SkySails: big kites
Posted on March 8, 2007 by Matthew Solle
Filed Under Ramblings |
Companies you might like to watch and ideas you might like to consider
In our globalised world, 90% of goods are transported by sea. According to recent industry and academic research emissions from shipping are double those of aviation, and as trade expands there is an expected rise of 75% in 15 years. There is much debate surrounding the expansion of aviation (2% of global total), but little about shipping, which has expanded in last 20 years at similar rate. “Ships are getting bigger and every shipyard in the world has a full order book. There are about 20,000 new ships on order”, says Donald Gregory, director of environment at BP Marine. Read John Vidal ‘CO2 output from shipping twice as much as airlines’
If oil prices continue to rise and climate-friendly alternatives become seriously relevant then an ingenious concept like SkySails might come into its own.
SkySails is an auxiliary wind propulsion system that can be fitted to practically all cargo ships. As you can see from the pictures at SkySails it’s basically a large towing kite. The company’s literature reckons “a ship’s fuel costs can be reduced by 10-35% on average annually, depending on wind conditions… under optimal wind conditions, fuel consumption can be reduced by up to 50%”.
SkySails was established in Hamburg in 2001 and its head office remains there.
There are a number of downloadable PDFs on the company’s homepage.
‘Engineer sees wind set fair for return to age of sail‘ published on Guardian Unlimited last September.
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I want one for my bike