An Effective Barrier For Containing Oil Spills – The Floating Boom
On Saturday, September 26, 2009, Typhoon Ketsana struck Metro Manila and brought with it unprecedented amounts of rainfall that the Philippines has never experienced before. Locally known in the Philippines as Typhoon Ondoy, Ketsana caught the country totally unaware and unprepared for disaster. When Ondoy finally blew its way out of the Philippine Area of Responsibility, it left behind at least 300 people dead and millions of people displaced by flooding. It also destroyed some 0 million worth of property.
After Ondoy has passed, the finger-pointing that is almost natural to Filipinos ensued. The displaced victims of Ondoy blamed the government for not coming quickly to their rescue. Some government heads blamed the people for ignoring flood warnings that were announced as early as the Thursday before Ondoy made landfall. Many politicians eager for attention in time for the upcoming 2010 Presidential Elections were quick to blame the Arroyo Administration for lack of preparedness in times of disaster.
Reports of oil yield per acre per year for green crude vary wildly from 5,000 to 150,000 gallons. One company, Valcent Products, claims that 150,000 gallons of green crude per acre is possible using a carefully controlled, closed loop system. Actual yields, though, currently top out at about 33,000 gallons per acre per year. Even by conservative estimates, it would take about 40,000 square miles of land to produce enough green crude oil to completely replace the United States' consumption of conventional oil. That's an area about the size of the state of Tennessee.
One of the most compelling things about Algae fuel is that it is a drop-in replacement for conventional gasoline. It can be used in conventional automobiles with absolutely no modifications to the engine. There is no need to develop a new distribution system for delivering algae fuel to consumers as the same trucks, gas stations, pumps, holding tanks, etc. can be leveraged. Logistically, algae fuel is as close to the corner gas station as any alternative to oil today. The US alone boasts over 30 companies researching, developing, and even producing algae fuel. One company, Sapphire Energy, launched a cross country tour of vehicles running on algae fuel on Sep 18, 2009.
Algae fuel is reported as being "environmentally neutral". This means that it does not change the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere because it consumes just as much carbon dioxide during its cultivation as is released during combustion. This is in stark contrast to conventional gasoline which only adds carbon dioxide to the environment during production and consumption.
If there is any lesson that needs to be learned from the coming of Typhoon Ondoy, it is definitely this: It is high time that we learned to respect our waterways. If we cannot help to clean and rehabilitate our waterways, then we should at least stop treating them as if they are our personal garbage bins. If Typhoon Ondoy, which was merely a Category 2 storm, could flood Metro Manila the way it did, what more would a stronger typhoon?
Instead of blaming other people for the disaster that happened, we should all becoming proactive and prevent another similar disaster from happening again. We need to start cleaning our waterways now!
Resource Author Francisco Rodriguez Higueras
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