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Not sure why I was down-voted on this. I should have made it clearer in my post but I wasn't suggesting replacing diesel engines with Sail power, just augmenti

Not sure why I was down-voted on this. I should have made it clearer in my post but I wasn't suggesting replacing diesel engines with Sail power, just augmenting it in the same manner as the SkySails (see response from jk4930 and markdown). I also don't see why covering the deck in solar panels, or installing some form of wind turbine, wouldn't go some way to reducing the demand from diesel power generators.

wmoser 13y ago
There are a lot of people looking at fuel efficiency as well as carbon/sox/nox emmissions. For the companies running ships, the more efficient the plant is, the more money they save on fuel. About ten years ago we did a rough back of the envelope calculation in one of my engineering classes when I asked a similar question. The extra weight of the solar panels would negate any small benefit they would provide plus the cost of maintaining extra equipment. A lot modern ships run a shaft generator which uses the power from the shaft turning the propellor to turn an alternator to make electricity. When the ship slows down at the end of the trip, they go back to running smaller 'port' generators.
HeyLaughingBoy 13y ago
Covering the decks in panels is going to be a non-starter for containerships where a large percentage of the cargo is carried on deck. Even for tankers with (relatively) open decks, that's not going to work to hot because of the significant amount of piping that crisscrosses the decks. In either case, I don't think you understand just how brutal the maritime environment is. A typical oceangoing ship has steel panels at main deck level dented in from the impact of the sea. I don't think solar panels are going to hold up so well. Unless you can find a way for that wind turbine to both generate electricity and work as a "sail" so it propels the ship, it is just going to add drag that is counterproductive to the problem you're trying to solve.

wmoser 13y ago

There are a lot of people looking at fuel efficiency as well as carbon/sox/nox emmissions. For the companies running ships, the more efficient the plant is, the more money they save on fuel. About ten years ago we did a rough back of the envelope calculation in one of my engineering classes when I asked a similar question. The extra weight of the solar panels would negate any small benefit they would provide plus the cost of maintaining extra equipment. A lot modern ships run a shaft generator which uses the power from the shaft turning the propellor to turn an alternator to make electricity. When the ship slows down at the end of the trip, they go back to running smaller 'port' generators.

HeyLaughingBoy 13y ago

Covering the decks in panels is going to be a non-starter for containerships where a large percentage of the cargo is carried on deck. Even for tankers with (relatively) open decks, that's not going to work to hot because of the significant amount of piping that crisscrosses the decks. In either case, I don't think you understand just how brutal the maritime environment is. A typical oceangoing ship has steel panels at main deck level dented in from the impact of the sea. I don't think solar panels are going to hold up so well. Unless you can find a way for that wind turbine to both generate electricity and work as a "sail" so it propels the ship, it is just going to add drag that is counterproductive to the problem you're trying to solve.