Something not obviously related to goo per se, but nevertheless impoartant is the question “Where do we get our goo from, anyway?”. And one major answer to this is: “via freight ships”. And those consume goo in its most ancient form (although refined and processed) but still much more related to crude oil than many other chemical products.
It turns out that a company called Skysails is producing a system of sails for ships which is supposed to be able to reduce fuel consumption by up to 50%! The sails in this case are not real sails as wind powered ships usually have, but rather large (5000 sqm!) kites which are sent up to high altitudes (500+ m) and thus can pull the freighters. You can see a prototype in action here.
The whole shebang will look like the image on the right:
Find out more about this sailor’s wet dream in this tech paper.
0 Responses to “Skysails - new but old ways of generating energy”