We’re pleased to share that the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) magazine recently featured an interview with Dr. Stefan Huebner on floating structures as a strategy for coastal climate adaptation. The article also highlights important considerations around public perception… Read more: Floating structures could be smarter option to cope with rising sea levels
By Mr Giuseppe Torrisi Video presentation of our masterplan in Baja California Sur. Los Saguaros Marina Resort is the Phase 1 of the Peninsula de Los Sueños touristic development. It is the first of 11 areas. With its 220 hectares,… Read more: Los Saguaros Marina Resort Masterplan 2024
Our President, Dr. Stefan Huebner, recently penned a Correspondence for Nature, shedding light on the role of floating homes and structures as essential tools in climate adaptation strategies. 🌊🏠 “Your Comment article on building climate-resilient coastal communities (I. Ajibade &… Read more: Correspondence for Nature: Floating Homes need Political Acceptance
EARTH’S AMPHIBIOUS TRANSFORMATION: URBANIZING ASIA’S SEAS Stefan Huebner Coastal cities have for decades been finding ways to cope with floods, storm surges, subsidence and other disasters, which are worsening with climate change. As Stefan Huebner of the Asia Research Institute… Read more: EARTH’S AMPHIBIOUS TRANSFORMATION: URBANIZING ASIA’S SEAS
Singapore is shipshape for floating cities Lim Soon Heng [pdf-embedder url=’https://floatingsolutions.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Singapore-is-shipshape-for-floating-cities-Opinion-News-Top-Stories-The-Straits-Time.pdf’] The recent announcement by Keppel Corp chief executive Loh Chin Hua that it is exploring how to develop a floating city for Singapore is heartening. Speaking about how the… Read more: S’pore is shipshape for floating cities
Transitioning from Fossils to Nuclear Safely and Affordably Lim Soon Heng A presentation at the Institute of Marine Engineering Science Annual Conference on July 1, 2021 by Lim Soon Heng, Senior Advisor and Founding President of the Society of Floating… Read more: Transitioning from Fossils to Nuclear Safely and Affordably
Wave attenuation performance is the prime consideration when designing any floating breakwater. For a 2D hydrodynamic analysis of a floating breakwater, the wave attenuation performance is evaluated by the transmission coefficient, which is defined as the ratio between the transmitted wave height and the incident wave height. For a 3D breakwater, some researchers still adopted this evaluation approach with the transmitted wave height taken at a surface point, while
others used the mean transmission coefficient within a surface area. This paper aims to first examine the rationality of these two evaluation approaches via verified numerical simulations of 3D heaveonly floating breakwaters in regular and irregular waves. A new index—a representative transmission coefficient—is then presented for one to easily compare the wave attenuation performances of different 3D floating breakwater designs.
We are thrilled to share a design concept by our President, Mr. Lim Soon Heng, in collaboration with Torrisi & Procopio Architetti. This innovative floating island is designed to provide a safe, comfortable, and community-oriented living space for foreign workers.… Read more: The Floating Island for Foreign Workers
Engineers, in the ultimate analysis, are the culprits of climate change. The industrial revolution of the last 200 years has had the unintended consequences of polluting the world with greenhouse gas. True, engineers deserve credit for inventing the steam/gas turbine and the internal combustion engine but unwittingly they also have let the genie out of the bottle: the dire consequence of global warming.
The evidence of a hotter planet is clear: raging fires, melting polar ice caps and permafrost, exceptional floods, droughts, and hurricanes. Life on land and in the ocean has been decimated, biodiversity compromised, and food security endangered. Yet even as the world gets warmer, engineers are at the forefront of hydrocarbons extractino from the earth’s crust and ocean bed to feed those machines.
