Item — HN Reader

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.

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> 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?

It seems like they could come up with an agreement that would unlock that value, no?

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.

The same reason landlords are reticent to invest in energy efficiency.

Or builders.

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.

Indeed. The only way to prevent it is to update minimum code to require a higher level efficiency.

Which works good in this case, someone middleclass or higher buying a house.

But it also screws the poorest people, as it is very regressive to push expensive requirements down to the poor.

So you need to also include some kind of rebate for lower income folks..

"Reluctant" rather than "reticent." Reticent means taciturn, and it indicates unwillingness of expression rather than of action.