This idea has been around awhile, but the climate doomsayers over in the mainstream media sure are excited about it again this week!
You may have seen kitesurfers in action, harnessing the power of the wind to pull them over the sea. Now imagine the same concept applied to a 1,000-square-meter kite, flying 300 meters above the water – only instead of towing a surfer across the waves, it's helping to propel a colossal cargo ship across the ocean.
Amazing!
Using the wind to power a ship? What a novel idea!
I mean, really: Who would have ever thought to harness the winds to propel a vessel across the ocean?
Pretty soon, CNN will be writing an article about the newly discovered triangular "kites" that allow a ship to turn and tack against the wind!!
Look, this is a pretty ingenious bit of technology, as can be seen in this video 👇
But let's be real: Wind power has its limits. There is a reason the age of sail is over and we don't aim cannonballs at the mizzenmast anymore in naval combat. Many a battle has been lost due to a poor tack or a change in the wind (look up the Battle of the Chesapeake this 4th of July, my friends).
But there's more than that. See, CNN argues that the kites will help ships "reduce their fuel consumption, and cut their carbon emissions by an average of 20%." If you're super-concerned about greenhouse gasses, 20% is a big number.
The kites are "controlled by autopilot software" and fly "in figure-of-eight loops, which multiply the pulling effect of the airflow," tremendously increasing its drawing power.
If (and that's a strong if) deployed at scale, it could workably achieve "cutting fuel use by 20% for '70 to 80% of the world's shipping trade'."
But like the idea of making cows wear burp masks, don't get too excited about the greenwashed hype.
Could this work? Physically, sure. Practically? Not without huge government subsidies or skyrocketing the price of fuel to make it financially worthwhile (which would also drive up prices like crazy while increasing shipping times and crashing the supply chain).
Not to mention, producing tens of thousands of kites isn't exactly a net zero. Everything takes energy.
I'm all for solutions that save resources and protect the environment while progressing the main objective of human flourishing, but call me a skeptic on this one.
