PACIFIC OCEAN INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION

A week ago I reported on two tiny signs of potential development for the Blue Revolution.  I also better described a concept I first introduced on 6 April 2019, a $150 billion Blue Revolution platform as the modern-day answer to the Apollo Project, which served to bankrupt the Soviet Union and end the Cold War, and the Manhattan Project, as an antidote to Hitler, terminating World War II.  

The threat today?  Global climate warming, which could well be that mythical World War III.  If international cooperation does not work, where Donald Trump is now the poster villain, all the potential geoengineering solutions just cost too much money, and some look downright frightening, where the mere introduction could lead to WWIII. I introduced this concept more than a decade ago in the Huffington Post.  The uniqueness of the proposed Pacific Ocean International Exposition is that the Blue Revolution should turn a profit, while preventing global warming, plus retarding hurricane formation.

The Seasteading Institute is already spearheading enterprises in the open ocean.  I wouldn't say their form of government will resemble Libertarianalism, but there definitely will be less government interference with business.  Their intention, too, is to start  each enterprise with profit in mind.

I've of course been dabbling with the Blue Revolution for at least 30 years, early on highlighted by a keynote presentation to the First Very Large Floating Structures Conference:

In 1991 Hawaii State Senator Richard Matsuura and I presented the first paper on the Blue Revolution, a concept that returns as the key to the future. (That was from The Huffington Post, but this blog site also had a posting on the subject.) 

Nearly a decade ago I met with Guy Toyama, and our discussion led to the formation of Blue Revolution Hawaii:

Guy's legacy might well be Blue Revolution Hawaii and the Pacific International Ocean Station.  A couple of years ago, we were having lunch in Kona when he mentioned how billionaire Gordon Moore had provided funds to initiate the Thirty Meter Telescope Project (TMT).  As Guy had an office at Keahole Point at the entrance of the NELHA, why not the Blue Revolution with support from a billionaire?  Thus was born Blue Revolution Hawaii, which proposed the Pacific International Ocean Station.  Guy created the presentation for PIOS, which I presented at the Seasteading Institute's conference in San Francisco.  

I'll soon report on how much that decade-long delay of the TMT cost Hawaii.

Blue Revolution Hawaii proposed the Pacific International Ocean Station (PIOS) to test out all the engineering and early business models for enterprises on a floating platform to be placed in the Hawaiian EEZ to the west of Oahu.  Half the $150 million cost will be for a 50 MW ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) facility, which will provide electricity, freshwater and nutrient deep-ocean cold water.  The architecture will be pioneering and is undergoing review.

There has been interaction with a variety of international academic (this photo is of Leighton Chong and I having lunch with Zhejiang Ocean University at Orchids), governmental, industrial and other organizations showing interest in this pre-commercial effort to develop sustainable products from the sea:  seafood, marine biopharmaceuticals, ocean biomass plantations, hydrogen, biofuels, etc.  An important facet is environmental:

• Can upwelling be utilized to remediate global warming?
• What are the prospects for a thousand 1000 MW ocean cities to be continuously supported by the available deep ocean water at 39 F?  There is more than enough warmer surface water.
• Will hurricane formation be retarded or prevented by raising the surface temperature a degree F or two?
• And what about hurricanes, for several of them yearly approach the potential site of PIOS?

Financing will determine the course of the project, and the first phase could well be the utilization of a 10 MW OTEC power plant with a segmental floating platform, which can be augmented over time.   Even at this first stage, there will be housing and support provided, with docking facilities.  This will be like the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority, but at sea.

Timing of the above?  2030.  Funding?  We need to find that visionary billionaire seeking a maritime legacy.  There are hordes of them now in space:  Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, Elon Musk's Space X, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic and Yuri Milner (left), who wants to know, are we alone in the Universe?

