A Return to Wind-Sailing Cargo Vessels?
Here’s a piece from Fossbytes, the same people who claim that the costs of maintaining EVs is greater than that of gas- and diesel-powered vehicles.A cargo ship named the Pyxis Ocean equipped with two 123-feet-tall WindWing sails embarked on a journey from China to Brazil last August, aiming to test the efficacy of the wind-powered technology.
After six months of sailing worldwide, Cargill, the ship’s owner, unveiled the results. On average, the Pyxis Ocean saved 3.3 tons of fuel daily.
It showed potential savings exceeding 12 tons per day in favorable weather conditions, resulting in a 14% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
WindWing’s makers suggest even greater fuel savings with three sails. Although promising, the challenge remains in adapting ports to accommodate such vessels. Cargill is actively engaging with ports globally to address this concern.
A couple of points:
As the wind industry has known for more than a century, the amount of power derived from capturing some of the kinetic energy from moving air is proportional to the area of the blades or sails on which the wind is incident. From the picture above, does it seem possible that huge, ocean-going cargo ships can be powered effectively from these two tiny sails?
It’s interesting that this is an artist’s rendering, rather than a photograph. It is significant that such devices do fact, exist?
There is no doubt that this will save on fuel. The ships the Vikings piloted around the open seas required no fuel either. If we don’t care how long it takes to ship our goods across the Pacific, perhaps this is a good idea. But of course, we care a great deal about modern supply change logistics.
Is the creator of the meme at left serious? From this piece:
Re: the meme here, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has said, “If we can explore colonizing Mars because we’ve ruined Earth, we can certainly fix Earth.”
As shown at left, Trump’s reverence for the world’s authoritarian figures is among his most obvious, most glaring characteristics.
What physicist Brian Greene says here is true.
From the Wall Street Journal:
…. seems to have dried up.
Most American women who live within, say, 25 miles of downtown anywhere are educated and career-oriented. They deeply resent the Republicans’ far-right position on abortion, and oppose most of the other principles of Trumpism, e.g., white nationalism, the rejection of science, and the Big Lie.
As astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson puts it, photos like the one here are evidence that we live in a country with a) free speech and b) failed education.
There has been much discussion concerning the relationship between educational levels and political leanings. There is no doubt, for instance, that one is more likely to encounter a Trump supporter running a hardware store in rural Mississippi than teaching cardiology in a university hospital in Massachusetts.
