Bremerhaven - A kite-drawn German freighter was bound for Venezuela Friday on its maiden voyage, testing out wind- assistance for its diesel engines.
An unexcitable lot, the officers of the new MS Beluga SkySails neither cheered nor embraced when the 160-square-metre flying sail was unfurled late Thursday.
The steersman's only reaction at the historic moment, 30 kilometres out of Bremerhaven, was to stoically grunt, "Huh. It works." Captain Lutz Heldt just nodded approval.
The hi-tech kite is designed to help slash the spiralling cost of fuel in cargo shipping....MORE
Here's Beluga N.V.'s homepage. Quote.
Here's SkySails homepage.
Here's some video.
Everybody want's to get on board:
Al Gore Invents Wind Power for Shipping
Al Gore continued his crusade for environmental entrepreneurship today, announcing that he has invented a new method to use wind power for ships on the high seas. Amid growing controversy about the impact of shipping on global warming, Gore's proposal would dramatically reduce pollution problems from seafaring operations.
Several environmental groups have been looking at the maritime industry and its associated pollution. The shipping industry carries over 90% of the world's merchandise and global economic growth has led to a dramatic increase in the use of ships. These oceanic beasts output huge quantities of global warming gases including carbon dioxide, along with other dirty effluents like sulpher dioxide and nitrogen oxide. Some reports suggest that the ships also smell like Britney Spears, an odor that is particularly offensive in Arab countries, but this has not been confirmed.
Al Gore, the former Vice-President and recent winner of a Nobel Prize, is not sitting still. Instead he is confronting the shipping industry with a proposal straight out of science fiction. Instead of using bunker fuel, Gore would outfit all large ships with his wind power invention....MORE
Al Gore scale model of his new shipping idea
