Giant kites battle global warming

Updated 14.02 Sun Dec 16 2007

Keywords: climate change, kite, shipping

A high-tech version of the traditional sailing ship is the latest bid to halt climate change.

Two German companies have teamed up to create a kite system that uses wind power to pull enormous ships.

The kite flies up to 300 metres high to harness powerful prevailing winds and tug the 10,000-tonne ship forward, helping its diesel engine cut fuel consumption by 20 per cent

The 132-metre ship MV Beluga SkySails will make her maiden voyage across the Atlantic next month, pulled by a giant computer-guided kite tethered to a 15-metre high mast.

The kite flies up to 300 metres high to harness powerful prevailing winds and tug the 10,000-tonne ship forward, helping its diesel engine cut fuel consumption by 20 per cent.

The inventors, Beluga Shipping and Skysails, aim to get 1,500 ships fitted with kites by 2015.