Costner's Machine To Be Used To Fight Oil Spill
Aishwarya Bhatt writes at Thaindian.com about Costner's oil-separating invention (backed financially by Costner, designed by his scientist brother):
He demonstrated his machine in Port Fourchon in southern Louisiana, and the oil giant BP is going to take the aid of 32 such machines in their endeavor to fight the ballooning spill. BP has signed a deal with Kevin Costner's company - Ocean Therapy Solutions....Kevin Costner said that, "At its core, my dream, this machine, was designed ... to give us a fighting chance to fight back the oil that's got us by the throat. When you are in a fight, anybody knows you go to confront it right where it is. You don't wait for it to come to your door". Kevin also added that the machine is called V20, and it is capable of separating 210,000 gallons of oily water in a day.
Wow! A movie star with brains! Neat.
irlandes at June 20, 2010 8:42 AM
In the tradition of Hedy Lamarr, though not nearly as good-looking.
kishke at June 20, 2010 9:37 AM
Kudos to Costner. This might make up for Waterworld.
Christopher at June 20, 2010 11:30 AM
Anything that works and is cost effective is good, by definition.
Doesn't it just jump out at you, that there is not enough information here to decide if this is really a good idea? Where is the context?
() "Capable of separating". Now, tell me how much it separates on average in a day under field conditions.
() After separating 210,000 of "oily water", how much oil is recovered?
() What does it cost per day? How does this compare to technology already developed?
() How many gallons of oily water NEED TO BE separated?
Maybe these machines are good, and maybe they are just marketing hype. The article cries out for a few comparative, quantitative facts. The lack of those facts suggests this is science fiction.
Do you remember the articles about running trucks on used french fry oil? Do you think that is a practical proposal at large scale?
Andrew_M_Garland at June 20, 2010 11:52 AM
It isn't likely that many large transport companies will be running on used cooking oil, you are right.
My view is let individuals do their thing. I would not want to spend the large amount of time involved in finding used cooking oil; picking it up and processing it, then using it. There are things I'd rather do with my time.
But, of such things is personal freedom defined. If someone feels compelled to do that, he should do that. We all need to be doing something, and dinking around with used cooking oil is probably not on the worst list of things to do.
irlandes at June 20, 2010 7:32 PM
Do the usual laws of the sea apply to oil spills? If I build a machine that recovers and separates spilled oil, is the recovered oil mine? Seems to me like there might be a profit motive to cleaning up oil spills, and if there isn't, maybe there should be.
Cousin Dave at June 21, 2010 8:32 AM
There is a profit motive. I read elsewhere that Costner's company plans to make money selling the oil they retrieve.
kishke at June 21, 2010 10:52 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2010/06/20/costners_machin.html#comment-1725457">comment from kishkeThere is a profit motive. I read elsewhere that Costner's company plans to make money selling the oil they retrieve.
I don't care what the motive is. They can sell it, drink it, build a new ride at Disneyland out of it; just get it out of the water.
P.S. The profit motive is a good one. It gets things invented and accomplished.
Amy Alkon
at June 21, 2010 11:01 AM
I too have no problem with the profit motive. Why would I? I was just responding to Cousin Dave's remark.
kishke at June 21, 2010 7:54 PM
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