Ferries play a critical role in the San Francisco Bay Area: they serve 7 million commuters annually, and provide the region with a service plan in case of emergency. “They’re horrendously inefficient in terms of energy use,” says Jay Gardner, co-founder of Wind+Wing Technologies. A few years later, Gardner met Richard Jenkins, a British engineer and adventure junkie: Jenkins holds the world’s fastest wind-powered land speed record. The pair developed a wing that attaches to ferries and stretches 45 ft high, spans 10 ft from front to back, weighs roughly 600 pounds, and can rotate a full 360 degrees (as opposed to conventional sails with 140 degrees of movement).
Comments are closed.
