Future Tech: Ships Powered by Wind

Carl Herrera · Jun 22, 2012

Sounds cool!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_t...ips_b9_s_radical_clean_energy_innovation.html

What will they dream up next? In what must surely rank among the most radical innovations to emerge from the clean-technology movement, the blog CleanTechnica informs us that a British firm has come up with an idea for a cargo ship that burns no fossil fuels. Instead, it runs primarily on—get this—wind.

Yes, this “futuristic” vessel, as CleanTechnica describes it, would sport giant vertical beams outfitted with humongous cloth wind-catching devices, known as “sails.” It must be said that these elaborate mechanisms look rather ungainly, and skeptics might wonder whether an energy source as unreliable as the breeze could ever actually power something as bulky as a seafaring craft.

But just imagine if it worked! “If it proves successful,” the blog enthuses, “the new B9 cargo ship could usher in a new era of fossil fuel-free technology at a critical time for the shipping industry.”

The whole notion sounded almost too ingenious to be true. So I called up the good folks at B9 Energy Group to make sure this wasn’t some kind of a hoax.

Not at all, managing director David Surplus assured me. Applying wind power to ships might sound far-fetched today, but if oil prices keep rising, it might well make economic sense in the not-too-distant future.

Indeed, B9’s project has already attracted interest from several potential clients—mainly shippers of another futuristic energy technology, called biomass, or “wood.” It turns out that several European countries, including the United Kingdom, are looking into pellets made from dead trees as a carbon-neutral source of electricity. This would require importing large amounts of the stuff from tree-rich locales like Russia, the Carolinas, and Brazil. Transporting it via wind-powered ships would keep the process environmentally friendly.

For the time being, these wind vessels will likely be limited to fairly short runs along particularly windy corridors, like between the Baltic states and Britain. Even so, Surplus admits there will be times when the wind just doesn’t cooperate. On those occasions, the ship will turn to biofuel-powered engines
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DonnyMost · Jun 22, 2012

What's next? A train powered by water vapor?? LOL!!!

Yung-T · Jun 22, 2012

Crazy, this will never work.

Yung-T · Jun 22, 2012

DonnyMost said: ↑

What's next? A train powered by water vapor?? LOL!!!
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Haha you sick, this is a ridiculous idea mate!

rocketsjudoka · Jun 22, 2012

Joking aside the idea of bringing back wind power for cargo ships has been around for a few years. Here is another concept.

http://keetsa.com/blog/eco-friendly/the-return-of-the-sail-ship/

ipaman · Jun 22, 2012

Yung-T · Jun 22, 2012

rocketsjudoka said: ↑

Joking aside the idea of bringing back wind power for cargo ships has been around for a few years. Here is another concept.

http://keetsa.com/blog/eco-friendly/the-return-of-the-sail-ship/

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Will the ships fly if there's too much wind?!

A_3PO · Jun 22, 2012

Back to the Future!

Ashes · Jun 22, 2012

Brilliant.

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