PowerSwitch

Posted: **08 Mar 2011, 18:15**

International shipping looking to cut its energy use to reduce GHG emissions in novel ways....

Cargill, an international shipping company, recently partnered with Hamburg-based SkySails to use wind power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the industry.

SkySails developed a patented technology that uses a giant kite which flies ahead of a vessel to augment the power of its engines.

Next December Cargill will install a 320m2 kite on a handysize vessel of between 25,000 and 30,000 deadweight tonnes. The kite will generate enough propulsion to reduce consumption of bunker fuel by up to 35 percent in ideal sailing conditions.
Continues

Posted: **09 Mar 2011, 00:18**

bit of a bugger if it falls out of the sky. Can't exactly pick it up and run down the field with it.

Thinking forward... why not put up three sails and be done?

Posted: **09 Mar 2011, 11:54**

For a newly built ship, conventional masts with sails might be a better bet.
Can not easily be added to an existing ship though as the decks are largely obstructed by other equipment, and there is no provision for attaching the masts to the lower decks and the the keel.

The kit is fairly easily retrofitted to existing vessels.

PowerSwitch

Giant kites help shipping cut GHG emissions

Giant kites help shipping cut GHG emissions