Giant kites could pull ships across the ocean – and slash their carbon emissions
Giant kites could pull ships across the ocean – and slash their carbon emissions
French company Airseas has developed the Seawing, a kite to help propel cargo ships, which it says could cut their carbon emissions by an average of 20%.
I checked for posts about this and didn’t see any. Hopefully the cross post works properly.
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I was wondering if there are any benefits to using a kite vs. a traditional sail, and it turns out there are:
“What differentiates it from other wind solutions,” says Bernatets, “is that the wing is not just pulled by the wind and countered by the ship.” Instead, it flies in figure-of-eight loops, which multiply the pulling effect of the airflow to give what he calls “crazy power.”
“Plus, we fetch the wind 300 meters above the sea surface, where it’s 50% more powerful,” adds Bernatets. The combination “explains why the power is tremendous for a system that is very compact, simple on the bow of the ship, and can be retrofitted on any ship, not just new ships,” he says
I’m sorry, my bullshitometer just bend the high-stop pin. Im going to need him to define crazy power - ideally not using the words shit-ton or insane in the definition.
I'll let him know next time I talk to him :P
Cool - cc me on the reply :-D
I think he means crazy as in wacky. I had a training kite-surfing kite (I wanted to learn to kite snowboard) and if I held it still (no grip adjustments) in high winds it would start to fly in a fast figure eight like a hyperactive Chihuahua at dinner time. I think that's what he means by crazy, or at least that's how I understood it because I have the experience for context.