A Return for Wind Powered Ships
July 28, 2008
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With high oil prices hurting the profitability of shipping companies around the world, a French shipping company is turning to the age old technology of wind powered ships to save costs and reduce their carbon footprint.
The company has chartered the Kathleen & May, a 108 year old boat that last saw service in 1960. The ship will transport 30,000 bottles of wine from France to Dublin.
Although wind powered ships can only go half the speed of regular ones, they create no carbon emissions, thus fighting global warming, and will save the shipping company the entire cost of fuel for the trip.
The shipping company has future trips planned for the Kathleen & May and is now considering building wind powered ships of their own in an effort to cut their carbon footprint and their fuel costs.
Boats, usually powered by dirty fossil fuels, carry roughly 90% of the world’s traded goods. If wind powered boats could capture only a small portion of that it would still represent a huge amount of shipping and make a substantial difference to fighting global warming.
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