Login | Register
The Engineer's Place for News and Discussion®


Engineering News

Latest news of interest to engineers. Sourced from GlobalSpec's Engineering News

Previous in Blog: April 25, 1859: Big Dig Starts for Suez Canal   Next in Blog: Asteroid Mining: Not as Crazy as it Sounds
Close

Comments Format:






Close

Subscribe to Discussion:

CR4 allows you to "subscribe" to a discussion
so that you can be notified of new comments to
the discussion via email.

Close

Rating Vote:







3 comments

Cargo Ship With Metal Sails Would Save 30 Percent Fuel

Posted April 25, 2012 1:51 PM

From Crave: gorgeous gadgets and other crushworthy stuff. - CNET:

Can wind energy really power modern cargo ships? We've seen the idea of hybrid freighters before, but this concept from the University of Tokyo has a remarkable sail system. A model of the UT Wind Challenger was recently shown off at the Sea Japan trade show in Tokyo. It would have giant telescoping sails that rise above the deck when wind conditions are good. As seen in the vid below, University of Tokyo professor Kiyoshi Uzawa and collaborators believe this hybrid system could cut fuel consumption by cargo ships by about 30 percent.

Read the whole article

Reply

Interested in this topic? By joining CR4 you can "subscribe" to
this discussion and receive notification when new comments are added.

Comments rated to be Good Answers:

These comments received enough positive ratings to make them "good answers".

Comments rated to be "almost" Good Answers:

Check out these comments that don't yet have enough votes to be "official" good answers and, if you agree with them, rate them!
Guru

Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: at the beach in Florida
Posts: 5505
Good Answers: 271
#1

Re: Cargo Ship With Metal Sails Would Save 30 Percent Fuel

04/25/2012 3:43 PM

Why not just make them nuclear powered, saving 100%?

__________________
The relentless pursuit of pacification....
Reply Score 1 for Good Answer
2
Associate

Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 42
Good Answers: 2
#2
In reply to #1

Re: Cargo Ship With Metal Sails Would Save 30 Percent Fuel

04/26/2012 12:14 PM

If you're going to have rigid aluminum/plastic sails, why not incorporate some solar panels too?

Reply Good Answer (Score 2)
Power-User

Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 439
Good Answers: 26
#3

Re: Cargo Ship With Metal Sails Would Save 30 Percent Fuel

04/26/2012 12:33 PM

Just a thought!

On top of the sails with solar panels, integrate some broadband data antennas. The thought is that if there are enough ships at sea, a dynamic mesh network could established for inter-country data networks.

__________________
This moment is as it should be.
Reply
Reply to Blog Entry 3 comments
Interested in this topic? By joining CR4 you can "subscribe" to
this discussion and receive notification when new comments are added.

Comments rated to be Good Answers:

These comments received enough positive ratings to make them "good answers".

Comments rated to be "almost" Good Answers:

Check out these comments that don't yet have enough votes to be "official" good answers and, if you agree with them, rate them!
Copy to Clipboard

Users who posted comments:

Fierce Tiger (1); SolarEagle (1); szwasta (1)

Previous in Blog: April 25, 1859: Big Dig Starts for Suez Canal   Next in Blog: Asteroid Mining: Not as Crazy as it Sounds