A cargo ship’s ‘WindWing’ sails saved it up to 12 tons of fuel per day - eviltoast
  • Paragone@sh.itjust.works
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    8 months ago

    Which makes the break-even point for such wingsails, which cost one hell of alot more than a few tonnes of fuel did … rather far-away/long-term, doesn’t it?


    There was also a system using huge parachute-kite things, on carbon-nanotube-ropes, fired up into the sky with rocket-assist, and the things could apparently pull the ship, quite effectively…

    … the service-subscription the ship was supposed to pay-for gave them the optimal route for fuel-savings vs time-to-get-there…

    here, it was sorta like this, but the kite-sail looked different, and I’m pretty-sure they were saying something about nanotube cable for the kite, and it wasn’t just a concept, it was actually-working…

    https://marinersgalaxy.com/giant-kite-pulls-ship-across-atlantic/


    I seem to remember that at the beginning of covid, some shipping companies just shortened the bulbs on their hulls, to optimize for a slower cruising-speed, and saved money that way…

    again, where’s the break-even on it