Give Nuclear Power Plants Cool Names

Heading out for a cycle around Cumbrae (at Millport)

Conditions at my swim at RWSABC yesterday (11-Mar-17 @ 16:00). Calm, low tide, water temperature 8.3 degC. Swam 480m in 18 min. #rwsabc #greenock #openwaterswimming #scotland #theesplanade (at The Esplanade Greenock)

During today's swim there was a downpour. The raindrops on the water made for a fascinating sight. #RWSABC #inverclyde #greenockesplanade #Greenock #openwaterswimming #downpour (at The Royal West of Scotland Boat Club)

"UV" -

A lovely night for open water swimming along The Esplanade in Greenock. 😊

Thoughts on our visit to Prague

Helen and I returned from our holiday in Prague last night. We had a good time, I’ve returned feeling relaxed and somewhat recharged.

I liked Prague a lot and I was thinking about what makes it such a nice city (for tourists like us).

In no particular order:

1 - Friendly and honest people. 2- A great city centre for walking around. 3 - Good public transport. 4 - Green space easily accessible from the city centre. 5 - Good affordability. 6 - A compact city centre with plenty of bars, pubs and Restaurants.

I will discuss this more in my future blogs.

Swam with Stacey from Rosneath Slip (1st slip) bang on high tide. There was a south east breeze creating a reasonable swell. Swam to the yellow pole and then back towards the beach. Stacey exited the water at Rosneath Slip (1200m 42m) and I continued to the Boat Club (1675m 53:33) Water Temperature 13.5 degC #esplanade #inverclyde #greenock #rwsabc #openwaterswimming (at Royal West of Scotland Amateur Boat Club)

Dome City Blog 2 - What is my vision for a Dome City? Why might we build one?

The Guardian newspaper Reported on 6 October 2014, in an article by Nicholas Watt, that Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats are proposing 5 new garden cities between Oxford and Cambridge.  He suggested that this would provide around 50,000 new houses.  He was quoted as saying: “Garden cities are a vital cornerstone of our plan to boost house building to 300,000 homes a year – enough to meet demand and keep prices in reach – while still protecting our precious green space and preventing urban sprawl. Our plan is to build a series of high quality new towns and cities where people want to live, with green space, sustainable transport and spacious homes."

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/06/nick-clegg-promises-10-garden-cities-built-train-line-oxford-cambridge