Over the past decade, experts have discussed the offshore technologies so closely associated with accelerating climate change—namely, offshore oil and gas drilling—as tools for climate action, as was the case at a United Nations roundtable in April 2019. Such experts have frequently used offshore technologies for the construction of flood-resilient floating structures and for zero-carbon energy generation, such as in the case of offshore wind parks, simultaneously tackling the problem of carbon fuel-related air pollution. Such developments draw attention to the intellectual history of ocean industrialization, its driving forces, and related environmental thought. This article examines the intellectual origins of ecomodernism and similar green growth strategies. Using an oceanic perspective and placing the ideas of Japanese star architect and Metabolist movement member Kiyonori Kikutake and US ocean expert John P. Craven at its center, this article argues that their two prototypes of floating industrial combines tested in Hawaii and Okinawa during the early 1970s applied the Japanese Metabolist movement’s design principles of mobility, modularity, and plug-in structures to Pacific waters in an effort to decouple ocean industrialization from the destruction of ecosystems. Several of their proto-ecomodernist ideas, born as techno-optimist reactions to neo-Malthusian fears of resource depletion and overpopulation, have become central pillars of ecomodernist thought. As such, their projects turned into the immediate forerunner of current development strategies whose intellectual aim is to continue growth during (or despite) environmental challenges up to the planetary scale.
The current research on the amphibious architecture lacks a proper, commonly shared vocabulary and typology of water-placed structures. In this paper, the state of typological works is described and a new typology based on three main distinguishing factors (relation to water, buoyancy and mobility) is given. Thanks to the different perspectives of civil- and naval architecture that are taken into consideration, this new typology encompasses the architectural objects of all sizes, functions and movability, built both in the water and on the water, divided into six types: overwater, waterside and amphibious buildings, floating structures and residential and facility vessels.
This paper presents the challenges faced and the systems engineering solutions implemented in developing a large floating steel platform at the Marina Bay of Singapore. The floating platform is designed to be a multi-purpose facility on the bay for mass spectator events, sporting activities and cultural performances, as well as be a re-configurable “pier” for water sports and boat shows. This floating stage, the world’s largest floating performance stage on water, hosted the National Day Parade 2007, its first big show. Since then, the stage and its seating gallery have been used as the venue for lifestyle events, extreme sports, the Singapore Fireworks Festival, the WaterFest as well as the finishing point for the Singapore Bay Run, the biggest mass run organised in Singapore. Building the floating platform for all these events involved complex engineering and many considerations had to be taken into account in the systems development.
A high-tech fish farm, capable of producing up to 20 times the “minimum production level” of coastal farms, was officially opened by Senior of Minister of State for Trade and Industry Koh Poh Koon on Tuesday (Nov 19).
The S$4 million farm called Eco-Ark is contained within a platform measuring 48m by 28m anchored about 5km off Changi Point ferry terminal. It uses a closed containment aquaculture system developed by the Aquaculture Centre of Excellence (ACE).
It will eventually produce up to 166 metric tonnes of fish like barramundi, red snapper and grouper each year in its four tanks, each with a capacity of 475,000 litres.
This month marks the inauguration of the Society of Floating Solutions Singapore (SFSS), formed by enthusiasts who share the common interest in the concept of Very Large Floating Structures (VLFS). VLFS may help Singapore grapple with the issue of land scarcity and the impending rise of sea level by floating future development offshore.
Although Singapore is an island surrounded by water, there is only one such large floating structure in use. Opened in 2007, The Float @ Marina Bay is the world’s largest floating structure ever built. Yet, it has always remained as a ‘temporary’ structure until recently, where it is renamed as NS Square and recognised as a permanent space for all future National Day Parades.
This month marks the inauguration of the Society of Floating Solutions Singapore (SFSS), formed by enthusiasts who share the common interest in the concept of Very Large Floating Structures (VLFS). VLFS may help Singapore grapple with the issue of land scarcity and the impending rise of sea level by floating future development offshore.
Although Singapore is an island surrounded by water, there is only one such large floating structure in use. Opened in 2007, The Float @ Marina Bay is the world’s largest floating structure ever built. Yet, it has always remained as a ‘temporary’ structure until recently, where it is renamed as NS Square and recognised as a permanent space for all future National Day Parades.
This month marks the inauguration of the Society of Floating Solutions Singapore (SFSS), formed by enthusiasts who share the common interest in the concept of Very Large Floating Structures (VLFS). VLFS may help Singapore grapple with the issue of land scarcity and the impending rise of sea level by floating future development offshore.
