

NASA Images of Oil Slick - J3L2404
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=43846

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alt219
Ironic that at the same time a fossil fuel disaster of this scope is
occurring, there are folks in Massachusetts still fighting to prevent offshore
wind turbines because of concerns over the ecological impact.

~~~
jacquesm
Same here.

I used to be a big supporter of the local green party but since they've gone
_against_ windmills due to the 'visual pollution' I've turned away from them.

They're now effectively causing the deployment of more nuclear power in the
mid to long term. Meanwhile the Germans have outdone the rest of the world in
both deployment of solar and wind power.

Wind power is there now on average 6.5% of all energy produced, in Sachsen-
Anhalt (sp?) it is over 40%!

The sad thing about this oil spill is that is is a double whammy, not only
ecologically is it a disaster of enormous magnitude, it also hits the region
that is still recovering from the hurricane disaster only a few years ago.

~~~
boucher
Like every good liberal, I'm not crazy about the idea of nuclear power, but
from an objective standpoint it's relatively safe and it's incredibly clean
compared to just about every other viable alternative (at least in the short
term).

Of course, if we had fusion we could easily solve this problem, but that's a
good 40 years away.

~~~
lisper
> Like every good liberal, I'm not crazy about the idea of nuclear power

Pardon me, but I'm a liberal and I support nuclear power.

~~~
mmphosis
Oil man George W. Bush's ranch can run totally off the grid with solar panels.
[http://www.off-grid.net/2007/02/18/meanwhile-back-at-the-
ran...](http://www.off-grid.net/2007/02/18/meanwhile-back-at-the-ranch/)

Inconvenient truth spokesman Al Gore's home uses twenty times as much energy
as the average.
[http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/28/politics/main25228...](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/28/politics/main2522844.shtml)

~~~
jacquesm
I built a house and the off-the-grid installation that went with it, it's
another 20 to 30 years to payback time for the new occupants at the current
prices. Solar panels are expensive, and so are small scale windmills.

I take it that George Bush and Al Gores houses will not be that far apart in
total energy consumption.

Al Gore should be ashamed of himself and his energy footprint, but that goes
for every joker that went to the climate summit by plane.

If there was one place where they could have shown that they were serious
about the subject matter and invest a bit in video conferencing that was it.

~~~
look_lookatme
"I take it that George Bush and Al Gores houses will not be that far apart in
total energy consumption."

Just to clarify, do you mean grid energy consumption? Unless I read
incorrectly, George Bush's Crawford ranch house is twice as small as Al Gore's
house. Does that not matter much in terms of total consumption?

I believe Bush owns a huge home in Dallas, and it seems obvious that the ranch
was a PR vehicle, so I doubt his combined personal energy footprint is worth
talking about, but based on the article above his Crawford ranch is
impressive.

~~~
jacquesm
Grid energy consumption is not what it is about in off the grid houses, that's
a big fat '0'.

The amount of money spent on the installation and insulation of the property
is the big factor, and I suspect that if grid power was available where that
farm is located that it is nowhere near cost effective.

The house I built was to learn, not to save, just to give you an idea of how
inefficient going off the grid if grid power is available is.

If grid power is not available, in other words if you do not have any other
options then it is a totally different matter.

The total cost of a 10 KWh/day installation in the Northern latitudes of
Canada was 5 years ago about $CAN 60,000, probably in Texas where you have
much more sunshine the cost will be significantly lower, but you still have to
factor in stuff like the cost of charging / discharging batteries, which alone
already costs more than using the grid...

It's not that easy!

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gizmo
The "More images" link gives additional detail and some basic annotations:

[http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/event.php?id...](http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/event.php?id=43733)

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physcab
Let's hope that because this is Hurricane Oil Slick instead of Hurricane
Katrina, the cleanup at the Gulf will take less than the projected 20 years
(of Katrina that is). The residents at the Gulf sure don't get a break from
natural and man-made disasters.

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stretchwithme
According to the article, the leak didn't develop until 2 days after the
explosion. The rig didn't sink immediately, but when it did, the pipe was
damaged and the oil began leaking.

Is it possible that the pipe could have been detached from the platform and
this leak prevented? Or can future designs have this capability?

It seems like there was time to act to prevent this from happening. And even
if there weren't, perhaps future designs can be built to detach safely when an
explosion has occurred.

For example, there are doubled lined tankers, why not a pipe within a pipe?
One highly flexible not very good at maintaining pressure for pumping to
handle accidents, but surrounding one that is optimized for normal operation.

Valves that automatically shut off when a pipeline's management system can no
longer sense parts of the pipeline would also be good.

I realize that I do not understand the physics of how these systems work and
welcome explanations of it. But certainly there is room for innovation in this
area, especially considering the high costs of these disasters.

~~~
spuz
The pipe has a valve at its base called the blow-out preventer which is
supposed to seal off the flow entirely. At the moment, this doesn't appear to
have been fully closed again probably due to the damage caused by the sinking
platform.

I'm sure there will be lessons learnt from this incident.

More info here: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8651333.stm>

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MikeCapone
Apparently a "pungent" oil smell has enveloped New Orleans. One of the guys
quoted is saying that his "nose was burning" after walking his dog.

[http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/04/katrina-of-smell-
new...](http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/04/katrina-of-smell-new-orleans-
oil-spill-bp-bad-smell.php)

------
_pius
This oil slick is larger than the state of West Virginia.

"Drill baby drill," indeed.

~~~
Groxx
How do you figure? On Friday, it was listed as being 3,850 square miles[1].
West Virginia has an area of 24,230 square miles[2].

[1] [http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/01/gulf-oil-slick-
triples-...](http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/01/gulf-oil-slick-triples-size-
rough-seas-thwart-cleanup/) [2] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia>

~~~
anigbrowl
Correct - but it does appear to be growing significantly - presumably the
outrush is further damaging the pipeline. As it will keep leaking until
pressure can be relieved, unlike the necessarily limited spillage from a
tanker ship, it wouldn't surprise me if the WV comparison become true by
Monday :-/

This is an epic environmental disaster. A similar marine rig spill in
Australia^ last year took two months to alleviate by drilling a relief well
and pumping mud into it; as with all drilling, several attempts are usually
necessary to hit a suitably high-pressure part of the field. And the largest
estimate for the output of the Montara spill was only 2000 barrels/day; this
one is thought to be leaking between 3-5000b/d (1 barrel/~40 gallons).

And that spill was considerably farther from shore, with a continental shelf
limiting the amount of oil that reached south-east Indonesia. The Mississippi
Delta, on the other hand...I don't like to think about the damage.

^ <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montara_oil_spill>

~~~
Groxx
Definitely not disagreeing on the epic, just on scale :) And didn't know most
of that, thanks for the info (haven't followed this spill very closely).

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jackfoxy
Note it's big enough to display pronounced counter-clockwise rotation.

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mkramlich
hopefully this kills the plan to expand offshore oil drilling along the US
coast.

