Thread

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

193 points · 136 comments · gumby

darksaints · 1789670926 · focus · HN ↗
As both a sailor and a wingsail designer, I've followed this space for a long time. I've gotta say this is just one of the thousands of trial PR announcements for different companies which develop something and think it's gonna save the world.
<a href="https://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
We've been seeing these every other year or so ever since the walker wingsail back in the mid 80's:
<a href="https://www.change-climate.com/Transport_Land_Sea_Sustainable/Assisted_Ships_Sails_Solar_Projects_Marine_Pollution/Walker_WingSails.htm" rel="nofollow">https://www.change-climate.com/Transport_Land_Sea_Sustainabl...
As to why they are never successful, I don't exactly know. Most of the companies that put these on trial just quietly retire them without adoption, and never explain why. It's not about ease of use, plenty of designs have near 100% automation and simple design. It's not really about maintenance, plenty of designs have almost maintenance-free design as well.
My best guess is that sails/wingsails/rotorsails have inherent height, which interferes with bridges and gantry cranes, and requires furling/stowing capabilities which them makes the systems a lot more complex. My next best guess is that in order to get meaningful propulsion, you introduce heeling, which is bad for container ships and potentially catastrophic for dry bulk.
1. moffkalast · 1789675488 · focus · HN ↗
  Not sure where I've read this, one of the main causes is supposedly ship ownership. Firms that operate ships pay for the fuel and would benefit from the retrofit for some specific routes. Outside a few that operate their own fleet, most are rented and mounting something expensive for no benefit to themselves and questionable benefit outside of areas with trade winds would be pretty idiotic from that perspective.
  What would make it successful is some kind of mandate for a certain percentage of power needing to come from wind. The invisible hand of the market keeps burning the cheapest thing all day long if you leave it to its own devices.
  The bottom line is though that cargo shipping is a time sensitive thing in today's world and wind does not cooperate with timetables. Saildrones and sailing yachts are the only good fits for it, since neither is in much of a hurry. Commercial shipping probably needs renewably generated biofuel to run carbon neutral and still function as we know it.

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