Dome City Blog 2 - What Is My Vision For A Dome City? Why Might We Build One?
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
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Reflections on Scottish Independence as set out in "A Green Yes"
On September 18, 2014 Scotland will vote whether or not to become an Independent Country. Currently I am reading the White Paper issued by the Government of Scotland titled "Scotland's Future". I am about 45% of the way through it and expect to reflect on it once I have finished it. Currently I am undecided as to how I will vote. That is why I am reading "Scotland's Future".
The Scottish Green Party supports Independence and they have issued a document which sets out their main reasons for supporting Independence. This blog is to reflect on this document.
Extracts from "A Green Yes" that I like:
Whichever way Scotland votes, the referendum will leave some people celebrating, and others deeply dismayed. It’s vital that celebration does not turn into divisive triumphalism. The result will be far more readily accepted by the losing side if the winners act with respect and a constructive spirit; that will be as difficult for some as losing would be. (page 4)
Oil and Gas
Some still make the case for a Yes vote with tired old slogans about “Scotland’s oil”. Even if there was no environmental consequence from burning fossil fuels, Scotland’s remaining reserves would only offer an economic future for a few more decades. Greens want an independent Scotland to be successful far longer than that!
But the hard truth, for all fossil fuel nations, is that we can’t even afford to burn what we have. The world has far more fossil fuel in existing reserves than can safely be used, if we’re remotely serious about preserving a liveable environment. So as well as opposing new extraction from deep-water oil drilling, opencast coal, and unconventional gas technology such as fracking, we need to leave a great deal of our oil and gas in the ground, or support a more diverse range of petrochemical uses which don’t involve greenhouse gas emissions.
Scotland has the skills to do that, and with the usable portion of oil and gas funding public investment in renewables to replace future revenue, we have the opportunity to make this transition rapidly. The UK will only ever see North Sea oil as a revenue source; Scotland could see it as a springboard, taking us from reliance on polluting and finite energy sources to the cleantech of the future. (page 6)
The document "A Green Yes" has the following section titles:
A Green Yes
Could Westminster Deliver?
Will Holyrood Deliver?
Transition
Developing a Constitution
Parliament and Democracy
Currency
Ending the 'Tyranny of Big'
Oil & Gas
Welfare
Closing the Wealth Gap
Peace & Security
Employment
Immigration/Asylum
The document is quite short, only 8 pages long. From reading this document the main points that I take away are:
They remind us that the White Paper sets out the current Government of Scotland's view on what should happen post independence but that post independence these policies would need to be decided democratically by whichever parties form a new government. To that end they state, "The development of a written constitution should be led by a new constitutional convention, to be established before the end of 2014, with political parties involved but not in sole charge.
"A Green Yes" suggests that the Government of Scotland should have a "Plan B" with regards to currency because in the longer term they expect Scotland to have it's own currency and as an interim measure having a "Plan B" would improve the negotiating position of the Government of Scotland when discussing a Currency Union with the Rest of the UK.
"A Green Yes" recognises that if every other oil producing nation in the world takes the view that it is their right and duty to produce every barrel of oil then there are significant implications with regards to climate change. Based on the above extract they seem to have a realistic view that Scotland will not shut down the oil wells the day after independence but are suggesting that after this Scotland should be striving to leave the oil in the ground and using what oil is produced as a springboard to "Cleantech of the future". The document is silent on Nuclear Power but I am not optimistic about the ability of the Scottish Green Party to embrace nuclear power.
"A Green Yes" has a strong emphasis on reducing inequality.
"A Green Yes" reminds me that when/if Scotland becomes an Independent Country that the expectations set out in "Scotland's Future" are uncertain. The future is like that. I would expect that some of the things that Government of Scotland wants will not come to pass or will only be achieved with greater than expected cost. Other things will go better than expected. If we want certainty we are in the wrong world.
I am still undecided about which way to vote in the referendum.
You can find "A Green Yes" at:
http://www.scottishgreens.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/11/Green-Yes-document.pdf
You can find "Scotland's Future" at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/11/9348
Dome City Blog 5 - Churches, mosques, synagogues & temples
We are coming to the end of the Easter Weekend as I write this. Therefore, it seems appropriate for me to comment on churches, mosques, synagogues and temples within the Dome City.
I believe that on balance religion is a power for good. As a practicing Christian I see the merit in having a set of beliefs and guides for living that encourage me to love my neighbour, to be honest and to be trustworthy.
If a Dome City is going to be a success it will need to be the sort of place people want to live. Having good neighbours is one of the factors that I would list as important to making a place somewhere that I want to live. Religion can play a role in this is 2 ways. The first is as a guide for peaceful living and the second is the way that religion brings people together for religious observations, celebrations and works.
