Sail and Solar Powered Cargo Vessel Project

I thought this project might be of interest for the forum. http://www.greenheartproject.org


Greenheart is a non-profit, designing and building small sail/solar powered cargo ships primarily for Fair Trade between North/South and within the least developed regions of the South themselves, owned and crewed by local people. We will be bringing our first ship to Seattle in 2014/15 on her 2-year round-the-world maiden voyage – testing the ship and trading routes, generating publicity and funds for hundreds of local, micro-financed builds in the future.

We have already approached the Seattle government, port and a number of sailing NGO’s (Salish Sea Cooperative, Centre for Wooden Boats) and the Bullitt Foundation and we have received a very warm response and an invitation from the city.

What we are looking to do is:

1 – Arrange an arrival festival – bands, stalls, trading and hearing the stories of the goods and the crew from those countries.

2 – Run education and highlight environment issues and projects in the city. We will have marine broadband connection so we can link up with local schools to provide real life learning experiences of Fair Trade and renewable energy and sustainable shipping. Also university research programs on board.

3 – Create a physical link between co-operatives in different countries, raise funds from local businesses for the above activities, help promote those businesses in the region and abroad and take a sustainable Seattle message around the world.

Please check out our website for more information http://www.greenheartproject.org

We would really appreciate any help on developing this and I look forward to inviting you all on board when we come into port.

Fair Winds,

Gavin

Gavin Allwright
Commercial Director
Greenheart

Mobile (UK) - +44-(0) 7517-105-817
Skype: gachihamale
Twitter: Greenheart_Pro

Building a zero-emissions, low impact solar/sail cargo ship for fair trade, fair transport, and more.

I’m no eco-nazi by any means, screw that damn hippy Al Gore, but for my own personal reasons, which I’m sure many of you will see right through, I like the idea of sail-powered cargo making a comeback. Do I think it will happen however? No. No I do not. Not in the near future anyway. With the technology and materials (and the cost of both of those things!) that we have at our disposal right now this is simply not a realistic goal. For something like this to catch on it has to make business sense or you’ll never get a company to go for it. Getting a big company to back this is the only way to get it off the drawing board. Non-profit, granola-munching, kumbaya-singing hippy organizations like green-peace, or green-nose, or green-thumb or whatever it’s called don’t cause real change, corporations with CA$H do.

[QUOTE=PaddyWest2012;98558]Non-profit, granola-munching, kumbaya-singing hippy organizations like green-peace, or green-nose, or green-thumb or whatever it’s called don’t cause real change, corporations with CA$H do.[/QUOTE]

Well said PaddyWest…GreenHeart is a sinker of a name. Perhaps someday this concept will make sense.

http://www.svtreshombres.com/
http://treshombres-rum.com/site/landing

Just to prove I’m not totally heartless about this topic… These pictures oughtta’ rocker yer socks off if you have any interest in this subject. These come from an organization called Fair Transport. They currently operate the brigantine “Tres Hombres,” which runs a regular cargo route between New York and select South American and European ports. There is a similar design floating around the interwebs by an organization called the “B9 Energy Group” but I think the Fair Transport one looks a lot cooler.

This is a picture of Fair Transport’s “Tres Hombres.” Sometimes it’s hard to believe she makes regular hitches across the Atlantic, but she does nevertheless.

This is B9 Energy’s ship design, which is very similar to the Fair Transport design but not quite as slick looking.

sheer genius! a one FEU containership! we’re looking at 8000 vessels to replace one Maersk Super E class ship and each with a crew of three it will employ 24000 men to do the work that 20 can do today! NOW THIS IS HUMAN PROGRESS!

The Vessel

Rig Schematic Design Summary

At the core of the Greenheart Project is a new idea for a small ship: one that combines reliable, universal sails with a simple and proven solar panel / storage battery / DC electric drive. The present state of the technology prevents the application of this type of hybrid system to larger ships, but a one-container vessel that sails well, can use electric motors to approach and exit harbors, navigate in restricted waters, provide additional speed and steerage at sea, and reach inland ports via canals and rivers. The obvious and most pressing application for a small ship with these features is as an appropriate development tool for impoverished coastal communities. With these end users in mind, we have designed a vessel with three basic criteria: Simplicity, Economy, and Low-impact.

Simplicity
By deliberately avoiding new- and high-tech components in favor of time-tested and readily available technologies, we have designed a ship that is reliable, and easy to operate, maintain, and repair. Sailing rigs and sail handling have been simplified greatly since the days when tall ships were the predominant means of trade. While safety and efficiency have improved, the manpower requirements of a modern sailing ship are a fraction of what they were then. The complementary electric drive we will be using is also uncomplicated and straightforward. Photovoltaics are perhaps the most basic way to generate the electricity used to turn the DC motors, and the number of moving parts needing lubrication, adjustment and replacement will be minimal. The simplicity of Greenheart-type ships will make them suitable for a variety of development applications in remote locations, and communities with a low level of formal education.

