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ocean sphere from below
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ocean sphere from above
ocean sphere from inside
99% of the living space available on the planet is water, so with a population growth of 1 billion per decade, we need to develop ocean colonization to avoid to cut down the last nature reseve on land to make space for megacities.
Some may argue that there is "still a lot of space left on land". But the reality is that human pressure on land is already causing the biggest mass extinction of species in history. So to make our presence on the planet feasible we need to reduce human activity on land much below the current (already toxic) level. The only alternative space left that can take this "activity volume" is the ocean.
Read more about sustainability, growth, human population, here: http://concretesubmarine.activeboard.com/t58921987/sustainability-population-growth-consumption-growth-ocean-co/
Even if we could stabilize the "human headcount" on the planet - the activity pressure will still rise as people want, desire, and demand, more and more goods and services to increase their quality of life.
Human settlement of the oceans depends on technical feasible solutions and most of all, a affordable squaremeter real estate price for average joe - this means traditional naval technologies and yacht technologies are very much excluded for bringing settlement on the ocean due to their extreme high cost per squaremeter and dependence on strict shipyard maintenance shedules that a "floating settlement" can not have.
Read more about fesible building methods and squaremeter prices here: http://concretesubmarine.activeboard.com/t57819473/floating-concrete-platforms-building-methods/
Real estate squaremeters floating on the water need to perfom a 200 year service life, and be buildable at building costs compareable to land real estate. Only floating concrete honeycomb and shell structures have this quality.
If you think it trough the most economic way to enclose a living space and make it suitable for human habitation is building a sphere.
There have been recent studies of the MIT for the ORES wind energy storage sistem that place a 30m concrete sphere in a cost universe that would cook down to a real estate price of USD 2122 per squaremeter.
The sistem is planned for 3m thick walls and 400m operation depth. A less extreme sphere with only 1m wall thickness hanging just below the surface would lower this price to about a third of that. This would be already in the range of a normal city apartment.
A sphere habitat would not only be the most economic living space feasible for ocean colonization, it would also be a draupner wave impact free seastead, have low anchor and position keeping requirements, so solve all of the problems seastead engineering is struggling with when designing surface floating platforms.
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ocean sphere the most efficient way to enclose living space is a sphere
Spheres in cluster arrangement connected by tubular structures
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Sphere cluster installation with tubular connection to the surface
living space bubble concept from the fifties standing on the ocean floor, hanging from the ocean surface
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net sphere oceanic aquaculture to feed a global growing population
far from being a problem for the ambient to surface of the ocean sphere hosts a reef community and betters the oceanic ambient
Thruster setup on a ocean sphere...
conshelf sphere shapes as viable living space for small scale settlement
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a sphere shape can move trough the ocean with trusters
The surface part on top of the sphere connecting the submerged sphere with the outside world could have a nice wave impact save shell look like that...
In a globalized world the factor of mobility is key and industries are already planning and developing floating fabrication sites for many reasons. Among those are floating breweries developed by the beer multinational Sabmiller, floating LNG terminals, floating harbors, and many more to come.
ORES sistem
As the world becomes increasingly ocean-oriented for energy and other resources it is predicted that construction activities during the 21st century will be dominated by concrete sea structures. Read more here
The above mentioned pressure of civilization, the quest for interference free space, the need to offshore business, and the quest for resurces will add up to a momentum that makes ocean colonization the next big thing to come - before human colonization of space can start to be considered a "real world possibility" .
Read more why ocean colonization is the next big thing to come: http://concretesubmarine.activeboard.com/t56680633/the-reasons-why-oceanic-business-is-the-next-big-thing-to-co/
More on the topic offshoring megatrend of the century
The interference freedom scale of 1-10 read more here
Be part of the ocean business development key player network
10m diameter family house concrete sphere
A 10m diameter concrete sphere delivers a volume of 523.599 m3 - which means about 209 real estate squaremeter at 2,5m room height. (314m surface area) - this is the living space of a 3 story family house.
Such a sphere gives comfort in the high seas is Draupner wave safe and does not depend on any other infrastructure.
For a 10cm thick shell it would require 31 cubic meter of concrete cast - (which can be performed at 3000 USD per cubic meter) - that places the "family house sphere in a cost universe of 93.000 USD - much lower than normal housing. Somewhere around 444 USD per real estate squaremeter.
- read more about floating concrete building methods here: http://concretesubmarine.activeboard.com/t57819473/floating-concrete-platforms-building-methods/