Although Singapore is an island surrounded by water, there is only one such large floating structure in use. Opened in 2007, The Float @ Marina Bay is the world’s largest floating structure ever built. Yet, it has always remained as a ‘temporary’ structure until recently, where it is renamed as NS Square and recognised as a permanent space for all future National Day Parades.
This month marks the inauguration of the Society of Floating Solutions Singapore (SFSS), formed by enthusiasts who share the common interest in the concept of Very Large Floating Structures (VLFS). VLFS may help Singapore grapple with the issue of land scarcity and the impending rise of sea level by floating future development offshore.
Although Singapore is an island surrounded by water, there is only one such large floating structure in use. Opened in 2007, The Float @ Marina Bay is the world’s largest floating structure ever built. Yet, it has always remained as a ‘temporary’ structure until recently, where it is renamed as NS Square and recognised as a permanent space for all future National Day Parades.
Civilization has arrived at a point of inflexion triggered by global warming and rising sea levels. Scientist are ringing alarm bells and warning that a mere two-degree temperature rise over that of pre-industrial days could cause it to escalate irreversibly that could eventually lead to the extinction of many species on earth.
After 23 years (since COP1 in 1995 at Berlin) of tough negotiations, 200 countries have agreed in Poland in December 2018 at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to take concrete actions to limit carbon emission. This paper contends that naval architects can play a role to avert a cataclysmic event.
Following the history, earlier concrete floating constructions dated to more than 100 years. On the other hand, we know that the concrete is the cheapest material for building of these structures.
Also considering the new wave of concrete floating constructions in a past 30 years, the latest news for implement of new concrete technology and modern design as floating bridges, floating docks, floating cities etc which means that the concrete floating constructions have bright future.
At the same time as urban areas are recording an immense population growth, several cities all over the world are struggling with major flooding every year.
Bangkok in Thailand is actually sinking and island nations like the Maldives are ghting
the increasing sea level caused by climate change. There are many incentives for communities to investigate the possibility to utilize the sea space for living and production.
SHIPS ARE FLOATING STRUCTURES The technology exists to create either. Europe is good at the product on the left. Singapore can excel in that on the right. Floating structures give the impression that ships are something else. Thousands of years… Read more: Ships are Floating Structures
Singapore is the third-densest city in the world. But unlike other large cities, it is without a hinterland. There is no buffer for spillovers. The sea has to serve as the island-state’s “hinterland”.
The Singapore coastline is similar to a column of ants, made up of airports, ports, shipyards, power stations and recreation parks. One golf course, also on the coastline, is on its way out. Inland, about 5.5 million citizens and foreigners have homes in ever-taller towers. Roads are congested and trains packed every morning.
No wonder then, the White Paper on population tabled in 2013 sparked an outcry from Singaporeans, even though the population was projected to grow by about 1.5 million in 17 years, a rise of only 1 per cent per year.
Singapore’s economic health hinges on two crucial imported resources — water and energy. While the importance of the first is seared in the public mind, the criticality of the second is appreciated only by a few. A disruption to our energy supply would have dire consequences on our economy as well as our defence capability. More than 95 per cent of every joule of electricity is derived from natural gas. Of that, only a small proportion is transported here by LNG tankers. The bulk is piped from Indonesia and Malaysia. The existential
threat of the latter has hardly been aired in public. Is the supply chain robust? Technical mishaps, sabotage, depletion of gas deposits, market pressures, and political backlash, resentment and discord with
our neighbours next door are all potential threats.
From my apartment, 20 storeys above the sea, I see Changi Airport straight ahead 8km to the north. Where the old container port used to be, Keppel Maritime City is silhouetted against a backdrop of a scarlet sunset 16km to the west. I am enjoying my favourite drink, my feet tapping to the music of Ravel’s Bolero. SG100, in 2065, when the country is 100 years old, can be a City in the Sea, vibrant, clean, noise-free and ecologically sensitive to the environment.