Economy
The renewable energy sources for Greenheart ships provide free power, unlimited range and super clean operation, all of which contribute to low running costs and externalities. There will also be savings to the operators from not having to interrupt operations for fueling, and from the lack of training and equipment for fuel spill clean up. The maintenance and lubricant costs of electric motors are far lower than their internal combustion equivalents.

Low-impact
Low impact, that is, a minimum of negative effects on the environment, is an obvious advantage not only for the operators, but also for local, regional, and global stakeholders in the commons. We realize that building and operating ships of this size will necessarily entail pollution, but two factors make Greenheart ships nearly pollution-free. The first, of course, is the total absence of fuel. No CO2, NOx, SOx; no emissions into the air or water whatsoever. 100% of ship operations, in port and at sea, use clean, renewable energy from the sun and wind. The next factor that lowers the environmental impact of Greenheart-type ships is their shallow draught and low clearance. A typical ocean-going freighter will draw from 5 to 10 meters of water, and be restrained by bridges lower that 20 meters. This means direct environmental impacts from dredging channels and harbors for access, building docks and wharves, and cargo transfers to shallower barges or land transport to move cargoes inland. We are designing Greenheart ships to need no more than 2.3 meters of water, and to be able to pass under bridges as low as five meters above the water Our design allows Greenheart ships to use beaches, estuaries, and other undeveloped coastline to load and unload cargos without the need for any facilities ashore. This will permit them to service vast areas of coastline presently inaccessible to long range ships, reducing costs, energy use, and environmental degradation.

Genoa Sail Plan In order to allow Greenheart ships to pass under bridges, we designed masts that fold down to reduce clearance, and to avoid the usual clutter this creates on deck, we came up with a mast shape and configuration that leaves nearly the entire deck free for cargo handling or fishing activity whether the masts are up or down. A few added benefits from this novel mast design are the ability to raise and lower them in rough conditions, and the ability to load and unload cargos over the bow or stern of the vessel as well as from either side.

Another feature recently added to the ship’s design is a large (container-profile) cargo hatch in the transom. This opens to a container-sized compartment sealed at the forward end by another watertight port connecting to the main hold. This provides the ship with another means of loading and unloading, an easy way of stowing and deploying the ship’s boats, and a watertight compartment / airlock for emergencies. When opened, the stern hatch and compartment will provide a convenient platform for certain types of fishing operations.

Underwater, the Greenheart ship’s hull has a decidedly square profile amidships, with long bilge keels along the chines and a flat, central keel the length of the ship. This will allow reasonable upwind sailing performance while permitting very shallow draught operations. Our ships will service beachfront communities, as well as undeveloped riverbanks and other applications where landing will be part of operations, so the bilge keels and reinforced stem will allow cargo handling while aground.

(For potential applications, see Applications. For present architectural plans see Designs.)

If they said this about the Wright brothers’ first plane we would still ride horses.

Yes, it is human progress.

[QUOTE=c.captain;99284]sheer genius! a one FEU containership! we’re looking at 8000 vessels to replace one Maersk Super E class ship and each with a crew of three it will employ 24000 men to do the work that 20 can do today! NOW THIS IS HUMAN PROGRESS![/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=DeckApe;99309]If they said this about the Wright brothers’ first plane we would still ride horses.

Yes, it is human progress.[/QUOTE]

I agree with C.Captain that a one-FEU vessel with a crew of three is an economically unviable solution. In addition, with the amount of time that the crew would probably use the auxiliary engine to get on and off the dock, or to maneuver through days without wind, having this many vessels to do the same job as one larger vessel is probably environmentally unsound as well.

However, having said that, DeckApe is also right. Any new idea, however unsound, is human progress. We always have to go though a lot of bad ideas before we get to even one good one. Each new idea, whether bad or good, is a testing ground for the next new idea. Whatever you might think of a one-FEU sailboat with a crew of 3, you have to admit the larger and more realistic ideas posted above do look pretty awesome.

[QUOTE=PaddyWest2012;99335] you have to admit the larger and more realistic ideas posted above do look pretty awesome.[/QUOTE]

Maybe they look awesome but the sail powered vessel in liner trade has been DEAD, DEAD and DEAD for more than a century. The only possible trade where sail could be beneficial is in the bulk trades where there might be more incentive for low cost than short transit time yet how much sail area would be required to move 10000dwt at an average speed of 6kts? To me one ton or one knot less and forget it unless fuel is $5k/ton. If you can build such a ship cost effectively with a rig which can withstand all conceivably windforces and seastates to be encountered with a crew size equivalent to a similar sized motorship then just maybe the idea can work but that is a lot of ifs.

The only way that sail can ever come back commercially imo, is when the cost of fuel becomes astronomically high and if that happens, the world will have a lot more problems to worry about than the cost of moving 10k tons of soybeans.

