Pushing ahead vigorously
"Back to the roots" is the motto of the maritime industry. People are once again turning to the wind as a traditional means of propulsion for ships. This is shown by the first drone photos of the "Pyxis Ocean". The freighter has been fitted with two enormous sails. The sails rise high above the deck of the freighter. The wind blows strongly, saving a lot of fuel.
The "Pyxis Ocean" has become a pioneer. On her maiden voyage, she tested a completely new sail technology. In the future, it will enable modern wind propulsion for commercial shipping. The ship was retrofitted with two WindWings by engineers from Cargill, BAR Technologies, Mitsubishi Corporation and Yara Marine Technologies. These are large wing sails up to 37.5 meters high that are mounted on the deck of cargo ships to harness the power of the wind. In newly built ships, they are expected to achieve average fuel savings of up to 30 percent. In combination with alternative fuels, this could be even higher.
During the first test run, the "Pyxis Ocean" reached just under ten kilometers per hour using only wind power, reports the newspaper "The Telegraph". However, the sails are only an auxiliary propulsion system.Like wind turbines, they are made of a fiberglass composite.This makes them particularly durable.The sails resemble large airfoils.Each of them is said to save 1.5 tons of fuel per day, BAR Technology promises.With four sails, around 20 tons of carbon dioxide could be avoided per day.
Worldwide, shipping emits about 837 million tons of CO₂ per year.That is around two percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.So the potential for savings is enormous.But given the scale of the challenge and the diversity of the international shipping fleet, it is unlikely that there will be a collaborative solution for the industry any time soon.
There is hope, however.The number of ships supported by wind energy is growing slowly but steadily, although the proportion is still small.Fewer than a hundred ships have wind-assisted technology on board. By comparison, there are about 90,000 ships sailing the world's oceans.
Welcome to Photonworld – a platform for knowledge, interesting facts and science on the topic of light. Photonworld aims to provide a basic understanding of the physics of light and its countless phenomena. From medicine, to art and physics: all topics are covered.
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