Transforming The Shipping Industry With Wind Propulsion

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There are two ways to make a fortune. The first is where, like Rolex, you sell a relatively small number of luxury, designer products at an eye-watering high price. The second is where, like Alibaba, you sell lots of things cheaply. Something analogous is true for greenhouse emissions. Some sectors are small yet produce tons of greenhouse emissions, such as steel and cement making. In the latter camp, we find shipping. Last month, Freethink spoke with Rogier Eggers, who is working on sustainable technologies for the shipping industry at MARINrin, a Dutch research institute.

Running With The Wind

We have been sailing for millennia. The first maritime peoples quickly realized that using a sail and the wind was much easier than back-breaking, blister-building rowing. “But the context now,” Eggers told us, “is different. Today, ships always need to arrive in time, with much larger ships and much larger automation being required.” Burning fossil fuels is efficient and predictable. You don’t have to be a sea dog to know that the winds are notoriously fickle. A strong wind in the morning can dwindle to barely a breeze by lunch.

This is why Eggers and the team at Marin have been working so hard to improve wind-harnessing technologies. “There is a transfer of knowledge from yachting to commercial shipping,” Eggers told us, “especially from racing team teams active in the America’s Cup, the Ocean Race, and so on. Some people have worked especially on wing sails, and we see wing sail products featured now on commercial ships.”

This interest in wind propulsion is not merely a nod to environmental stewardship but also an acknowledgment of its economic viability and efficiency in fuel saving, particularly in wind-favorable corridors. Pilot projects are demonstrating wind’s potential to save substantial fuel costs, the industry is poised at the brink of a paradigm shift.

Unfavorable Winds

There are still a great many challenges ahead for Eggers and companies like his. First, as noted earlier, winds are mercurial things, and shipping cannot entirely rely on them. This is made worse in certain areas around the world. “Of course,” Eggers tells us, “we all realize that the application of [wind propulsion] is currently limited, and there are also areas, mostly around the equator, where it is not the solution.”

Second, wind propulsion technologies can only go so far. Alternative fuels work really well for short distances or ferries, but for large oceanic crossings, they fall short. As Eggers puts it, “the amount of energy that you need from such fuels [for huge distances] is simply not available at the moment.” Although this isn’t to say wind power is irrelevant in these instances, wind-assisted ship propulsion, or WASP, is still viable. This is where wind scaffolds or subsidizes other fuels. In these cases, WASP can reduce emissions and fuel consumption by 20–40%.

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Source: FreeThink

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