  It is my view that dome cities could help to accomplish this aspiration of 300,000 homes per year.    Of course this is no use if no one would want to live in a dome city.  I have spoken to a few people and most of them are initially reluctant to consider living in a dome city.    First and foremost a dome city must be a place that is pleasant to live.  Briefly allow me to set out what I think a dome city will offer.   In my first blog of this series I proposed that a dome city is a geodesic dome 1 km in diameter and 500m high.  This first pass proposal would have around 48 equally spaced levels and a population density of 3860 people per square kilometre to house a total of around 100,000 persons.  To put this into context, this is a population density of Birmingham, UK or Miami, FL.  However, given the compactness of the site there will not be a need for cars within the dome.  I would suggest that lanes of about 4m in width will provide space for people to walk and cycle everywhere within the level.  Levels would be linked with elevators, escalators, stairs and ramps.  Walking and cycling are good for one's health.  In addition, I think these activities can foster a better sense of community because we are seeing and interacting with a fellow citizens as we walk and cycle.  When we're in our car our interaction is minimal.   I hope that this form of structure is feasible from a structural engineering point of view.  This isn't something I can answer at this stage so it could be something that destroys the feasibility of this proposal.   My second biggest concern would be to provide light to the centre of the dome, especially in the lower levels where the centre could be upto 500m from the edge.  I am hopeful that we could replicate daylight conditions during daylight hours with modern low energy lighting.  This lighting would follow the outdoor lighting levels so there will be a form of night in the dome with street lights for the residential areas.  Lighting is another aspect of the proposed design that I still have to investigate so it could be a show stopper.   Housing would mainly be in the form of single family dwellings.  In most cases people would not share any walls with their neighbours.  These homes could be prefabricated and built in a factory environment within the dome.  They should have outstanding design and flexible layouts and features.  I would hope that the initial residents would order a bespoke home to suit their exact needs.  These houses would then be delivered to their final location with only hook up and final fit out required.  This factory construction could greatly improve quality.  The housing should have high energy efficiency.  I would hope that we could make these homes very affordable.  Beside factory construction, another factor that could lead to lower cost is less need for waterproofing of the roof since the dome itself provides this.    I would propose that there be a power station adjacent to the dome city to provide electricity for the city.  The waste heat that arises from electricity production could be easily used for the supply of hot water all year round and heating in winter.  I was recently in Reykjavik. Iceland for a short holiday.  Hot water is never in short supply there and it make for some wonderful swimming opportunities.  Swimming is something I greatly enjoy.  This power source will form the topic of a future blog.   I would hope that we can provide extensive public spaces with opportunities for recreation such as sports like football, hockey (field and ice), bowls, tennis, badminton, basketball, swimming, ping pong etc...  We wouldn't want to neglect cultural aspects and there should be plenty of areas where these activities are encouraged and allowed.  To foster one facet of a vibrant and caring community, religions would be encouraged to provide churches/mosques/temples for their people to celebrate their religious beliefs in.  Public halls would also be a feature of the dome to encourage clubs, bands, youth groups and other organizations that allow us to build a civil society and connect with our fellow citizens.   Around each level in the dome, I would want to see a buffer of unbuilt space to allow people to see the sky and feel the wind on their face.  Given that Britain is a temperate country I do not envisage very much glazing on the exterior of the structure.  These buffer zones may become the places where the community goes for a stroll every evening.  I was once in Rostov on Don, and the Rostovian  make this a regular habit when I was visiting.    I would propose that here be a green belt at least 500m wide around the base of the dome. This green belt would mainly be in the form of park land  but some of it should be set aside for allotments, a community farm, and outdoor sporting facilities like grass football and rugby pitches.   With a population of around 100,000 people, good public transport links would be viable.  In addition, I expect that some of the residents will still need cars for commuting and excursions. An extensive parking garage would need to be provided.  I would also hope that some sort of car sharing/rental scheme arises to allow access to cars for those who don’t need to own a car. However, within the dome city, cars will not be required so some of the building area that is currently turned over to allow cars, trucks and buses to move around in modern cities becomes available for people.  Transport in the dome, for heavy goods, deliveries and for those with limited mobility, would be provided using electric vehicles.   With 100,000 people living in the dome there is an extensive demand for public services like schools, hospitals, police, fire fighters.  The city will need to provide services like energy, waste disposal, water and sewerage. Retail space would be needed to supply the needs to of the dome.  Light manufacturing would be encouraged as well as service industries.  I would hope that the dome city becomes a magnet for some that will form new businesses because they are attracted to the high density, good communication links and high quality of the community.  I would hope that it does not simply become a dormitory for commuters working in a nearby city.   Some people tell us to buy land, because they're not making any more of it. For a dome city the land area at the base of this dome is 0.785 square kilometres (194 acres, 78.5 hectares).  With the 48 levels the building area available within the dome is 25.3 square kilometres (6250 acres, 2530 hectares).  This has increased the available land area by a factor of 32.   The total land take assuming we have a 500m green belt around the site is 3.14 square kilometers.    This particular blog prompted by the extract shown below from The Economist magazine dated 04/10/2014   Having workers in the right places is critically important to generating more and better jobs. In both the rich and the emerging world unmet demand for housing is a significant constraint on growth. In developing economies many large cities have outgrown their capacity to house their populations, resulting in sprawling slums that harbour crime and disease. India’s government, for example, tightly restricts land use, making new construction costly and modern housing extremely expensive.   In rich countries restrictions on the supply of housing can be just as pernicious. In economically dynamic places such as New York and London the shortage of housing is a serious constraint on growth in output and highly paid jobs. Inadequate investment in infrastructure exacerbates the problem. As roads and trains become more crowded, residents grow wary of agreeing to new developments, and so it goes on.   Taken from: The Economist, Special report: The world economy, In this special report - The third great wave, Article Title: Means and ends - How governments can deal with the labour imbalance, Oct 4th 2014 | From the print edition   I hope this blog has made you consider dome cities as one possible way to address this problem of having workers in the right place. Dome City Blog Number 2  12 October 2014 Joe Heffernan   

The Economist | Land-shackled economies: The paradox of soil via @theeconomist

Dome City Blog 1 - An idea for higher density cities

I have been thinking a lot about what we need for new housing and cities. I have been thinking about this for a number of reasons. One reason is that the UK is critically short of housing.  The government and others are keen to see a large number of new homes built.  Personally I support this idea. Another reason was my recent visit to Changchun, China.  This is a very large city by UK standards.  The greater metro area has a population of 7.6 million while the city itself has a population of 3.9 million based on 2010 data.  That was the 5th tiime I’ve been to Changchun and I always enjoy my time there.  However, I think this is a city ruined by the car. I like to walk or cycle whenever I can.  Modern cities, for the most part, make this difficult and unpleasant.  It is difficult because of the distances involved and it is unpleasant because cars and pedestrians/cyclists don’t mix so well. In brief here is the questions I am thinking about and some of the answers that I am arriving at. What if we built a city that was housed in a geodesic dome with a diameter of 1km at the base?  A geodesic dome has the shape of a half-sphere.  It was popopularizedy R. Buckminster Fuller.  I have chosen this structural form because I understand that it is very efficient from a structural engineering point of view. I have some simple back of the envelope type calculations to see how many people this city in a dome could house.  Assume that we made the thickness of the floors separating levels as 1.5m (5 feet) and that we had clear space of 9m (29.5 feet) between levels.  This would provide 48 levels for constructing our city.   The land area at the base of this dome is 0.785 square kilometers (194 acres, 78.5 hectares).  With the 48 levels as described above the land area available within the dome is 25.3 square kilometers (6250 acres, 2530 hectares).   The population density of the the dome were the same as New York City at 27,778 people per square mile (10,716 people per square km) then it could house 271,000 people.  With a lower density of say, 10,000 people per square mile  (3860 people per square km) then it could house 97,700 people.  This lower population density figure of 10000 people per square mile is the almost the same value as for population densities of Miami,Florida and Birmingham, England.   I would suggest that there should be a significant green belt around this dome city.  I would like to suggest at least 500m of park and wild lands around the base (excepting transport links). I will continue these ideas in my next blog. Dome City - Blog 1 5 October 2014 Joe Heffernan