Cargo ships from China’s biggest shipping company will soon use solar-powered sails from Australian renewable energy company Solar Sailor to power its journeys across the seas. The sails will be 30 meters long—rivaling the wings of a Boeing 747 or Airbus A380 in size, made of aluminum and covered in solar panels. What’s more, these computer-controlled sails will harness wind power as well, with the goal of using wind to cut fuel consumption by 20 to 40 percent and using solar to meet five percent of a ship’s energy requirements by partially meeting the energy needs of the crew and electronic navigation devices. Computers will angle the sails for maximum wind and solar capacity, and the sails are expected to have a payback time of four years. Chinese company COSCO will be fitting the sails—which can be “retro-fitted to existing tankers”—to a tanker ship and a bulker ship, which is less than an ideal number, but a start nevertheless.
Considering how much China exports (although the global financial crisis and a succession of unpleasant food and product scandals over the past two summers have put a damper on business) or just trades in general, this is some pretty exciting news, with perhaps a dash of relief on the part of environmentalists everywhere.
While China is one of the most practical places to utilize this technology, another Asian country actually beat it to the punch: Japan announced in July that it was currently working on an enormous freighter (carrying capacity: 6,400 automobiles) equipped with 328 solar panels, which the developing countries hoped would produce 40 kilowatts of power (0.2 percent of the ship’s energy consumption). Expected to be completed by December and built for the purpose of transporting vehicles for Toyota, this mega-cargo ship is, according a Japanese official, the world’s first (partially) solar-powered cargo ship. Although it certainly won’t be the last, here’s to hoping it’ll be the first in a definitive trend.
Be First To Comment
Related Post
Leave Your Comments Below