Mastodawn

Another Angry Woman Jun 30, 2023

it is with a heavy heart that I regret to inform you that the tech bros have invented sails

Charlie Stross Jun 30, 2023

@stavvers TBF this is a GOOD idea purely in engineering terms: kites can take advantage of wind speeds and directions that vary at different altitudes, aerofoils bolted to the deck on rigid masts are limited to surface winds. But it's still only a supplement for engine power: modern supply chains can't cope with VLCSs getting becalmed.

The real answer is marine nuclear propulsion. Or teleportation booths. Or sparkly unicorns. Or something.

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dr2chase Jun 30, 2023

@cstross @stavvers I read, somewhere, that it takes an implausible amount of kite to equal the power of a ship engine. My brother's been messing with kites for decades, one crucial piece of equipment is the device that lets go of the kite fast, not sure if there needs to be a ship version of that.

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Charlie Stross

@dr2chase @stavvers Here's the LARGEST diesel engine in the world, per wikipedia, the Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C. Two-stroke cycle, 14 cylinders, puts out 80MW (or about 107,000 horsepower), weighs over 2,300 tons. Used for powering 170,000 ton (and up) container ships.

It's hard to see how to replace a medium-sized city's power station with any kind of sail (or to abolish this scale of shipping in a century when climate change will cause frequent local crop failures).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C3%A4rtsil%C3%A4-Sulzer_RTA96-C

Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C - Wikipedia