Therefore, I would suggest that space be set aside for churches in the Dome City. In my mind, the obvious place for a Dome City in the UK would be near London. In Britian as a whole according to the Office of National Statistics, based on the 2011 census data, 59.3% stated that they are Christian, 25.1% of the population state that they have no religion, 7.2% did not respond to the question, 4.8% stated they are Muslim, 1.5% stated they were Hindu, 0.8% were Sikh, 0.5% were Jewish, 0.4% were Buddhist and 0.4% were other religions. If this were an accurate reflection of the people who chose to live in the Dome City it is clear to me that around 75% of the population would have a religious affiliation. Of course not all of them would be regular participants in their religious community but a reasonable number would be.
The data for the above paragraph was taken from http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171776_290510.pdf
In the spirit of interfaith pluralism I would suggest that the churches, mosques, synagogues and temples be placed close to each other, probably on the same level of the Dome City.
In Triumph of the City by Edward Glaeser it talks about a suburb of Houston called Woodlands. One of the things that intrigued me about this suburb is how the developer, George Phydias Mitchell, recognised the importance of religion for promoting social capital. The paragraph that captures this best for me has been extracted and is shown below:
One of the most interesting, and almost urban, aspects of The Woodlands’ management is its focus on social capital. The Woodlands works precisely because it is not a collection of isolated individuals; its social infrastructure has been designed to foster interpersonal connections. In 1975, Mitchell hired a Wharton-trained Lutheran minister to run The Woodlands Religious Community Incorporated, now called Interfaith, which was meant to “plan the religious community and all the human services in this new town.” The minister bought a motor scooter and followed moving vans , meeting new residents as they arrived. Interfaith made sure that The Woodlands provided appropriate space for social, particularly religious, activities. Because nothing sours an area like religiously motivated hatred, Interfaith makes sure that religious messages are kept positive. In the aftermath of the 9/ 11 attacks, Interfaith managed to get rabbis to pray for Palestinians and Islamic leaders to pray for Jews.
Glaeser, Edward (2011-03-18). Triumph of the City: How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier and Happier (pp. 181-182). Macmillan Publishers UK. Kindle Edition.
Aside - Those interested in energy matters like I am will recognise the name "George Phydias Mitchell", this is the man credited with developing the techniques to extract natural gas from tight shales using hydraulic fracturing (fracking). - end aside
I would hope that a UK Dome City would encourage the same sort of thing taking into account the differences between American and British religious views and practices.
Joe Heffernan 6-April-2015
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Thoughts on Prague
We just came back from a break in Prague. We had a good time by walking around a lot, eating & drinking and being with each other. Given my interest in dome cities what would I take away from the visit to guide me about my dome city design. This is a list of things go liked about Prague and I would hope that these things would be available (if required) in a dome city. 1 - Great walk ability 2 - green space easily accessible from the city centre 3 - affordability 4 - friendly and honest people 5 - good public transport 6 - a lively centre in the evenings with plenty of entertainment, bars and places to eat I will discuss these things more in future blogs.
How do you get through all your emails? I don't
Tonight I am feeling a bit down. I was working on my emails at home when I remembered an important email from a student that needed a reply. I first had to find the email which took a few minutes. I then looked out some information. I couldn't find the exact information I needed but I think I found enough to make a reasonable reply.
The student had written to me about resitting an exam in their home University. This is a pretty big deal because of the cost involved in travelling from her home country back to Paisley to take a 2 hour exam. There would probably be some accommodation and meals expenses also. The email I was responding to had come in on the 9th of December and I was replying on the 17th. Unfortunately, the 9th of December was beyond the cut off date for making an application to sit the exam outwith the University. I told her this, gave her some other information and even provided an alternative that might be a better solution. At that point I was thinking I have done as much as I can.
I then went to file her email and guess what I found? I found another email from the same student dated 3 October. I had never even opened this email. It must have gotten buried before I saw it. I am now feeling pretty down because had I picked up the first email the ideal solution could maybe have been implemented.
I do wish that this student had pestered me a bit more. I don't hold it against someone to send a second email if the first hasn't had a response. In addition, I have my phone and mobile numbers at the bottom of my emails. Why don't people pick up the phone or text more?
There isn't much more to say. After I finish writing this I have to go an email the student and say I am sorry but I don't think my words are really enough.
Geo-engineering with Nuclear Power - Biorock
Geo-engineering to me means man as a species doing something to change the whole world. It is of interest because it has been suggested that perhaps we could use geo-engineering to either mitigate or delay the impacts of climate change caused by our proliferate use of fossil fuels. Proposals range from the simple such as painting all roofs white to reduce the earth's albedo. To the grandiose of deploying large mirrors in space to reduce the the amount of solar radiation reaching the earth.
