A return to the Age of Sail

January 26th, 2008 | by Paolo |

If there’s a technology that actually gets my geek on, it’s sail. It’s non-polluting, it’s elegant, and it’s a proven technology, particularly for transport. So I’m rather excited about this news item related to a return to the use of wind with something called a SkySail, a sort of giant kite that tows a ship. For centuries, we used wind to power global trade, and then with access to cheap coal and oil, we just stopped doing it. Back to the future, it seems. Here’s a link from BBC, as well:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7201887.stm

When I think about where we’re headed in terms of being energy constrained, I often think of us moving toward supercharged versions of historical technologies, the ones where we were still using a lot of muscle power and a lot of wind, and hadn’t gotten deep into coal and oil, yet. Now with things like computer-aided design and a better understanding of physics we can do things with wind power that we never could have done before. It’s enough to almost make someone feel optimistic.

  1. 3 Responses to “A return to the Age of Sail”

  2. By Chang on Jan 26, 2008 | Reply

    I saw that and it did look pretty cool. I envision drone cargo ships just lolling about on the ocean behind their sails.

    Now when do I get my robot car?

  3. By Jason Erik Lundberg on Jan 27, 2008 | Reply

    Very cool. We’re not doing nearly enough with wind power, and so it’s heartening to see stories like this.

  4. By CV Rick on Jan 27, 2008 | Reply

    Our greatest chances at success are taking the best from all human development. Technology shouldn’t be abandoned, but used together with what comes next. There’s still a place for radio in today’s internet/television/iPhone world. There’s still places near my family’s home where horses navigate the terrain better than motorized vehicles. Wind power has too many advantages to abandon.

    I agree, optimism is warranted.

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