Singapore planners are tasked to plan for a population of 6.9 million people. Our leading architects, engineers and philosophers have weighed in with proposals to address our land shortage. Dr Liu Thai Ker advocates better urban planning. Professor Lui Pao Chuen champions the use of the ground beneath our feet. Professor Kishore Mahbubani urges Singaporeans to abandon their cars and the Government to slow the pace of road building. Pioneer architect Tan Cheng Siong has visions of a multi-tier city, which he calls Skyland.
Low oil prices have dealt a blow to construction, but it is timely to explore a more efficient operating option. One of the quirks of Singapore’s modern economy belongs to a heavy industry dating back to the early 1970s – offshore rig construction. Burnished with images of steel, cranes and scaffoldings – incongruous with a sleek, city image – it has put this tiny island on a global map. In 2012, at its peak, it generated $15 billion in sales. It has served its shareholders well. Its top executives are better paid than heads of government of First World countries, but the beneficiaries of the 100,000 jobs it provides are 75 per cent non-nationals.
Singapore is well-positioned for offshore data storage centres that could give local shipyards a new business niche. There was a time not so long ago when all the data I created or needed was in a box on my desk. In it were several 3.5-inch floppy disks, each with the capacity of about 200KB. With that level of technology, the data needed today just for a smartphone would require a storage space as large as a fridge. Data storage efficiency has improved a zillion times. It will improve further, with researchers looking at atoms as the place to store bits and bytes.
As a pioneer generation Singaporean, two subjects keep my neurons firing in overdrive: floating structures for space creation, and nuclear power to boost the country’s energy resilience. Following on my article in The Straits Times (“Time for S’pore to say ‘Yes’ to nuclear”; March 15), here is a breakdown on why nuclear power – in the form of floating power plants – is a viable option for Singapore. In March this year, Singapore debated passionately in Parliament and on social media about the need to be self-sufficient in water. But what seemed to be forgotten is that energy is even more crucial for our survival.
A floating nuclear power plant mitigates risks and offers economic advantages. The Fukushima nuclear accident dealt a blow to the emerging “nuclear renaissance” just when the world was close to putting Chernobyl behind it. In its aftermath, several countries, including Japan and Germany, put aside, under public pressure, plans to build nuclear power plants (NPPs). Six years after Fukushima, 61 new nuclear plants are under construction, in Britain, China, India, Russia and even the United States, where lobbyists from the oil and gas industry ply the corridors of power. France, undeterred, continues to keep its economy humming, with 77 per cent of its energy needs coming from nuclear fission. Scandinavian countries opt for nuclear rather than dam up their stunning fjords. Vietnam pushes ahead with its plan to build the first NPP in Asean.
“This episode is about engineering and materials of seasteads. The episode’s guest is Professor Wang Chien Ming. Professor Wang is the Blue Frontiers’ advisor in structural engineering of very large floating structures. In this very entertaining and insightful episode, Professor Wang describes many examples of already existing very large floating structures. Professor Wang and our seavangelesse also speak of the nanomaterials that can make seasteads, such as graphene oxide, one of Professor Wang’s subjects of research, and what implications it would have.”
This paper discusses a revolutionary idea for naval bases of the future. Even as rising sea level inundates land, the human population relentlessly pushes towards the coast. New space solution is needed. Mega floats offer this solution. Mega floats are deployable, easily scalable, and may be reconfigured as needs change. Old floats may be repurposed when no longer relevant to the original intent. This and other features make megafloats a more ecologically acceptable space solution. Structurally the technology is proven. Mechanical and electrical systems exist to provide support to the floats dispensing cable and pipe links to shore. For the navy, the mobility of megafloats offers strategic advantages. They can be repositioned to meet the shifting military challenges as world power rebalances.
Earth is a planet of incredible beauty. Even with the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists cannot find another planet that comes close to Earth’s richness in diversity. While the other planets in our solar system look barren and even threatening, ours when seen from outer space is covered by a soft hue of blue. It is just right for the evolution of life that has taken the single-celled organism to modern man. Equipped with a disproportionately big brain, man has become very successful at adapting his environment for his security, food and his well-being. He has no predator and has so far overcome all manners of diseases that threaten his specie. He is however, a threat to all other forms of life around him.
