This technology has me curious. It's called Wind Sail Propulsion. It's still in the 1.0 stages IMO. It's kind of interesting though and could potential save on fuel costs to get things across the ocean. It harnesses wind energy to assist or, in some cases, serve as the primary... means of propelling ships. Another technology is the Flettner rotor, which uses the Magnus effect—created by spinning vertical cylinders in a wind stream—to generate forward thrust. Unlike sails, the rotor is powered by its own motor, allowing it to generate propulsion even when wind direction is unfavorable. Do you see potential for this kind of technology? What kinds of potential problems could arise? 🤨show more

"It's called wind sail propulsion. It's still in the 1.0 stages IMO." The 1.0 Stages happened roughly 2200 years ago.

the circle is now complete

In other news, the marketing agency that brought you "Wind Sail" is excited to announce a line of innovative products including "Beverage Drinks", "Vehicle Cars" and "Film Movies."

I have another idea for propulsion: -Place several long, pole-like implements with wide flat edges out the sides of the ships connected to a biological kinetic energy provider. We'll call these devices "Dihydrogen Monoxide Relocators" that can be used when wind isn't available.

Their called sails

Been around forever

they are late by about 6000 years...

Add in some rowers

Here's a picture from a company called Terntank.

Its all good until this shows up on the horizon

@j0ker937 So....sails....on boats. What a novel idea.

Congratulations, you've discovered sailing with wind-powered sails, a great innovation, unlike the ships of a thousand years ago that polluted a lot with their diesel engines.

they've reinvented the sail boat

We really just went back in time and re-invented sail boats and act like we found something revolutionary lmao.

Ultimately it all comes down to cost savings. If these “sail” options improve the bottom line, shipping companies will go all-in. The volume of fuel burned by a ship at sea is incomprehensible to most people. Even a 1 or 2% reduction in fuel burned becomes serious money. The systems need to be ultra-reliable and virtually automatic. Crewmen won’t be climbing these masts to tend to them, and if they prove unreliable they’ll be gone in no time.

Rotor sail technology - its only been around since 1920

You’re telling me that we’ve become so advanced that we’re stepping away from mechanical propulsion to harness the wind like in the 1800s

Return of sails means the return of the golden age of piracy

Why not just make them out of canvas and hang them from polls be a lot lighter that that mechanical monstrosity .It would take up less room easier maintenance and I suspect cheaper , it worked for a few years in the past .

Wind technology is the only free advancement in human technology where they developed it to maximum efficiency and then abandoned it for fuel you have to buy. Man could at one time freely sail around the world at no cost.

Holy fuck, first we spent 20 years replacing the taliban with the taliban, and now we've spent like 3,000 years replacing the sailboat with the sailboat

Back in the day driving assist, return to home, braking assist, autopilot and run silent were the norm...

This isn't innovative at all, in fact it's going backwards.

I have a million dollar idea! To cut down on manufacturing costs and pollution, why not put 500 people on each side with long spoons and have them displace the water to move the ship.

Here is a picture of the prototype:

Very innovative technology. Leveraging wind to create movement without using fuel. I wonder where I've seen it before...

@KathleenWinche3 😆

At one point, this technology had advanced to the point that it provided 100% of the propulsion for cargo ships.

The fuel savings would have to be greater than the cost to retrofit + loss of cargo capacity over the life of the ship. Otherwise it’s a great idea, but I don’t know what the real world numbers are.

Absolute waste of time and money. That size ship takes thousands of horsepower to drive it's huge water drag along. That ship does not have a good below water to above ballast ratio. If the sails had even a reasonable amount of power, the ship would heel an amount, maybe 15 deg.

Hopefully they remember to lower them going under bridges.

So…a sail boat.

Seems like a lot of extra weight on the top of the ship. Also would like to see the extra space required inside for the wind to be converted. What happens when “automatic” fails and ship can’t return to its own power?

Esistono dirigibili assai perfezionati, capaci di carichi, velocità, stabilità eccezionali ma non entrano in servizio! Perché? There are highly sophisticated airships capable of exceptional loads, speeds and stability, but they are not put into service! Why?

Re-Use old windmill blades like this instead of burying them or grinding them up as concrete additives?