2023 Wooden Boat Festival

Wind Power and the Revival of Sail in Maritime Shipping.  
• Summary. Old is new. Adapting to new economic and environmental realities, maritime shipping is seeking more efficiency and is again turning to wind power and sail.
• Scale. Maritime fleet, fuel use, emissions.
• Economics and the Environment. Economics now favor efficiency and propulsion alternatives. International environmental regulations are taking effect.
• First steps. Regional “Emissions Control Areas” (Baltic, North America, etc.). Liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a cleaner maritime fuel.
• CASE STUDIES: Wartsila, the Eleanor Roosevelt de Baleària.
• Next steps. Recent UN maritime standards seek to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 50% by 2050 via operational efficiency measures, further speed reductions, alternative low-carbon and zero-carbon propulsion, etc.
• Wind assisted ship propulsion. Major corporate involvement. Case studies.
• Fletner Rotors – deployed on very large ore carrier fleet by Vale SA.
• Retractable wingsails – deployed on mega oil tankers by China Merchants Energy Shipping.
• Oceanwing system – 400 ft. ship under construction for EU space agency.
• WISAMO – inflatable automated wingsail being developed and demonstrated by Michelin.