New Age of Sail Promises To Cut Massive Shipping Carbon Emissions

Wind is about to make a huge comeback in shipping, with a number of experimental sail designs like hard sails, rotating vertical cylinders, and even kite sails being developed as we speak.
New Age of Sail Promises To Cut Massive Shipping Carbon Emissions

Gigantic diesel container ships, decks brimming with cargo are still a common sight in ports from New York to Rotterdam to Hong Kong. But the days of these fuel-guzzling leviathans may be numbered.

Wind, solar electric, and hydrogen-powered ships offer innovative low- or no-carbon alternatives to conventional cargo vessels.

According to Mongabay, wind is about to make a huge comeback in shipping, with a number of experimental sail designs like hard sails, rotating vertical cylinders, and even kite sails being developed as we speak.

“Wind propulsion systems cover a wide spectrum in modern commercial shipping. These range from wind-assisted fossil-fueled vessels (where wind provides auxiliary power), to purely wind-driven ships without auxiliary power, to sailing-hybrid ships where the primary propulsion comes from the wind but is augmented by engines to ensure schedules are maintained.”

One of these innovative vessels, Ecoclipper, is designed as a big new “square-rigger” and a full-sized replica of the Dutch cargo ship Noach built in 1857.

It will operate in the deep sea TransAtlantic and Trans-Pacific trade, carrying 500 gross register tonnage without any mechanical propulsion.

Some of the boldest approaches are sails that look nothing like traditional sails:

Hard sails look like airplane wings set up vertically, while vertical rotor sails resemble smokestacks but actually exploit the Magnus effect — a force acting on a spinning body in a moving airstream.