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Reclaiming Oil Rigs As Oceanic Eco-Resorts
Mike writes "Here's an innovative reuse for those old abandoned oil rigs littering the ocean — convert them into eco resorts. Morris Architects' Oil Rig Platform Resort and Spa makes use of one of 4,000 oil rigs out in the Gulf of Mexico and transforms it into a beacon of sustainability, re-imagining an iconic source of dirty energy as an eco-haven that generates all of its power from renewable sources."
Why settle for something weak like a resort when you could have your own micro nation. If it worked for these guys http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand why not you or I?!
The musings of just another geek and his junk.
I can see it now, "Honey, we're going on vacation!"
"No, I won't sign the divorce papers..."
Bored at work? Play Game!
...for corals and the fish and the eco-systems that grow up around them?
They'll probably need to employ a pretty good sized security force if they want to ward off pirates--and yes, I'm being serious.
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
Luckily, although you wouldn't know it from the submission and have to pay close attention to the article to figure it out, no one is actually doing any of this.
It is just a set of drawings entered into a design competition.
"Sacrifice for the good of The State" - The State
Can the resorts withstand category 5 hurricane force winds? Seems to me that with only 1 helipad you may have a huge and dangerous bottleneck to evacuating quickly.
Well, back to rejecting software patent applications.
As an avid 'urban explorer' - an oil rig has long since been a hot target.
Are there maintained lists of abandoned rigs?
Anyone in the know?
Clean and sink 'em.
from 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
to 45 2F 6E 40 3C DF 10 71 4E 41 DF AA 25 7D 31 3F
Maybe it's because I'm a west coaster who has never been to the gulf- but why only Wind and Solar but not a Wave Energy Generator? Seems to me that would be a natural....
Why would things look different? After all, catering to the superwealthy does help get the economy back on whatever feet it needs to get back onto.
When it is filled with fit Bikini clad women. However the truth is it will be filled with over 50 out of shape Bikini clad women.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
...an eco-haven that generates all of its power from renewable sources. What about all the fuel used for helicoptering in all the visitors and supplies? Are they planning on running the helicopter off of bio-diesel? Sure, they could use a sailboat to ferry people in and out... but I personally would rather just stay on the sailboat instead of a rusty old oil platform! I'm sorry, but when someone says "eco-vacation", a metal cage in the middle of the ocean is not the first destination that springs to mind. What's the scuba-diving like around an oil platform? This might make a good place to get scuba certified, just on the basis that there is absolutely nothing else to do there.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Where have these clowns been for the last 2 years? Big dollar theme vacations are dead for now - people are happy to have the money to go to the NJ shore.
I mean, ballooning over the amazon was neat when you could just pull the $10k out of the equity on your McMansion, but now?
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
I like all the Yachts that get about 1 MPG parked out front of the "Eco Platform"
I think I see a Man Bear Pig too.
The only function of this oil platform which looks green is power generation. What about food supplies and waste disposal? The front of the oil rig is lined up with motor boats, which don't look all that green to me. This looks like the perfect vacation for those super rich hippie couples which live in a house with enough floor space for twenty families, with 3 or 4 cars in their entrance, but they're green because they get their power from solar, and their cars are all hybrids. Yep, some kind of green alright.
Turning an oil rig into a sea-based hotel is proof to the world that if exhert enough resources and energy, you can announce to the world how much resource and energy that you are saving! Was it Hitler who said something like 'The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it'?? Although Mythbusters already proved it, this is further proof that you CAN polish a turd.
PS: Godwin's law!
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
This has been my ideal-yet-unrealistic zombie plan for quite some time now...
Whoever the designer of this was, has no experience with offshore platforms.
You NEVER put the helicopter platform on the side. It's never in clear air then, you can't safely approach the pad and land. And it was too close to hotel rooms anyways, where they have it, if the pilot goofs he flies the rotor into the rooms.
Not sure if they have calculated the TCO completely?
...then you have to consider going through Customs, and the fact that there is no Police, Fire, EMS or 911 service, etc... A real Insurance Nightmare. I suppose there will have to be signed "EULA" Disclaimers... (under what jurisdiction?) (Though some might try to make it an Amsterdam on stilts, etc... it is possible the rich stoner crowd is not too worried about insurance.)
If State Farm is completely pulling out of Florida for profitability reasons, what makes the developers thing this thing will be insurable?
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=State+farm+pulling+out+of+Florida
It also depends HOW FAR off shore it is and if is out of International Waters??
That's no rig...
They want to turn the oil rigs into resorts....
Hmmmm Then the people who complain the loudest about their construction will be the only ones who can afford to vacation there... Oh and of course they will...
I want an oil rig full of loli.
Florida is where all the grandmas in bikinis are at.
