Very Large Floating Structures (VLFS) are an environmentally friendly solution to create new space next to overcrowded land. Mega-Float, a floating airport prototype at Tokyo Bay is an example of a VLFS. Dr. Alexey Andrianov worked out the hydro elastic analysis of VLFSs in his PhD thesis. You can download here his introduction and summary, with illustrations, as a PDF file.
More information can be found at his website www.andrianov.org
Carianne Schamhart explored the technical aspects of living at sea, as part of the university program for sustainable development. Here you can read her full master’s thesis as a PDF document. Her thorough analysis leads to the conclusion that already just one wave damper yields enough energy for 100 households… (more…)
Ecoboat (in Dutch: Ecoboot) is not about building a new sovereign state. On other accounts, like starting out small with stable floating homes, you will find at www.seastead.org many observations that are interesting from an Ecoboat point of view. So we kindly recommend comparing Ecoboat and Seastead
The Daily Telegraph exaggerates a bit by misquoting and suggesting that two thirds of the Netherlands would be flooded. Nevertheless, it is good to realize that now it is time for alternatives -as described mostly in Dutch on this website- that go with the sea rather than struggling against it. So, for our non-Dutch readers, we reproduce here the Dutch cure as written by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard on September 8, 2004, in the UK newspaper.
Arid coastal regions could turn green by using seawater and solar energy. Clicking www.seawatergreenhouse.com brings you to a low-cost solution to one of the world’s greatest needs – water for agriculture.
In regions with abundant sunshine, it is substantially cheaper to cool and humidify a Seawater Greenhouse than to provide supplementary heat and light to a glasshouse.
CO2 reduction is just one of the advantages of floating greenhouses. Cum Laude TU Delft student Arne Spliet created a well thought-out design for inland waters, and discovered more advantages. You can download Arne Spliet’s poster presentation here (in Dutch). For Ecoboat it is interesting to know that the combination of seawater and greenhouses has also unexpected advantages. The site seawatergreenhouse.com shows how arid coastal areas can turn green and how here a solution is found for one of the world’s greatest needs: water for agriculture.
A house could also float on a thin layer of water (20 cm) in a metal basin. The site pleorama.gr explains the many advantages of this novel building concept, such as better protection against earthquakes, floods and fires. Turn your house with a remote control to keep the sun at a desired angle!
Rising sea levels, decreasing supplies of fossil fuels and a lack of sufficient drinking water will force people to seriously consider the option of living on the seas. Susanna Contini Hennink reports for the Financieele Dagblad how the Dutch are working towards floating cities. You can read her story here.
Students, scientist, policymakers and all other persons interested in the sustainable development of our oceans will appreciate this UN Atlas. It is an Internet portal giving access to a wealth of information about the wealth of (and threats to) the seas and oceans of planet earth.
The World Wave Atlas gives you for any part of the world seas accurate wind and wave climate statistics. Oceanor, the oceanographic company of Norway, deliver integrated real-time environmental monitoring and information systems for oceans, rivers, lakes, groundwater and soil. Take a look at their software World Wave Atlas.