4 ms·
Well, if the wind is at your back, I think it’d just be more efficient to use sails, since it skips conversion losses. If it’s a headwind, well you’re just addi
by jakeinspace 4y ago
Well, if the wind is at your back, I think it’d just be more efficient to use sails, since it skips conversion losses. If it’s a headwind, well you’re just adding drag. You can’t put wind turbines on a vehicle and come out ahead of sails.
- derefr 4y agoThis presumes there’s any advantage in a ship arriving early. Usually an early ship is just as bad as a late ship — their booked port slot isn’t until hours/days later. So, in a tailwind, you don’t want to actually go faster; you want to keep a constant speed, but just use less power doing so. And direct wind capture via sails is (AFAIK) unpredictable enough that you can’t keep a constant speed when relying on it. (Are there robotic sail-trimmer control systems designed to always take an exact amount of impulse from the wind and discard any excess?) Sticking a wind turbine on your boat, on the other hand, is basically regenerative braking. You turn the excess speed you don’t want/need at the time, into stored power for later when you do need it, to exactly the degree to leave you with the speed you want. A tailwind is to a boat as “going downhill” is to a car.
- landryraccoon 4y agoIf the ship arrives early, can't it just sit a few miles from port and wait in the ocean? The ship must have been provisioned to remain at sea for that time anyway if it was expecting to arrive later.