[QUOTE=c.captain;99366]Maybe they look awesome but the sail powered vessel in liner trade has been DEAD, DEAD and DEAD for more than a century. The only possible trade where sail could be beneficial is in the bulk trades where there might be more incentive for low cost than short transit time yet how much sail area would be required to move 10000dwt at an average speed of 6kts? To me one ton or one knot less and forget it unless fuel is $5k/ton. If you can build such a ship cost effectively with a rig which can withstand all conceivably windforces and seastates to be encountered with a crew size equivalent to a similar sized motorship then just maybe the idea can work but that is a lot of ifs.

The only way that sail can ever come back commercially imo, is when the cost of fuel becomes astronomically high and if that happens, the world will have a lot more problems to worry about than the cost of moving 10k tons of soybeans.[/QUOTE]

Like I said before, it’s gotta make business sense. If it doesn’t make business sense then the technology’s effect on the environment, positive or negative, doesn’t amount to a hill of beans, soy or otherwise.

One problem with sail ships (regardless of size or ability) is the predictability of arrival date / time.

Our containers better show up +/- 15 minutes at the factory / Walmart door, from Japan / China.

The “practicality” of large sailing vessels was proven long ago - I think there was a link a few weeks back about a giant German sail ship (5 masts??) kind of the last of the 20,000 GRT ones. I reall they made some trips averaging 19 kts… so that is “practical”. But given the world economy today, it ain’t" economical".

Don’t take your eye off the ball. The future for all us filthy merchant seame scum is LNG powered ships. Make no mistake this is the future of liner trade.

Don’t worry - we are in Copenhagen in the morning on the topic.

I appreciate you being with me in spirit but there were no 20000grt/19kts windjammers. The PREUSSEN of 1902was the largest 5 poster ever built by man and she was about 5100 gross tons although she did make fast passages in the 15 to 16 knot range often in her short career.

Damned to see such a ship as her under full canvas must have been simply awe inspiring!

Thanks for the correction… Matey and I were practically crying tonite over dinner while recalling the memory of sighting SEA CLOUD and others under full sail… and this from engineers !

How big was the typical WWII era ship? About 5,000 tons?

[QUOTE=tugsailor;99391]How big was the typical WWII era ship? About 5,000 tons?[/QUOTE]

That is roughly, give or take a couple thousand, the size of a Victory/Liberty ship from WWII.

a Liberty was 7500grt, carried 9500dwt and made 10.5kts on a good day. A mainstay in the postwar world dry bulk tramp fleets, today they would be considered tiny, slow and economically totally inefficient for the size crew they required.

Where does that ring a bell from?

From my experience working with sail, the technology for large vessels has not advanced significantly in the past 100 years. We would have to put some serious effort into developing commercial sail before we could ever better the late 18th century ships.

The little boat in the OP is a bad idea. That little thing won’t sail worth a damn, and loading a container on the beach? A plain old 150’ schooner would be far more efficient.

Now that ecoliner shown above, in the right market conditions could work. But I wouldn’t want to work on the prototype.

Around Cape Horn - Irving Johnson 1929 Peking Footage - YouTube

Irish Rover

On the fourth of July eighteen hundred and six
We set sail from the sweet cove of Cork
We were sailing away with a cargo of bricks
For the grand city hall in New York
’Twas a wonderful craft, she was rigged fore-and-aft
And oh, how the wild winds drove her.
She’d got several blasts, she’d twenty-seven masts
And we called her the Irish Rover.

We had one million bales of the best Sligo rags
We had two million barrels of stones
We had three million sides of old blind horses hides,
We had four million barrels of bones.
We had five million hogs, we had six million dogs,
Seven million barrels of porter.
We had eight million bails of old nanny goats’ tails,
In the hold of the Irish Rover.

There was awl Mickey Coote who played hard on his flute
When the ladies lined up for his set
He was tootin’ with skill for each sparkling quadrille
Though the dancers were fluther’d and bet
With his sparse witty talk he was cock of the walk
As he rolled the dames under and over
They all knew at a glance when he took up his stance
And he sailed in the Irish Rover

There was Barney McGee from the banks of the Lee,
There was Hogan from County Tyrone
There was Jimmy McGurk who was scarred stiff of work
And a man from Westmeath called Malone
There was Slugger O’Toole who was drunk as a rule
And fighting Bill Tracey from Dover
And your man Mick McCann from the banks of the Bann
Was the skipper of the Irish Rover

We had sailed seven years when the measles broke out
And the ship lost it’s way in a fog.
And that whale of the crew was reduced down to two,
Just meself and the captain’s old dog.
Then the ship struck a rock, oh Lord what a shock
The bulkhead was turned right over
Turned nine times around, and the poor dog was drowned
I’m the last of the Irish Rover
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