In this blog I wish to suggest nuclear power be used to undertake geo-engineering. I would like to think the proposal contained in this blog is at the simpler end of the geo-engineering scale. The proposal is to use a nuclear reactor to produce electricity that in turn would power Biorock coral reef growth and restoration. From Wikipedia - "Biorock, also known as Seacrete or Seament, is a trademark name used by Biorock, Inc. to refer to the substance formed by electro-accumulation of minerals dissolved in seawater." The nuclear power plant (NPP) would be the source of the electricity in this process.
In this proposal, a NPP would be located near the coast and provide electricity for the electro-accumulation. The wikipedia article suggests "that one kilowatt hour of electricity will result in the accretion of about 0.4 to 1.5 kg (0.9 to 3.3 lb) of biorock, depending on various parameters such as depth, electrical current, salinity and water temperature." The main components of biorock are mainly calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide, again as provided by the Wikipedia article.
The chemical formula for limestone, a major component of biorock is Calcium Carbonate (CaC03). Therefore one mole of CaCO3 weights (40g + 12g + 3*16g) = 100g. I don't know the typical ratio of calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide in biorock but let me guess it is 50% calcium carbonate and 50% magnesium hydroxide. Assume that 1 kw-hr of electricity will produce 0.4 kg of biorock which converts to 0.2 kg Calcium Carbonate. Therefore each 0.2 kg of Calcium Carbonate contains 24g of Carbon (Chemical symbol "C").
Now assume we build a NuScale SMR which has a nominal output of 45Mw electric with 90% availabilty and typical carbon lifecycle output of 16g CO2 per kw-hr which converts to 4.4g Carbon per kw-hr (4.4g = 16g *12/44). Therefore each kw-hr of electricity can remove 19.6g (24g - 4.4g = 19.6g) of Carbon from seawater. The NuScale reactor produces 45,000 * 0.9 = 40,500 kw electric over the life of the reactor. Therefore each year a NuScale reactor would remove (40,500 * 24 * 365)kw-hr * 19.6 g per kw-hr = around 7,000,000,000 grams or 7 million kg or 7000 tonnes of carbon per year. It is also expected that the new or repaired reefs will sequester further Calcium Carbonate by biologic means as corals reestablish
Is this worth doing? It turns out that according to Tesco the average British person has a carbon footprint of 15 tonnes of CO2 (around 4 tonnes carbon per year). Therefore, 1 NuScale plant will offset the carbon emissions of 1750 people. On this basis this doesn't seem a very sensible idea. That seems to me to be a large effort to offset the emission of 1750 Brits or 0.003% of the population. This shows just how hard it is to remove carbon from the world once we have dumped it by burning fossil fuels.
On the other hand some low lying topical islands might consider this a reasonable idea if it were to make their communities less vulnerable to storm surges or rising sea levels. The NuScale reactor would allow the production of around, 40,500 * 24 * 365 * 0.4 / 1000 = 141,912 tonnes of biorock per year. The typical density of limestone is around 2.5 tonnes per cubic metre. I will assume that biorock has the same density. Therefore, the NuScale reactor would allow around 56,000 cubic metres of biorock to be produced in a year. If the biorock were grown in a strip 100m wide and 1m thick each year around 560m of coastline could be protected.
The above is a very simple calculation with simple assumptions. I recognise that the above has not considered the carbon input required for the metal used to make the initial structure. It is my understanding that the biorock process can continue for many years as the biorock accumulates. There are probably other carbon inputs that I have missed. On the other hand some of the assumptions above are conservative. Two conservative assumptions are the production of biorock per kw-hr and the availability factor of 0.9 for the NuScale reactor. Both numbers could well be larger.
The next time I write about geo-engineering with nuclear power I will look at biochar.
Have a nice day.
WELL begun; half done. That proverbor, rather, its obverseencapsulates the problems which have dogged civil nuclear power since its inception. Atomic energy is...
This article from The economist magazine talks about using Thorium as a Nuclear Fuel instead of Uranium. Thorium has several advantages over Uranium and in the view of the author of this article the most important is the relative resistance to proliferation compared to Uranium. I learned a few things from this article. The things I learned was that the US did build a few bombs out of U233 which is the fissile element formed from the fertile Thorium. I was always a bit unsure as to whether or not any bombs had been built. The article also confirms my prior understanding that U233 makes a poor nuclear bomb material because of the presence of small amounts of other radioactive isotopes that emit hard gamma radiation that messes up the other mechanisms required for a bomb.
I had a nice swim with Colin and David tonight. It was high tide and very calm. I saw a few jellyfish. There was a rainbow at the start of the swim. I swam to the "yellow" pole. #inverclyde #openwaterswimming #Greenock #RWSABC #Scotland #esplanade (at The Royal West of Scotland Boat Club)
This is a blog where I can write those things that interest me, including but not limited to, Nuclear Power, Climate Change, Engineering, Open Water Swimming and Economics.
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