This has been around for a while and the benefits well understood. This video gives a good guide to why sails aren't more common: https://youtu.be/GYNKW_w95lA
TL;DW, fitting sails (or other wind power) is paid for by the ship's owner, but the benefits go to the ship's charterer.
> TL;DW, fitting sails (or other wind power) is paid for by the ship's owner, but the benefits go to the ship's charterer.
Okay? But if I could charter two different ships and one would cost X$ and the other X+10$ (due to extra gas usage) wouldn't I charter the ship with sails?
Considering the amount of money we’re talking about here I would think it should be possible to work something out and align the incentives properly. Like the charterer offering a better deal for ships with sails.
You can spend $4000 to get an 80% furnace (i.e. 20% of energy burned is wasted), or $4200 to get a 95% effecient furnace (5% of energy burned is wasted). As a homeowner, its a nobrainer as the second one pays for itself in a few months. As a builder - The house sells for the exact same price, so you put in the crappy one and pocket another $200.
Multiply by similar decisions of many things (windows, heat pumps, insulation), and millions of homes, and it's a pretty huge difference.
No idea what these sail systems cost, but it seems like the payback period on these sails would be pretty quick. Using 10% less fuel on a 10-day voyage at current bunker fuel prices would be about $150,000 in savings.
A zero-sum game is where one party has to lose for another to win. This is seemingly a win-win scenario, where there's both money to be saved and there are important ecological benefits. That makes it a lot easier to adopt, although still far from free in the sense that it requires new equipment, training, etc.
That's the whole point of carbon (and other Pigouvian) taxes - harness narrow self-interest into better global decision making. Badgering everyone to become a saint seems like a low-percentage plan.
TL;DW, fitting sails (or other wind power) is paid for by the ship's owner, but the benefits go to the ship's charterer.