Talk about going green! A kite assisted Ship!
- Thread starter BigMike
- Start date
Wow using wind to propel boats. What a novel concept.
It's not about going green but saving money.
It's not about going green but saving money.
Man it would suck if lots of ships had those, and they got tangled up.
Well getting green is the best way to sell going green. Also in the long term most green solutions are cheaper especially if you factor in the true economic costs of pollution and its effects.
When all the rhetoric and empty gestures fade away, financial gain is what will really propel environmental change in most people.
Wouldn't it jump over the waves a little - seems like the kite would lift the bow more out of the water?
I thought that too, but I have to imagine that the boat is cutting through enough to not jump as much? And even if it did, I suspect it'd settle down much faster than rocking side-to-side?
Well it won't really jump, just be more out of the water and I suppose cut through the water more easily with less water to displace.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=503419&in_page_id=1770
Another green boat. Let the fat kid/liposuction jokes commence.
Another green boat. Let the fat kid/liposuction jokes commence.
Man, they sold their house and everything they own, and were able to afford that?!
If I sold my house and everything I own, I would be able to afford a canoe.
Wooo, T-dog sighting. Doing well I hope.
I've been a fan of lipo energy for years but wouldn't it be greener if they just didn't burn anything and went no where?
There are several orders of magnitude between the thrust produced by the sail and the weight of the ship.
Soylent Green?
In a day where fuel is scarce, the gov't commence a program to fuel the world.
THE FUEL IS PEOPLE!!!
Wasn't there something like this in "Waterworld"?
they look like keel crackers to me
It's great to see people's fat being put to good use, but 10 liters of fat per 15km doesn't seem very 'sustainable' to me. Especially considering the amount one would have to consume to produce 10 liters of fat. The move towards sustainability is wonderful and all, but all I continue to see is the wool being pulled over people's eyes. Just follow the energy chain for a couple of links and you'll find something nasty. Yes, every new venture is great for awareness, but I think instead of making it sound like you've made some sort of benchmark accomplishment you should first address the facts.
But the ship has buoyancy right - they are saving 20% with the "thurst" from the sail. You don't think the bow will ride slightly higher than without - I know it won't even come close to jumping but it is pull in addition to the water holding the ship up.
If it raised the bow that much it would decrease efficiency due to an increase in hull resistance.
I'm curious to know how the larger kites effect how the ship handles heavy seas. If you watch a boat moored in rough seas, the constraint of the bow lines totally jacks it's ability to naturally rise over swells. A kite large enough to haul a large freighter, if bow mounted, would seem to have a similar effect.
I spent some time looking up the stats on the ship and sail. At it's maximum the sail provides enough power to lift a 5% of the ship, and most of that thrust in horizontal axis. Maybe 5-10% of the trust would be "lifting" the ship. So you're left with about a .5% reduction in weight.
You have the right idea mechanically but the wrong scale. If they made the sail and cables strong enough to support enough trust " lift" the ship it wouldn't be useful in most wind conditions due to the weight of the system.
The ship weight 9775 metric tons, or approximately 2,000,000 pounds.
Yeah I suppose the kite would have to be bigger than the ship itself to ride higher in the water but I was just meaning a little higher.
A 6 foot stunt kite can pull a 100+ lbs child off the ground momentarily in the med-high wind conditions as I've experienced it myself as a kid. Those parachute kites more similar in shape to the boat kite can pull a 200 lbs man and board 15 ft in the air in gusts (kite boarding).
I wonder how big those whole plane parachute systems are? They don't have one yet for 1,000,000 lbs. 747 though
Yeah I suppose the kite would have to be bigger than the ship itself to ride higher in the water but I was just meaning a little higher.
A 6 foot stunt kite can pull a 100+ lbs child off the ground momentarily in the med-high wind conditions as I've experienced it myself as a kid. Those parachute kites more similar in shape to the boat kite can pull a 200 lbs man and board 15 ft in the air in gusts (kite boarding).
I wonder how big those whole plane parachute systems are? They don't have one yet for 1,000,000 lbs. 747 though
I screwed up my math, the ship is 20,000,000 pounds.
I think it may have one important effect, it will tend to pull the bow a little higher, and more importantly in high seas it will act like a parachute for the bow, reducing the "slam" of the bow back into sea after a high wave. That would reduce the stress on the ship, which is important on a cargo ship.