From: The Butterfly (salsbury_at_bootstrap.sculptors.com)
Date: 03/24/98
Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 14:03:44 -0800 Message-Id: <199803242203.OAA05788@bootstrap.sculptors.com> From: The Butterfly <salsbury_at_bootstrap.sculptors.com> Subject: Re: Electrodeposition and Ecological Impacts
-Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 03:08:19 -0600
-From: Kevin Horn <klh8211_at_unix.tamu.edu>
-Reply-To: floating-cities_at_sculptors.com
-
-
-> I've thought about this, but I think the net ecological impact will
->be positive. Perhaps vastly so.
-
-Also, keep in mind that the best places to build floating cities (in terms
-of weather, temperature, etc.) is in the middle of nowhere in certain
-regions of the equatorial oceans. Contrary to popular belief, these areas
-contain relatively little indigenous sea-life, so there isn't much ecology
-to affect. From what I've put together (and, keep in mind a lot of this is
-2nd to 12th hand stuff...so keep your grains of salt handy) the life which
-does exist in these zones is mostly of the algae/plant variety. As Patrick
-pointed out, many varieties of algae thrive on iron and other
-electro-deposition by-products.
-
- Kevbo
-
Yes. The equatorial regions are really hot, and the warmer water
doesn't hold as much dissolved O2, so the life-count is considerably lower
than, say, the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary, where we scuba dive in 15mm
of neoprene to keep us alive in the 50F water. (It's still cold, but it's
tolerable. :-) )
The amount of diversity in the cold-water areas is
astounding, and that is the sort of diversity we can CREATE using OTEC to
pull up cold, oxygen rich water from the deep. (Not only will it provide us
with power, but the building blocks for food & mariculture.)
Also, deep water avoids many of the problems with tidal waves,
etc, as there is ample room below surface for the wave energy to travel
through. Tidal waves don't really well up until they hit the shallow waters
near shore.
And of course, as noted in the Oceana paper, being on the Equator
gives the best centrepital force boost to any spaceship launches we choose
to undertake. You get a "slingshot" effect from the earth, and need
considerably less fuel/energy for liftoff.
-- Pat ___________________Think For Yourself____________________ Patrick G. Salsbury - http://www.sculptors.com/~salsbury/ --------------------------------------------------------- Prohibition is a sign of inhibition.