The sea-based portion of the world’s shipping industry is responsible for more than 2 percent of global carbon emissions, as well as 10 to 15 percent of sulfur oxide and nitrous oxide emissions. It may not sound like it, but that’s actually a huge drop in the bucket of overall global emissions. Fortunately, an old-fashioned kind of technology is here to help.
Airseas has developed a 3,280-square-foot kite that can pull cargo ships along. To be clear, the kite can’t tow a ship all by itself, but it can put a notable dent in the amount of fuel a ship uses. Airseas estimates that using the kite could reduce emissions per trip by about 20 percent. That’s a pretty big drop in the bucket.
The kite can be easily mounted to almost any ship and can be deployed at the touch of a button. It can also maximize the wind that it harnesses by using computer technology to tell it how to move around. The kite is about to start a six-month test run aboard the Ville de Bordeaux, a 505-foot-long cargo ship that transports airplane parts between France and the U.S.
