Michel Jullian wrote:
Indeed Vorts we can do better than this: zero ship time!
We already found how to seed/fertilize directly from land (e.g. from the
Azores, cf quoted post below).
But _even harvesting_ could be done without any ship: we could install a fixed
harvesting robot, or cluster of harvesting robots, at the Eye (where the crop
converges automagically by vortical effect, remember?), connected to an
underwater Sea Line (not necessarily resting on the deep ocean bottom: with an
ad hoc anchoring scheme it could be arranged to float in midwater say at 100m
depth to save on total length) which would convey the harvest, whether raw or
pre-processed of fully processed to biofuel, to the nearest land (e.g. Bermuda).
I'm working on a business plan for harvesting sea weeds and processing
it into fuel. Any input would be appreciated. BTW, we're looking for
people with experience to be a part of the team.
I'm wondering about fertilizing and tending the crop of sea weed. My
farming experience tells me that the yield of crop is dramatically
increased by fertilizing and planting improved seed.
I'm also wondering about ships built like buoys. With a vertical axis
turbine sticking up. They would position themselves by GPS and maintain
their positions around the perimeter of the "farm." They would spread
fertilizer which could be acquired, at least in part, by dropping a hose
into the deep ocean. I'm wondering if a support is required, OTOH, the
sea weeds seem to be doing perfectly well in the open ocean.
One of the buoys could have the factory on it. It could open up during
normal weather and close up during storms. I assume that the refinery
will produce lots of toxic gas, not as much as a petroleum refinery, but
it will be necessary to vent it.
I suppose that we will have to get a legal adviser with expertise in
maritime law to advise us on the intricacies of doing commercial
operations on the high seas.
I like the idea of a robot factory, OTOH, at $125 per barrel oil, a ship
load of oil, with only robots defending it, would be a prize for
pirates. I think that there will be plenty of maintenance work, in
addition to guard duties.
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