SkySails

This is super cool, but until cargo vessels have any sort of restrictions on their carbon emissions, I hardly see this being adopted. We're on track to burn 500 million tonnes of Bunker oil by 2020 and the EU is just _proposing_ some sulfur and nitrogen reduction standards. Without any international restrictions or some other factor to increase the cost of operating, what incentive are companies going to have to adopt these new technologies?

They said a limitation in addition is;<p>&quot;There’s a structural problem slowing down the process: ship owners (who have to make the investment) often don’t pay for the fuel – that’s the charterer’s duty. The charterer on the other side doesn’t charter the ship for long enough a period to make low-carbon technologies pay back&quot;<p>I know bugger all about shipping but this doesn&#x27;t seem logical. Wouldn&#x27;t the person hiring said boat look at the estimated fuel cost as part of their cost&#x2F;quote? If they know a ship has this or other effeciency features it should become part of their pricing comparison to alternate ships.

I think they hold the current record for the largest tonnage under sail. If they want to survive they should probably diversify into making some systems for yachts and promote them with a racing class. Kiteboats can shift and don&#x27;t heel much, so is nice for pleasure craft if you can sort out the control, the current downside being that you can&#x27;t just set them and sail to the wind.

Related discussion [1] about using Rotor ships [2] and the Magnus effect [3] to reduce carbon emissions and shipping costs. IMHO a much more interesting tech&#x2F;physics phenomenon :)<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=17885284" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=17885284</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Rotor_ship" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Rotor_ship</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Magnus_effect" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Magnus_effect</a>

There is opportunity here. Various people have had success with SkySails, such as 15%-20% fuel savings [0], but not yet available for pleasurecraft [1].<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cruisersforum.com&#x2F;forums&#x2F;archive&#x2F;index.php&#x2F;t-132825.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cruisersforum.com&#x2F;forums&#x2F;archive&#x2F;index.php&#x2F;t-1328...</a><p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cruisersforum.com&#x2F;forums&#x2F;f109&#x2F;colonial-or-greenwich-yachts-26676.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.cruisersforum.com&#x2F;forums&#x2F;f109&#x2F;colonial-or-greenwi...</a>

It would be extremely ironic if this would be use by an oil tanker. Jokes aside, this is great, but it will never be the primary mode of propulsion since those tankers are on a timeline and you can&#x27;t predict wind as much as a combustion engine.

This looks like an excellent idea but does anyone have the numbers? What kind of force could one expect from these? It got me thinking all kinds of electronic control systems to deploy&#x2F;undeploy these.

Nuclear could really clean up the shipping industry and provide numerous other benefits.

Kind of a dumb question but I&#x27;ll ask anyway. If the wind is blowing in the exact same direction as the ship is travelling and you begin to retract the sail - do you recoup some of the energy you use during this retraction process through increased pulling power of the sail? Is the ship being pulled a little stronger during the retraction process or the exact same amount as if the line wasn&#x27;t being retracted?<p>Im imagining something similar to when you&#x27;r flying a kite and begin to reign it in - it seems like it pulls you towards it.