‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

The Return of Sail Power: Cargo Ships Are Turning Back to the Wind

193 points · 136 comments · gumby

  1. calmbonsai · · focus · HN ↗
    No, they’re really not.

    Turns out, sail-power scales sublinearly and, shocker, the wind isn’t a reliable source of power for the logistics demands of today’s supply chains.

    We’re never going back to wind, but we will be de-carbonizing shipping either with ammonia combustion, fuel cells, or both.

    1. nradov · · focus · HN ↗
      Longer term I think we'll also use synthetic liquid hydrocarbon fuels manufactured through the Fischer–Tropsch process. People have proposed bringing back nuclear powered merchant ships but that's a non-starter for cost and security reasons. We can keep the nuclear plants safely on land and use them to make carbon-neutral fuel.
      1. mschuster91 · · focus · HN ↗
        That is insanely inefficient however. It only makes sense for transoceanic air travel, probably supplanted by synthfuel from biomass, but in the long term we will see ships powered by batteries. Far far more efficient.
        1. nradov · · focus · HN ↗
          Batteries are already being used for ferries but they're too large and heavy for transoceanic merchant ships. I doubt that operators will be willing to make more frequent port calls just to recharge.
          1. mschuster91 · · focus · HN ↗
            ... at the moment. We might find ourselves with containers full of batteries being exchanged on sea by feeder ships. Doesn't help across the real oceans, but works along coastal routes (which Asia-Europe definitely is).

            The more expensive oil is, the faster the transition will have to be done. Simply because at some point, even the trash that freight ships burn will be more expensive than a bunch of battery containers and an electric drivetrain.

            1. nradov · · focus · HN ↗
              The notion of using cranes to swap heavy battery packs at sea (even near coastlines) is ludicrous. Some of you guys have never spent much time out on the ocean in bad weather and it shows. Plus the coastlines along much of the Asia-Europe route lack suitable deep-water ports, and have serious problems with lack of security and infrastructure.
              1. mschuster91 · · focus · HN ↗
                > Some of you guys have never spent much time out on the ocean in bad weather and it shows.

                Fair point, my license only allows 12 miles and I have no intent of ever exceeding that lol.

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.