We’re pleased to share that the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) magazine recently featured an interview with Dr. Stefan Huebner on floating structures as a strategy for coastal climate adaptation. The article also highlights important considerations around public perception… Read more: Floating structures could be smarter option to cope with rising sea levels
Our President, Dr. Stefan Huebner, recently published a thought-provoking commentary in CNA on the future of floating solar PV systems as a key component of Singapore’s renewable energy strategy. 🌞⚡ In his article, Dr. Huebner explores the potential of floating… Read more: CNA Commentary: Floating solar farms may be key to Singapore’s clean energy future
View the book here: https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-0364-0279-2 About the book: Issues such as climate change, energy crises, population growth and the increasing concentration of residents in urban areas are the challenges of the future, and some solutions to these challenges are already… Read more: The Floating Towns of Tomorrow: Urban Planning Solutions to Challenges in Coastal Communities (by Lim Soon Heng, Daniela Procopio, and Giuseppe Torrisi)
EARTH’S AMPHIBIOUS TRANSFORMATION: Tange Kenzo, Buckminster Fuller, and marine urbanization in global environmental thought (1950s–present) Stefan Huebner Climate change and rising sea levels, which threaten many Asian and other coastal cities, have returned the question of adaptation to unstable marine… Read more: EARTH’S AMPHIBIOUS TRANSFORMATION: Tange Kenzo, Buckminster Fuller, and marine urbanization in global environmental thought (1950s–present)
EARTH’S AMPHIBIOUS TRANSFORMATION: URBANIZING ASIA’S SEAS Stefan Huebner Coastal cities have for decades been finding ways to cope with floods, storm surges, subsidence and other disasters, which are worsening with climate change. As Stefan Huebner of the Asia Research Institute… Read more: EARTH’S AMPHIBIOUS TRANSFORMATION: URBANIZING ASIA’S SEAS
Large Floating Structures: Technological Advances (Ocean Engineering & Oceanography, 3) Wang Chien Ming This book surveys key projects that have seen the construction of large floating structures or have attained detailed conceptual designs. This compilation of key floating structures in… Read more: Large Floating Structures: Technological Advances (Ocean Engineering & Oceanography, 3)
Singapore is shipshape for floating cities Lim Soon Heng [pdf-embedder url=’https://floatingsolutions.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Singapore-is-shipshape-for-floating-cities-Opinion-News-Top-Stories-The-Straits-Time.pdf’] The recent announcement by Keppel Corp chief executive Loh Chin Hua that it is exploring how to develop a floating city for Singapore is heartening. Speaking about how the… Read more: S’pore is shipshape for floating cities
Mutipurpose Platform and Co-Location of Aquaculture & Wind Farms
Wave attenuation performance is the prime consideration when designing any floating breakwater. For a 2D hydrodynamic analysis of a floating breakwater, the wave attenuation performance is evaluated by the transmission coefficient, which is defined as the ratio between the transmitted wave height and the incident wave height. For a 3D breakwater, some researchers still adopted this evaluation approach with the transmitted wave height taken at a surface point, while others used the mean transmission coefficient within a surface area. This paper aims to first examine the rationality of these two evaluation approaches via verified numerical simulations of 3D heaveonly floating breakwaters in regular and irregular waves. A new index—a representative transmission coefficient—is then presented for one to easily compare the wave attenuation performances of different 3D floating breakwater designs.
We are thrilled to share a design concept by our President, Mr. Lim Soon Heng, in collaboration with Torrisi & Procopio Architetti. This innovative floating island is designed to provide a safe, comfortable, and community-oriented living space for foreign workers.… Read more: The Floating Island for Foreign Workers
Engineers, in the ultimate analysis, are the culprits of climate change. The industrial revolution of the last 200 years has had the unintended consequences of polluting the world with greenhouse gas. True, engineers deserve credit for inventing the steam/gas turbine and the internal combustion engine but unwittingly they also have let the genie out of the bottle: the dire consequence of global warming. The evidence of a hotter planet is clear: raging fires, melting polar ice caps and permafrost, exceptional floods, droughts, and hurricanes. Life on land and in the ocean has been decimated, biodiversity compromised, and food security endangered. Yet even as the world gets warmer, engineers are at the forefront of hydrocarbons extractino from the earth’s crust and ocean bed to feed those machines.
