Gulf oil disaster sets peoples minds to renewable energy

The Gulf oil spill may be helping turn public opinion in favour of renewable energies, claims a report on ABC15.com.

University studies of Algae bio-fuels may hold one important source for an alternative energy as ABC15 reports:

Benjamin Grumbles, the Director for Arizona’s Department of Environmental Quality is hoping Arizona will seize on that demand and become the powerhouse for a new era in renewable energy.

“We see Arizona as the potential Saudi Arabia when it comes to algae, algae bio-fuels. Algae can be grown in the desert, in fact the amount of land we have and the intensive sun we have can prompt the development of algae and in algae you have carbon, you have fuels, and those can be used for transportation fuels for jet fuels for military purposes for cosmetics,"

As with all disasters, there is something positive to come out of it. Let's hope the public opinion continues to be favourable, once the clean up operations have passed and the land and wildlife recover.

photo credit: higetiger

BP & Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill - The Day we've been fearing is here

No pithy illustrations, no witty comments, just a very sad and sombre day when I clicked on a tweet by @greenforyou which took me to the most vivid pictures of oil finally coming ashore on the coast of Louisiana as it washes up on the shores of the Mississippi Delta and marshlands.

Home of course to not just outstanding wildlife, but people too - their homes, businesses and livelihoods.

Very sad.

Click here to read the Governor of Louisiana comments and view the pictures for yourself.

Oil Spill Disasters - another tick in favour of renewable energy?

I'm not going to debate the case for renewable energy over fossil fuels, using the ongoing drama unfolding on the Louisiana and Florida coastlines, following the BP leased oil drilling rig sinking 50 miles offshore last week.

Basically, as the rig sank, a pipe broke causing an estimated 5,000 barrels of oil a day to gush out into the sea. That's over 200,000 gallons a day entering the sea approximately a mile below the surface.

The disaster is just that - local wildlife both onshore and offshore is threatened or being destroyed and the cost and effort of the clean up operation is going to be very high indeed. Not to mention the implications for businesses along the affected coast line.

I remember holidaying in France in the nineties - a month before we were due to go, there was an oil spill that came ashore right near where we would be camping.

By the time we got there, it had all been cleared up but children on the beach digging into the sand were sporting some very oily tar like stains on their beach clothes - oil from the spill lurking beneath the surface. As one mum pointed out, crude oil is a carcinogenic and promptly swept her children off the beach and back to the safety of the pool area.

I'm sure supporters of fossil fuels would step in and remind us that the production of solar panels and wind turbines uses fossil fuels and oil derivatives like most modern production processes. I don't know myself.

But wouldn't it be nice to think that one day - perhaps - drilling for oil and transporting it through some of the worlds richest areas of marine and land habitats became something confined to history lessons?

The NY Times carried an excellent interactive timeline of major oil spills starting with the Santa Barbara oil well leak of 1969. You may find some of the images distressing but the whole timeline feature is a stark reminder of the havoc and suffering oil spills cause. Click here to view their feature now.

photo credit: kevincole