You RTF article, and it says that it is reclaiming sites once used for dirty energy.
Take a hard look at the pictures though. Seriously. Helicopters and boats? Are they all running on tidal/wind/solar/nuclear power?
Don't get me wrong, the idea is excellent. But to go and slam "dirty" oil without an alternative way to get to these luxurious resorts seems paradoxical and rather hypocritical.
There is nothing "green" or "eco-friendly" about conspicuous consumption.
Wait... can we do the same with all those abandoned Walmart buildings left in favor for the Super variety?
Less ambitious oil rig conversions near shore already exist. Sea Venture in Malaysia for instance.
http://www.seaventuresdive.com/about.html
If you don't cater to the super-rich, then on what do they spend their money?
LOL! Straight to the point... I like this one.
look about pen gppd article.... good_pen
You might be surprised about the party-line thing. I heard about the UN Law of the Sea Treaty (v3) from John Norton Moore, one of the people who negotiated it. According to him, UNCLOS III had the support of most of the Senate, Bush, and a coalition of scientific, industrial and environmental groups, with only conspiracy theorists having any objection to it. Never mind the still-odious seabed mining provisions, which basically grant ownership of the world's ocean metal/fossil fuel deposits to the UN! Moore described the treaty being held up, as of a few years ago, in committee.
It should be interesting to see whether the treaty is ratified in this new administration. One point to consider for its fate is Moore's argument that Iran, also not a party to the treaty, could continue to threaten the Strait of Hormuz. We're also seeing the attempt to use UNCLOS' provisions about continental ridges used to justify territorial claims in the Arctic Ocean.
Incidentally, I would be strongly in support of allowing legal recognition of such "seasteading" plans. However, the best chance for legal independence is to go at least 200 nautical miles offshore, outside the UNCLOS' "exclusive economic zone."
Revive the Constitution.
I know that the oil rigs themselves are designed to withstand hurricanes. That is an essential part of the design. When is the last time you heard of a major oil spill caused by an offshore rig? (It may have happened at some point, probably, but you don't hear about it often).
Now the question might be if the *resort* which is built into the rig is hurricane-proof. I would imagine anyone going into this business would do the necessary engineering to make it hurricane proof as well.
They would still probably evacuate guests (and hopefully staff) if there were any hurricane warnings, but there is no saying that such an oil rig resort would have a lot of guests and staff. Your post seems to presume that total 'population' of the resort would be over 100 people. Maybe the resorts are being planned to be very exclusive, with total population being kept below 100 people.
I don't know much about helicopters, but I do know there are some large helicopters, so I would guess that there exist helicopters that could transport maybe 20 or 30 people at a time. If the population of the rig is below 100 people, it might only take 2 to 5 helicopters to evacuate. That's not much of a problem.
Or, you could always use a ship to evacuate the platforms. Or maybe the resort keeps a few high-speed, short range boats (but with enough range to reach the nearest coast which might be 100 or 200 miles away) docked at the rigs for such a contingency.
I went on a cruise a year or two ago, and the 'life boats' they are using nowadays are covered, heated, fairly comfortable, can fit about 30 people IIRC, and could move pretty fast. They were more like small ferries than the lifeboats of bygone days. The cruise ships even use them as ferries to take guests ashore at ports-of-call where there is no suitable pier for the ships to dock at. I was ferried ashore a couple times in one of them, and I would estimate they moved at somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 or 40 miles/hour (I'm not sure what that is in knots), and I'm not sure we ever actually moved at the top speed the vessel is capable of - they might have kept the ferries moving slower so as to give passengers a more comfortable ride (a boat moving fast over waves can be a fairly uncomfortable experience, particularly if people get motion sickness). That's fast enough to get you to a nearby coast in a few hours time, well in advance of an approaching hurricane (as long as you evacuate a day or two before the hurricane approaches).
Nor, with the active presence of the US Coast Guard and a stable, cooperative Mexico, will pirates be a serious problem in the Gulf of Mexico.
A stable, cooperative Mexico is no longer a really safe bet. When narcotrafficking gangs are seriously challenging the legitimacy/stability of the government over a significant part of a country's territory, all bets are off.
"We have to go forth and crush every world view that doesn't believe in tolerance and free speech." - David Brin
OMG all our existing resorts are full! We need more!
Not. Has the person behind this idea been paying attention to the economy that has tanked, bringing tourism down with it? So let's spend millions converting recoverable metals and machinery into a useless, unwanted metal hotel in the middle of the Gulf that no one will ever visit, because they have no money, or if they do, umm, the Gulf is surrounded by popular tourist traps already... Florida, Belize, Costa Rica, SoCal, the Bahamas, the Caribbean... all within a couple hundred miles of Gulf waters...