Over the past decade, experts have discussed the offshore technologies so closely associated with accelerating climate change—namely, offshore oil and gas drilling—as tools for climate action, as was the case at a United Nations roundtable in April 2019. Such experts have frequently used offshore technologies for the construction of flood-resilient floating structures and for zero-carbon energy generation, such as in the case of offshore wind parks, simultaneously tackling the problem of carbon fuel-related air pollution. Such developments draw attention to the intellectual history of ocean industrialization, its driving forces, and related environmental thought. This article examines the intellectual origins of ecomodernism and similar green growth strategies. Using an oceanic perspective and placing the ideas of Japanese star architect and Metabolist movement member Kiyonori Kikutake and US ocean expert John P. Craven at its center, this article argues that their two prototypes of floating industrial combines tested in Hawaii and Okinawa during the early 1970s applied the Japanese Metabolist movement’s design principles of mobility, modularity, and plug-in structures to Pacific waters in an effort to decouple ocean industrialization from the destruction of ecosystems. Several of their proto-ecomodernist ideas, born as techno-optimist reactions to neo-Malthusian fears of resource depletion and overpopulation, have become central pillars of ecomodernist thought. As such, their projects turned into the immediate forerunner of current development strategies whose intellectual aim is to continue growth during (or despite) environmental challenges up to the planetary scale.
The current research on the amphibious architecture lacks a proper, commonly shared vocabulary and typology of water-placed structures. In this paper, the state of typological works is described and a new typology based on three main distinguishing factors (relation to water, buoyancy and mobility) is given. Thanks to the different perspectives of civil- and naval architecture that are taken into consideration, this new typology encompasses the architectural objects of all sizes, functions and movability, built both in the water and on the water, divided into six types: overwater, waterside and amphibious buildings, floating structures and residential and facility vessels.
This paper presents the challenges faced and the systems engineering solutions implemented in developing a large floating steel platform at the Marina Bay of Singapore. The floating platform is designed to be a multi-purpose facility on the bay for mass spectator events, sporting activities and cultural performances, as well as be a re-configurable “pier” for water sports and boat shows. This floating stage, the world’s largest floating performance stage on water, hosted the National Day Parade 2007, its first big show. Since then, the stage and its seating gallery have been used as the venue for lifestyle events, extreme sports, the Singapore Fireworks Festival, the WaterFest as well as the finishing point for the Singapore Bay Run, the biggest mass run organised in Singapore. Building the floating platform for all these events involved complex engineering and many considerations had to be taken into account in the systems development.
A high-tech fish farm, capable of producing up to 20 times the “minimum production level” of coastal farms, was officially opened by Senior of Minister of State for Trade and Industry Koh Poh Koon on Tuesday (Nov 19). The S$4 million farm called Eco-Ark is contained within a platform measuring 48m by 28m anchored about 5km off Changi Point ferry terminal. It uses a closed containment aquaculture system developed by the Aquaculture Centre of Excellence (ACE). It will eventually produce up to 166 metric tonnes of fish like barramundi, red snapper and grouper each year in its four tanks, each with a capacity of 475,000 litres.
This month marks the inauguration of the Society of Floating Solutions Singapore (SFSS), formed by enthusiasts who share the common interest in the concept of Very Large Floating Structures (VLFS). VLFS may help Singapore grapple with the issue of land scarcity and the impending rise of sea level by floating future development offshore. Although Singapore is an island surrounded by water, there is only one such large floating structure in use. Opened in 2007, The Float @ Marina Bay is the world’s largest floating structure ever built. Yet, it has always remained as a ‘temporary’ structure until recently, where it is renamed as NS Square and recognised as a permanent space for all future National Day Parades.
