You mean… Like a sail?
A sail but that can be used on regular ships. It’s a big difference, you don’t need to build a whole different ship to use it.
There is also multiple modern cargo sailboat that are being developed.
You can actually buy a small version for a motor yacht: https://www.kite-boat.com/en/products/kitecontroller-for-motor-boats
I probably wouldn’t have thought of “reintroducing concepts from the age of sail” as something to help us tackle climate change, but it makes a ton of sense to harness what’s already there at least sometimes
The book The Windup Girl is maybe only adjacent to solarpunk, but it features the return of sail ships along with some similar changes.
It seems like a smart option to consider for slower cargo runs: humans used to cross the ocean frequently with no fuel - with the reliability and safety of modern shipbuilding designs, radio communications, and engines when they need them, it seems like it could be safe and practical (less fast and reliable but without externalizing the cost of those benefits)
Edit: also, it reminds me of waterworld, and that’s cool
The cost to fuel and maintain the engines that powers that size of ship must be immense.
And kites/sails would be so so fucking cool.
