A supertanker adapted to scoop up oil from the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico began tests on Saturday amid a report that some major investors expect the energy giant to replace its top executives. The vessel named “A Whale” and dubbed a “super skimmer” is operating just north of the blown out well as part of a two-day test watched by the U.S. Coastguard, said Bob Grantham, spokesman for TMT Shipping Offshore, which owns the ship. If all goes to plan TMT hopes to sign a clean-up contract for the ship, which can remove up to 500,000 barrels (21 million gallons) of oil and water mix from the sea surface a day, according to crew members.

Link:
Tests start on "super skimmer" for Gulf oil spill

Related Issues:

• Nuclear Power – environmental advantages
  Renewable energy and nuclear power increasingly factor into the evolving American energy equation to replace polluting coal. Even some environmentalists acknowledge that nuclear is a viable emissions-free option to dirty coal while renewable-energy technologies continue to advanc...
• Cooling Lagoons aim to reduce thermal discharges to marine ecosystems, improve efficiency
  Gulf countries that lack freshwater resources rely deeply on seawater desalination to meet their daily needs and cool down thermal generation plants. According to Gulf News, the United Arab Emirates alone uses four trillion litres of Gulf seawater each year to cool down its power...
• Building a Sustainable Hydrogen Economy
  The concept of the hydrogen economy (HE), in which hydrogen would replace the carbon-based fossil fuels of the twentieth century was first mooted in the 1970s. Today, HE is seen as a potential solution to the dual global crises of climate change and dwindling oil reserves. A rese...
• Watery Earthquakes
  An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time. A new study presents geophys...
• African nations show leadership for action against climate change
  Africa is leading the push for clean energy policy-making as climate change turns millions of its people into "food refugees," the head of the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) Achim Steiner said. "On the African continent, there is sometimes more leadership being shown by countrie...