This month marks the inauguration of the Society of Floating Solutions Singapore (SFSS), formed by enthusiasts who share the common interest in the concept of Very Large Floating Structures (VLFS). VLFS may help Singapore grapple with the issue of land scarcity and the impending rise of sea level by floating future development offshore. Although Singapore is an island surrounded by water, there is only one such large floating structure in use. Opened in 2007, The Float @ Marina Bay is the world’s largest floating structure ever built. Yet, it has always remained as a ‘temporary’ structure until recently, where it is renamed as NS Square and recognised as a permanent space for all future National Day Parades.
This month marks the inauguration of the Society of Floating Solutions Singapore (SFSS), formed by enthusiasts who share the common interest in the concept of Very Large Floating Structures (VLFS). VLFS may help Singapore grapple with the issue of land scarcity and the impending rise of sea level by floating future development offshore. Although Singapore is an island surrounded by water, there is only one such large floating structure in use. Opened in 2007, The Float @ Marina Bay is the world’s largest floating structure ever built. Yet, it has always remained as a ‘temporary’ structure until recently, where it is renamed as NS Square and recognised as a permanent space for all future National Day Parades.
Civilization has arrived at a point of inflexion triggered by global warming and rising sea levels. Scientist are ringing alarm bells and warning that a mere two-degree temperature rise over that of pre-industrial days could cause it to escalate irreversibly that could eventually lead to the extinction of many species on earth. After 23 years (since COP1 in 1995 at Berlin) of tough negotiations, 200 countries have agreed in Poland in December 2018 at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to take concrete actions to limit carbon emission. This paper contends that naval architects can play a role to avert a cataclysmic event.
Floating into the future: creating cities on the sea An article in the Ingenuity Magazine of the University of Queensland
Following the history, earlier concrete floating constructions dated to more than 100 years. On the other hand, we know that the concrete is the cheapest material for building of these structures. Also considering the new wave of concrete floating constructions in a past 30 years, the latest news for implement of new concrete technology and modern design as floating bridges, floating docks, floating cities etc which means that the concrete floating constructions have bright future.
At the same time as urban areas are recording an immense population growth, several cities all over the world are struggling with major flooding every year. Bangkok in Thailand is actually sinking and island nations like the Maldives are ghting the increasing sea level caused by climate change. There are many incentives for communities to investigate the possibility to utilize the sea space for living and production.
SHIPS ARE FLOATING STRUCTURES The technology exists to create either. Europe is good at the product on the left. Singapore can excel in that on the right. Floating structures give the impression that ships are something else. Thousands of years… Read more: Ships are Floating Structures
FYP Poster on a conceptual design of modular floating reservoir by NUS Civil & Environmental student Chau Chee Chung
Singapore’s economic health hinges on two crucial imported resources — water and energy. While the importance of the first is seared in the public mind, the criticality of the second is appreciated only by a few. A disruption to our energy supply would have dire consequences on our economy as well as our defence capability. More than 95 per cent of every joule of electricity is derived from natural gas. Of that, only a small proportion is transported here by LNG tankers. The bulk is piped from Indonesia and Malaysia. The existential threat of the latter has hardly been aired in public. Is the supply chain robust? Technical mishaps, sabotage, depletion of gas deposits, market pressures, and political backlash, resentment and discord with our neighbours next door are all potential threats.
From my apartment, 20 storeys above the sea, I see Changi Airport straight ahead 8km to the north. Where the old container port used to be, Keppel Maritime City is silhouetted against a backdrop of a scarlet sunset 16km to the west. I am enjoying my favourite drink, my feet tapping to the music of Ravel’s Bolero. SG100, in 2065, when the country is 100 years old, can be a City in the Sea, vibrant, clean, noise-free and ecologically sensitive to the environment.
Singapore planners are tasked to plan for a population of 6.9 million people. Our leading architects, engineers and philosophers have weighed in with proposals to address our land shortage. Dr Liu Thai Ker advocates better urban planning. Professor Lui Pao Chuen champions the use of the ground beneath our feet. Professor Kishore Mahbubani urges Singaporeans to abandon their cars and the Government to slow the pace of road building. Pioneer architect Tan Cheng Siong has visions of a multi-tier city, which he calls Skyland.
