Topic: The Geek Store

[EV Dan]

One of the most interesting finds while browsing through Reddit..
I wonder if BP knew of such materials. They probably did, but it's cheaper to just sink the oil to the ocean floor 

http://www.inventables.com/technologies/oil-absorbing-fabric

http://www.inventables.com/technologies/oil-absorbing-polymer

So if you guys have time to "shop", please share your findings 

[The Mighty Duck]

I wonder if BP knew of such materials. They probably did, but it's cheaper to just sink the oil to the ocean floor

Is that a bad thing? If they'd collected it all, it would still have to be disposed of somehow, at some cost to the environment. From what I've read, the ocean actually does a very good job of breaking down oil, so the real impact was fairly small...

[safristi]

..it's "Organic" is oil..... ..............and like dust to dust...............it's just going back home to visit Great great grandpaw........................Alarmism pays (thousand of Journos paychex and all the mediocre "scientists" and GORE hangers on....


  when the greenies stop using anything made or derived from oil...i'll visit them in the Atacama................maybe......... ...don't abuse the natural Silicon there OK....no thin wafers and such............

[Dexer]

I'm going Green and I'm now trying to limit myself to using only natural products that we get directly from the Earth itself.

So far, my list of approved green products is: Crude oil, Asbestos, Arsenic, Lead, Mercury and Uranium.

[tpl]

Can the oil absorbing fabric be used to wipe a hot BBQ ?   Or does it immediately catch on fire and burn your arm off.

[mmret]

the ocean actually does a very good job of breaking down oil, so the real impact was fairly small...

This is intriguing. You have links?

[dr_spock]

Oil eating microbes?

[EV Dan]

the ocean actually does a very good job of breaking down oil, so the real impact was fairly small...

This is intriguing. You have links?

Yeah, I'm not sure what fairly small is, but I've read stories about volunteers who helped with the clean-up getting ill and seen pics of mutated fish. I could look them up (the pics) but I'm lazy and still grossed out. Neither oil nor those nasty chemicals should be finding a way into the ecosystem, period.
Having to deal with this crap is another reason why perhaps the taxpayers should be kicking the bill of switching to production of clean energy and clean forms of transportation.

[EV Dan]

P.S. If such studies even exist, I'd be interested to know who sponsored them. It reminds me of those clean coal commercial during the recent US campaign.

[tpl]

Don't know about oil in the Gulf but I did see an article somewhere last week BBC? Nat Post?  that the methane that came with the spill was eaten up very quickly by bacteria .

[Brig]

I'm going Green and I'm now trying to limit myself to using only natural products that we get directly from the Earth itself.

So far, my list of approved green products is: Crude oil, Asbestos, Arsenic, Lead, Mercury and Uranium.

 

I can't stop laughing!   

[The Mighty Duck]

This is intriguing. You have links?

Popular Mechanics did a story on it: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/coal-oil-gas/oil-spill-water-chemistry

The problem doesn't seem to be oil in the water per se, but oil reaching the shoreline. Once it reaches the shore it wreaks havoc on the ecosystems there. But in deep water, it's broken up over time:

These forms can prove toxic to marine life, but after a time—with weathering, feasting micro-organisms and solar decomposition—the water self-purifies, as intermediate compounds gradually disappear and water and carbon dioxide reform.

No comment on the true impact of the spill, but I imagine that won't be really known for some time, yet.