Modern oceanic shipping uses diesel engines and fossil fuels, but doing so generates massive amounts of air pollution. Fossil fuels are toxic and the oil and gas industry frequently causes destructive if not disastrous oil spills that poison marine habitats and kill marine wildlife. Then there is the global problem of climate change and its impacts.
In previous centuries, cargo ships sailed all over the planet using only wind. Of course, they were slower than contemporary, mechanized vessels and carried less cargo. They did have the advantage of not producing vast quantities of toxic air pollution and they did not contribute to climate change. Some CleanTechnica readers have written in article comments that they wonder why we can’t go back to wind-dominant cargo shipping, at least in part. I too have wondered about that possibility. READ FULL ARTICLE