Four hundred years before towering white windmills announced the arrival of modern, renewable energy, towering while sails announced the arrival of the first truly global trade markets. And now, thanks to the high cost of oil and consumer interest in renewable technologies, they may yet come symbolize it again. 

Thirty thousand wine bottles are currently en route to Dublin from the wine country of France, sitting in the hold of a century-old square-rigged merchant ship. While the six-day, wind-powered voyage will take roughly twice the length of time it would on a modern ship, CTMV, the French company chartering the voyages, is optimistic that wind-powered freight will catch on. 

The French Association of Shipowners estimates that wind power could retake .5% of the market—which is 11 million tons of cargo—but CTMV predicts that once it buys its own vessels, thus eliminating the charter fee, the costs of wind-powered shipping could fall below the rates of fossil fuel vessels, attracting even more business.

Though I doubt, due to constraints on speed, capacity, and seaworthiness, we’ll see a return of East Indiaman fleets for transcontinental shipping, on shorter hauls, sail-powered ships could indeed help consumers to reduce carbon footprints, and smaller companies to save cash.