Engineers Propose Lily Pad-Like Floating Cities 309
Zothecula writes "The idea of going offshore to satisfy our renewable energy needs isn't new, but the grand vision of Japan's Shimizu Corporation goes way beyond harnessing green energy at sea for use in cities on Terra firma — it takes the whole city along for the ride. The company, along with the Super Collaborative Graduate School and Nomura Securities, is researching the technical issues involved in constructing its Green Float concept — a self-sufficient, carbon-negative floating city that would reside in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean."
Re:Tsunamis (Score:5, Informative)
Tsunamis are barely detectable in the open ocean. Their height builds up as they approach land.
Re:The technical issues (Score:4, Informative)
Hey...it only rarely happens, and if it wasn't for the man made disaster that was our levy system, Katrina wouldn't have hurt us much at all.
99% of the time...life is GREAT down here. The attitude, friendly people, interesting culture, banana republic government (is entertainment for us locals)...and the fact that we understand the concept of the "to go cup" at bars, makes it all worthwhile.
Ok, so a storm comes from time to time, really it is usually just an excuse to pack and take an impromptu 4-day vacation to visit friends relative, or maybe even take the party to Beale St. in Memphis.
There are reasons why people live here...and want to visit here.
Re:Tsunamis (Score:4, Informative)
Technically, Tsunamis only rise to their maximum height as they get closer to land. Out at sea, they're mostly beneath the surface. It takes a decrease in depth to force them up into the walls of water we associate them with.
Bearing that in mind, and further considering that we can and do have ships at sea when Tsunamis happen, I assume the problem is manageable, and was probably considered for the Green Float design sometime prior to this point.
Slightly off topic, but did anyone else notice in the overhead pics that these things look fractal derived?
Buckminster Fuller. Forty years ago. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The technical issues (Score:5, Informative)
Lots of cities all over the world are like that, it is a solvable problem. We need port cities, they will tend to sink like this.
Re:The technical issues (Score:4, Informative)
So living in a real city isn't your bag. That's cool, it keeps the prices down for people who don't mind the density.
10-50k people per 3 sq km isn't that bad, anyway... it's comparable to Hoboken NJ (around 40k in 3.2 sq km), which is pretty dense compared to a lot of urban neighborhoods in the US, but is still quite livable.
Re:The technical issues (Score:5, Informative)
No no, these guys want to build cities ON the ocean.
New Orleans was build UNDER the ocean.
Crucial difference. :)
Re:Why drag the city along when land is cheap? (Score:3, Informative)
Plus, they really like seafood. This city could follow the fish.
Until they run out of fish. Then they would have nowhere to go.
Then hurry! There's not much time left. [biology.dal.ca]
Banana republic government = failed levies (Score:3, Informative)
I'm pretty sure as amusing as it is to see "Diaper Dave" Vitter and other oddities in your representation, it's pretty clear that in highly corrupt areas, not only do big-ticket items cost more, but quality of those things is dangerously low. Take a look at those schools in China [wikimedia.org].
This among other reasons [wikimedia.org], is why corruption can be deadly and should be fought tooth and nail.