Did you know there are 2,495 oil tankers in the world? I have an idea...

[Downtown Hound]

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_oil_tanker_are_there_in_the_world

I got this idea when I read this thread earlier.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8449191

It's about the devices that Kevin Costner helped develop that supposedly suck oil from seawater. Supposedly, they can suck 97% of oil from seawater at a rate of 200 gallons per minute. The problem is that there are only a few of them and it would take hundreds of boats operating them at 24 hour cycles in the gulf to make an impact on the spill.

I'm thinking, so what's the problem there? Why not start mass producing these machines and enlist the help of the world's tanker fleet to clean and contain the spill? Do the math:

There are 1440 minutes in a day. If those devices can suck up oil at a rate of 200 gallons per minute, then one of them can theoretically suck up 288,000 gallons of oil per day. There are 55 gallons of oil in a barrel. The latest estimates (which many believe to be conservative) are that the oil well is spewing about 5,000 barrels of oil per day. That's 275,000 gallons. Now even doubling that figure or tripling it, if enough tankers were equipped with these devices then it should be more than enough to clean more oil than is spilling out. A basic supertanker these days can hold about 84 million gallons of oil, more than enough storage space. Eventually the spill could be isolated to a certain area with continued cleanup until the relief wells are drilled.

How to get all the tankers to participate? Simple, just let 'em keep what oil they take. Free oil boys! Come and ze git imz! And for the first time in your industry's long, miserable career, you'd actually be doing something to help the planet for a change. Great for industry PR.

Now other than political issues and BP's corporate shitfuckery, is there any reason why this wouldn't work, assuming Costner's devices do the job as advertised?

For more on Kevin Costner's device:

http://industry.bnet.com/energy/10004491/kevin-costner-latest-heroic-role-oil-spill-cleaner-upper/

[izquierdista]

1. 42

An oil "barrel" is not your common everyday 55 gallon drum. The conversion factor is 42 U.S. gallons in a "barrel" of oil.

[Downtown Hound]

2. That makes the problem even easier to deal with

as presented in the equation above. Less overall oil.

[FarCenter]

3. Most of the tankers are full of oil

Either slow steaming or moored and waiting for the price to go up.

I don't believe that the US has any tankers.

[ecstatic]

4. Do you have any idea how much pollution one ship releases into the atmosphere?

:shrug: