Environmental 'Green Float' Island City to Float in Equatorial Pacific Ocean

Copyright Shimizu Corporation

One of the largest general contractors in Japan, Shimizu Corporation, announced on May 10, 2010, plans for promoting the research and development of various technologies necessary to construct an eco-friendly floating island city, called Green Float, in an equatorial region of the Pacific Ocean, in cooperation with Super Collaborative Graduate School, a project adopted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and Nomura Securities. The island is scheduled for completion by 2025 at a location with the maximum benefit from sunlight and the least impact of typhoons. The company aims to create a city that functions like a living plant and continuously absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2).

The Green Float will be 3,000 meters in diameter with a central tower 1,000 meters in height, consisting of three main parts. The top daily life zone, home to 30,000 people, will sit above 700 meters in elevation, with a constant temperature ranging between 26 to 28 degrees Celsius all year round. The middle stem part will house plant factories, and the beachfront residential areas, with a population of 10,000 people, would lie on the outer circumference of the structure. This artificial island structures can be expanded by adding more units when the population increases.

The Green Float will allow people to live more in harmony with nature, be self-sufficient in food supply, and recycle waste. Instead of depending on fossil fuels, it will maximize the use of natural energy sources, including solar-powered electricity-generating satellites in space, ocean thermal energy conversion, and wind. The project strives to reduce CO2 emissions from this plant-like city to a negative level (net absorption) by taking advantage of the much greater CO2 absorption capacity of the ocean compared to terrestrial forests. The company will employ a range of measures to ensure fundamental safety in the construction of the floating marine structure.

TRY2025 The Environmental Island -GREEN FLOAT
http://www.shimz.co.jp/english/theme/dream/
greenfloat.html

Posted: 2010/10/18 06:00:15 AM