The BP oil spill brought much attention to the fact that the technology to rectify industries' mishaps is often lacking, but the Oil Cleaning Guard suggests a way for these sorts of debacles to be controlled.
Presenting what appears to be petroleum vacuums passing over the water's surface, designers Zhu Yi, Li Ran, Zhao Xiaoyang and Hu Tingting have devised a way for a fleet of such seafaring custodians to collect, condense and filter oil from large bodies of water. With several of these 11-meter-long machines operating side-by-side, large sections of sea can be targeted at once.
The Oil Cleaning Guard concept won a Lotus Prize for its ingenious suggestion, which works based on green technologies and a system of signals that wards off birds and fish to prevent their injury.
Oceanic Oil Spill Squeegees
Oil Cleaning Guard Controls Petroleum Spread on Sea Surfaces
Trend Themes
1. Green Oil Spill Cleanup - There is an opportunity to develop more environmentally friendly and sustainable solutions for oil spill cleanup.
2. Autonomous Seafaring Machinery - Developing autonomous machines that can operate on large bodies of water can lead to new innovations in industries such as shipping and fishing.
3. Disaster Control Technology - There may be opportunities to create new technologies for disaster control and mitigation in various industries.
Industry Implications
1. Oil and Gas - The oil and gas industry may benefit from developing new, more sustainable technologies for handling disasters such as oil spills.
2. Shipping and Transportation - Autonomous machines that can operate on large bodies of water may have applications in the shipping and transportation industry.
3. Environmental Services - Developing new technologies for disaster control and mitigation may lead to new opportunities in the environmental services industry.