Image: Freighter with kite The ’Beluga SkySails’ leaves Tuesday on its maiden voyage from Bremerhaven, Germany, to Venezuela.

 

The world’s first commercial ship powered partly by a giant kite set off on a maiden voyage from Bremen to Venezuela on Tuesday, in an experiment that inventor Stephan Wrage hopes can wipe 20 percent, or $1,600, from the ship’s daily fuel bill.

The 10,000-ton ‘MS Beluga SkySails’ — which will use a computer-guided kite to harness powerful ocean winds far above the surface and support the engine — combines modern technology with know-how that has been in use for millennia.

Entire Article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22788488/from/ET/wid/18298287?gt1=10832



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