The Japanese Are Planning Underwater Cities

The Japanese have always been on the cutting edge of technological innovation, especially when it comes to living. The Japanese islands aren’t very big and there isn’t all that much livable area due to the topography. Because of these difficulties, the Japanese have been ingenious when it comes to maximizing the amount of livable space on the islands while making sure that their houses and apartments still have all the trappings and luxuries that come with living in a wealthy and technologically advanced country. Now, a Japanese construction firm has announced that the technology needed to build underwater cities will be developed within 15 years and that the first of these cities could be appearing within the next few decades.

Japan’s Shimizu Corp, which is known for these sorts of outlandish ideas, already has artistic renderings of what the underwater structure (known as Ocean Spiral) would look like and how it would function. They claim that once the technology is available, the structures could be built in 5 years for a cost of 3 trillion yen and could house up to 5,000 people. The city would draw power from the seabed at the bottom of the ocean using “earth factories” on the ocean floor that would use little micro-organisms to turn carbon dioxide into methane. Along with those factories, there would be power generators located on the Spiral that would use the differences in ocean water temperature to create additional energy using a process called ocean thermal energy conversion.

While the project might seem a little ludicrous, there is some serious thought and science behind it and it’s gaining traction. Already experts from Tokyo University, governmental ministries, and energy firms are looking into the project to see if it can be turned into reality. If the firm manages to get funding from both private and governmental sources, the only thing preventing this undertaking from starting is waiting for the necessary technologies to be available. This could very well be the future, especially if we continue to face climate-change and rising oceans.

If you’d like to read more, the link is here.

from David Fratantoni Oceanography http://ift.tt/1F5aRud

from WordPress http://ift.tt/1r1y22i