Engineers, What is wrong with this picture? Heron in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. Photo credit: Gerald Hebert Source: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/05/oil_reaches_louisiana_shores.html

What happened here? Photo credit: Charlie Riedel Source: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html Photo credit: Charlie Riedel Source: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html

Do you remember the 2010 oil spill in the gulf of mexico? Photo credit: US Coast Guard Source: http://cgvi.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=836285

What happened? An oil rig named Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010. Eleven people working there died. The explosion caused oil to begin leaking out. It leaked for 87 days.

What are oil rigs? An oil rig is a structure built in the ocean to support pipes and drills used to remove oil from underground wells. There are many gas and oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. How many? 3858 – 1 (the one that exploded) = 3857 Image credit: Caroline Higgins Source: http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/oil-rig-explosion-off-the-coast/ Image credit: NOAA Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gulf_Coast_Platforms.jpg

That is the equivalent of 35,000 swimming pools. How much oil leaked? 160 of these PER DAY A total of 800,000 gallons of oil PER DAY In total, it leaked an estimated 94,000,000 to 184,000,000 gallons. That is the equivalent of 35,000 swimming pools.

Where was the leak exactly? The explosion and leak occurred 40 miles from the Louisiana coast and 1 mile underwater. Located here Image credit: Source: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/01/us/20100501- oil-spill-tracker.html This image shows where in the Gulf the oil leaked. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/05/01/us/20100501-oil-spill-tracker.html

Why do we need oil? To power all of this… Bus: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=89295 Car: http://eofdreams.com/car.html Ship: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/Boats_and_Ships_g73-Queen_Mary_2_p11032.html Train: http://budgettravel.about.com/od/europeonabudget/ss/European-Travel-Planning_7.htm Plane: http://www.wallpaperof.net/menu/mechanics/airplanes/6861/big/

More specifically, we use it to power the combustion engine More specifically, we use it to power the combustion engine. How does oil make an engine run?

So, we use oil for transportation … Is this the only way for us to get the energy we need?

What about getting energy from the sun What about getting energy from the sun? An endless source of clean energy? Solar energy can only power small vehicles, though. RIGHT?!

WRONG! This is a solar bus in Australia called Tindo. It is currently being used for mass transportation!

But, it can’t go very fast. Right? Wrong! This is a train engineers are proposing to use in Arizona. It will be powered by solar cells and will cut a trip through the desert that usually takes 2.5 hours down to a 30 minute zip! It will be called “The Bullet.”

What about water travel? NO PROBLEM! In Australia, they are currently using this fully solar powered ferry!

What do Australia and Arizona have in common? Very little cloud cover. That makes them great candidates for solar technology. What about the rest of the world? Can you still get energy from the sun with clouds in the sky?

YES! In Belgium, which has a climate very similar to Canada, engineers have designed 2 miles of solar panels. With this, they can power 4000 trains!

Summary: …from ever happening again. If we change the way we get the energy we need to move people and things… to a clean energy source, such as solar energy, we can keep this… …from ever happening again. Photo credit: Charlie Riedel Source: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/06/caught_in_the_oil.html

So engineers, how are you going to