costs and mounting pressure to curb emissions are leading modern merchant fleets to rediscover the ancient power of the sail.
By Erik Kirschbaum
BERLIN (Reuters) - Oil at more than $90 a barrel is concentrating minds in the shipping industry. Higher fuel costs and mounting pressure to curb emissions are leading modern merchant fleets to rediscover the ancient power of the sail.
The world's first commercial ship powered partly by a giant kite sets off on a maiden voyage from Bremen to Venezuela on Tuesday, in an experiment which inventor Stephan Wrage hopes can wipe 20 percent, or $1,600, from the ship's daily fuel bill.
"We aim to prove it pays to protect the environment," Wrage told Reuters. "Showing that ecology and economics are not contradictions motivates us all."
The 10,000-tonne 'MS Beluga SkySails' -- which will use a computer-guided kite to harness powerful ocean winds far above the surface and support the engine -- combines modern technology with know-how that has been in use for millennia.
More:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUKL1831298320080120