PIOS will pave the way for the Pacific Ocean International Exposition (POI Expo).  In that posting of a week ago I suggested the timing would be for POI Expo to be the site of the 2030 World's Fair.  Perhaps PIOS might want to consider that attraction, for on further reflection, my sense is that POI Expo will become functional around 2050.  In addition to the reality of how long things take to happen, the timing is particularly ideal, for the very first World Expo occurred in London in 1851, two centuries before.

It should take a decade for PIOS to fully develop the cornucopia of products and environmental enhancement thrusts capable of being drawn together for the Pacific Ocean International Exposition.  Various initiatives should be ready for full development by 2040, beginning with one 100 MW module.

By 2050, the power capacity should be up to 1000 MW, with a range of industries and entertainment attractions, and here to the right is an architectural concept advanced by Shimizu Corporation:

• Disney-at-Sea and/or Marine World and/or Ocean Kingdom (the largest ocean theme park is located in Hengqin Island, China)
• ultimate ocean ranches
• seafood products feeding at the lowest trophic level
• whale shark
• rabbit fish
• range of fish species nearing extinction to return to the wild
• marine 
• biomass plantations to provide feedstock for biofuels 
• terrestrial crops developed to grow in seawater 
• biopharmaceuticals 
• omega-3 fatty acids, particularly EPA and DHA
• anti-inflammatories
• anti-cancer medication
• more

2050 should be just about the right timeframe for Rinaldo Brutoco's Hydrogen Clipper to be fully commercial.  No reason why this next generation dirigible shouldn't be able to fly at 300 MPH (the Goodyear blimp plugs along at 50 MPH), taking less than eight hours to make it from San Francisco to POI Expo.  A thousand passengers can be dropped off with each flight, and the airship refueled with hydrogen, while hovering over the airport, which will be as large as a helicopter pad, for it will never actually land.

Worried about safety as influenced by the Hindenburg disaster?  Engineering studies show that hydrogen can be designed to be safer than jet fuel.  If what Toyota and Honda are developing with hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles are any indicator of promise, the Hydrogen Economy should be in full bloom by 2050.  While hydrogen flight is now in stall, the lowest weight for energy availability will someday prevail, especially as the waste product will be water, not carbon dioxide.  

It's pretty clear that the POI Expo will be located south of Hawaii at the equator, where  hurricanes will not be a problem.  Imagine the cost of having to buy land to build a colony for a million people, where freshwater,  farms, industries and complete infrastructure will be available.  Well, that ocean space is free, freshwater will be "free," and fertilizer (from upwelling) will be free.  Ocean transport is the lowest mode of shipping.  The energy will be renewable, meaning there will be carbon credits to gain by then, for the floating metropolis will enhance the environment.

The larger question is one of funding.  The threat of Hitler and Soviet Union spurred the Manhattan and Apollo Projects.  The U.S. government paid for both.  Global warming looms to be at least as menacing.  Five years ago the International Energy Agency suggested a cost of $44 trillion.  Last year year this price went up to  $54 trillion.  But that is only to prevent a 1.5 C temperature increase.  Bring that up to $551 trillion for a need to combat 3.7 C.

From Axios:

There's $500 trillion of wealth on planet Earth, give or take: Maybe $230 trillion in land and property, $200 trillion in debt and $70 trillion in equity.

In perspective, the Manhattan Project would cost $30 billion today.  Apollo Project?  $300 billion.  Thus, POI Expo at $150 billion is in the range of those two other monumental efforts.

Global warming is a coming global calamity, so the USA will not be alone this time.  Also, too, if POI Expo promises profits, then the private sector should want to get involved.  Amazon and Apple are both worth around $800 billion today.  But companies have risk-averse boards.

The opportunity of a future trillionaire to spearhead this challenge becomes obvious.  The first will not come along for another quarter century, but the timing is right for those individuals to take the leadership role.

Next, the Ultimate Blue Revolution.  Remember, more than 70% of Planet Earth is covered with water.  The graphic to the right comes from a friend who passed away two decades ago, Athelstan Spilhaus.  What if our oceans some day support a thousand ocean cities and industrial parks, and more?  When?  More details tomorrow.

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