On icy dives, green lubes can jam, but regular ones might harm the sea. Debate: which way should we go?

3 comments

3 Comments

Last season in McMurdo Sound, our dive crew had constant issues with biodegradable lubes seizing up below -2°C. It really puts you in a bind when you're trying to do right by the environment but your equipment fails. Regular silicone-based lubes work flawlessly in the cold, but knowing they're polluting pristine waters feels wrong. I lean towards finding a middle ground, like testing new green formulas under extreme conditions before full adoption.

hollyg5929d ago

Seen this with green plastics in cold weather too.

spencerm4624d ago

Yeah that's a tough spot. I was reading about some arctic research teams having the same problem with eco-friendly gear freezing up. Like @hollyg59 said, it's not just lubes, it's a whole bunch of materials that act different in the cold. They had some success mixing a small amount of regular lube with the biodegradable kind as a stopgap, but it's not a real fix. We really need companies to test this stuff in the actual conditions before selling it as a solution.