Low oil prices have dealt a blow to construction, but it is timely to explore a more efficient operating option. One of the quirks of Singapore’s modern economy belongs to a heavy industry dating back to the early 1970s – offshore rig construction. Burnished with images of steel, cranes and scaffoldings – incongruous with a sleek, city image – it has put this tiny island on a global map. In 2012, at its peak, it generated $15 billion in sales. It has served its shareholders well. Its top executives are better paid than heads of government of First World countries, but the beneficiaries of the 100,000 jobs it provides are 75 per cent non-nationals.
Singapore is well-positioned for offshore data storage centres that could give local shipyards a new business niche. There was a time not so long ago when all the data I created or needed was in a box on my desk. In it were several 3.5-inch floppy disks, each with the capacity of about 200KB. With that level of technology, the data needed today just for a smartphone would require a storage space as large as a fridge. Data storage efficiency has improved a zillion times. It will improve further, with researchers looking at atoms as the place to store bits and bytes.
As a pioneer generation Singaporean, two subjects keep my neurons firing in overdrive: floating structures for space creation, and nuclear power to boost the country’s energy resilience. Following on my article in The Straits Times (“Time for S’pore to say ‘Yes’ to nuclear”; March 15), here is a breakdown on why nuclear power – in the form of floating power plants – is a viable option for Singapore. In March this year, Singapore debated passionately in Parliament and on social media about the need to be self-sufficient in water. But what seemed to be forgotten is that energy is even more crucial for our survival.
A floating nuclear power plant mitigates risks and offers economic advantages. The Fukushima nuclear accident dealt a blow to the emerging “nuclear renaissance” just when the world was close to putting Chernobyl behind it. In its aftermath, several countries, including Japan and Germany, put aside, under public pressure, plans to build nuclear power plants (NPPs). Six years after Fukushima, 61 new nuclear plants are under construction, in Britain, China, India, Russia and even the United States, where lobbyists from the oil and gas industry ply the corridors of power. France, undeterred, continues to keep its economy humming, with 77 per cent of its energy needs coming from nuclear fission. Scandinavian countries opt for nuclear rather than dam up their stunning fjords. Vietnam pushes ahead with its plan to build the first NPP in Asean.
“This episode is about engineering and materials of seasteads. The episode’s guest is Professor Wang Chien Ming. Professor Wang is the Blue Frontiers’ advisor in structural engineering of very large floating structures. In this very entertaining and insightful episode, Professor Wang describes many examples of already existing very large floating structures. Professor Wang and our seavangelesse also speak of the nanomaterials that can make seasteads, such as graphene oxide, one of Professor Wang’s subjects of research, and what implications it would have.”
This paper discusses a revolutionary idea for naval bases of the future. Even as rising sea level inundates land, the human population relentlessly pushes towards the coast. New space solution is needed. Mega floats offer this solution. Mega floats are deployable, easily scalable, and may be reconfigured as needs change. Old floats may be repurposed when no longer relevant to the original intent. This and other features make megafloats a more ecologically acceptable space solution. Structurally the technology is proven. Mechanical and electrical systems exist to provide support to the floats dispensing cable and pipe links to shore. For the navy, the mobility of megafloats offers strategic advantages. They can be repositioned to meet the shifting military challenges as world power rebalances.
Earth is a planet of incredible beauty. Even with the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists cannot find another planet that comes close to Earth’s richness in diversity. While the other planets in our solar system look barren and even threatening, ours when seen from outer space is covered by a soft hue of blue. It is just right for the evolution of life that has taken the single-celled organism to modern man. Equipped with a disproportionately big brain, man has become very successful at adapting his environment for his security, food and his well-being. He has no predator and has so far overcome all manners of diseases that threaten his specie. He is however, a threat to all other forms of life around him.
A paper presented at EASEC14 on 6th January 2016 at Ho Chi Ming City
