Gone with the wind on 'kite ship' By Steve Rosenberg BBC News, Bremerhaven, northern Germany <i><img alt="" border="0" height="1" hspace="0" width="416"> </i> <i><img alt="" border="0" height="1" hspace="0" width="5"></i> <i><img alt="MS Beluga Skysails with its computer-controlled kite (top right corner)" border="0" height="152" hspace="0" width="203"></i> Ms Beluga is now on its way to Guanta in Venezuela <i><img alt="" border="0" height="1" hspace="0" vspace="2" width="203"> </i> There is something rather magical about being up on deck of a giant cargo ship as it pushes its way out to sea. Ten thousand tonnes of metal heaving through the water, the ship's giant masts glistening in the winter sun. But there is something even more magical about being aboard MS Beluga SkySails. On the face of it, this vessel - which is carrying parts of a timber production line to Venezuela - looks like any other cargo ship. In recent months, commercial shipping has been criticised for not doing enough to tackle global warming. Of all the CO2 being pumped into the atmosphere today, 4% comes from ships. That's more than the aviation industry, primarily because 90% of global trade is done by sea. MS Beluga SkySails believes it has a solution. It has set sail on a mission to turn the oceans green. Once the ship has reached the open sea, it reveals its brand new weapon in the fight against global warming: a kite. this is part of a very long detailed article on how it works, was sent in an email and cannot find a link to this one, but a google search on "kite ship" does bring up a lot of results. the article states that this simple technology can lower fuel consumption 10 to 40%... now that would save a TON of fuel. basically the ship launches a huge kite and it pulls the ship through the water... computer controls allows the kite to work in a little as 8 knots of wind making it useful nearly all the time. also computer control allows it to work even if the ship is headed into the wind KiteShip - Innovation in Tethered Flight Photos: A kite to pull a cargo ship | CNET News.com
There are a couple of companies working on this sort of thing. Mostly European, I think. This is something that will hopefully pan out. Even if the savings are only around 10% the ROI must be pretty quick. Ships use massive amounts of fuel and there's a lot of energy in the wind to harness, esp at sea. Once the trades kick in, they're usually very steady and predictable. With modern weather data, ships can pick the best routes to optimise their fuel consumption/transit times.
kind a old news for mee shame is that the price is stil high.. to high and look at what you get.. then i can not see this price to be correct for what you get
Hi All, Anybody who has ever climbed towers knows that the wind velocity only a few hundred feet up is dramatically greater than at ground level. While this may not be as much of a change on a flat sea, there probaby is some improved wind speed up 300 feet or so over the ocean. So a kite with a smaller area than sails could generate as much force.
Donee, that's definitely true at sea. The biggest change is obviously need the boundary layer, but there's plently of difference the further aloft you go.
according to the article, besides higher speeds 500 feet up, there is also more consistent wind speed, less affected by terrain (not much on the water, but i guess high waves can cause air turbulence )
