Thread

1. calmbonsai · 1789624197 · 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. rob74 · 1789631470 · focus · HN ↗

      If you had bothered to at least skim TFA, this is addressed in the third paragraph:

      > The idea is not to turn modern cargo ships back into sailing vessels. Instead, these systems are designed to work alongside conventional engines, using the wind to reduce fuel consumption whenever conditions allow.

      1. askvictor · 1789643336 · focus · HN ↗

         News articles to this effect have been popping up occasionally for the past 20 years at least. So the economics don't seem to stack up. At least not yet; but if oil gets a bit dearer...

         1. nomel · 1789667805 · focus · HN ↗

            Some of these sails claim 10% fuel reduction, which is ~5% operational cost, or ~150k per trip to spend on some tubes of metal or sheets of cloth.

            1. askvictor · 1789695083 · focus · HN ↗

               Is that 10% best case or average case? Also, what's the capex on the the sails, and what's the additional opex (training, maintenance)? Not trying to pooh-pooh the idea, but as said, I've seen articles like this regularly for decades, and it hasn't become the norm, so I'd figure there's a reason for that.

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