[Judgie]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lorenzo', 'S')olar boats are fun for tourism.

But for big ocean-going container ships and tankers we use the SkySail.

Tests on small ships successful, big funds (EU money too) and first trials on huge ships from early 2008 onwards.





http://www.skysails.info/

Reduces fuel consumption by up to 50%.

[lorenzo]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Judgie', '
')Last time I saw one of those being used anywhere, it was as a test run on ocean maxi yacht AAPT. They dumped the concept soon after. Expensive, easily destroyed and difficult to control. Conventional rigs, and their modern equivalents such as the Dynarig (in commercial operation on the Maltese Falcon, and a option on new Perini yachts) are much more cost and physically effective.

[theozarker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('eastbay', '[')i]Right now I'm building some box lid type passive solar convection heaters out of fiberboard and 1 x 2s to fit over the bottom halves of my south and west windows. It won't furnish all my heat for the winter, but it will help transition away from my gas heater as gas gets more expensive until I can figure out the next step. The idea came from an illustration of passive solar principles in an article for big passive solar ideas that I don't have the money to build.


No. I'm not joking.

Q: Is this contraption more efficient than just opening the curtains when the sun is shining? It's November 9th and we have yet to ignite the home heater using this simple old-school method and it's been in the low 30's many mornings. Rarely has it moved past the high 50's outside since late OCT.

Inside it's always in the low 60's, certainly nice enough for anyone who owns a sweater and a pair of socks.

Just wondering.

[eastbay]

Well how about this. No sooner do I brag about us not using the house heater and the weather decides to turn cloudy, cool, and rainy on us.

So we decide to 'test' the home heater burning a few minutes/ day of precious non- replenishable NAT GAS in the process. Still, we waited quite deep into the fall before we hit the switch. Nov 12th. Pretty late for Portland.

Starting tomorrow we're looking at a sunny low 30's to high 40's and we'll just open up the curtains, smile, and let the sun shine in with our old-school heating system.

[eastbay]

Solar ships... uh, lol...

... maybe they can heat the cabins by opening the curtains. That's about the most use out of solar power we'll ever get for ships. In other words, it'll never [s]fly[/s] sail dude.

In other, other words, that's one boat that won't float.

[Jester]

Double double
post post

[Jester]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Graeme', '
')Thank you, Drifter. Many of the "technological wonders" you speak of are still under development. I have confidence that all of the problems remaining will be resolved by many researchers working on them throughout the world. Otherwise, this is a brilliant reply!

[Twilight]

Solar powered ships? That reminds me of a digital pendulum clock I once saw in a catalogue.

Introducing at great expense a working but unnecessary technology to another one which gets the job done on its own already.

[Dezakin]

Or you could just use a small reactor. It seems to work for the navy.

[Twilight]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Dezakin', 'O')r you could just use a small reactor. It seems to work for the navy.

[fecteau]

Drifter wrote:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'I do think a lot of the technological things you post are workable, though on a smaller scale. Large scale, I'm not so sure.')

I remember an article about how the gasoline engine would never replace the horse for transportation. It was claimed to be workable on a smaller scale but what where you to do on larger scale when you need a mechanic to follow every car on the road to fix them as they fail to perform.

Greame, Keep on the good work.

[Dezakin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Twilight', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Dezakin', 'O')r you could just use a small reactor. It seems to work for the navy.

[IslandCrow]

Thinking of the narrow boats of the English canals:- are solar systems effective enough to power one of these boats? That would be better than reverting back to having horses draw the boats along.

[Starvid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('EnergyUnlimited', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Eli', 'I') hear scientists are now working on a solar powered Sun too.

[TheDude]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Eli', 'I') hear scientists are now working on a solar powered Sun too.