Energy_Animal concept 3D prototype

Energy_Animal video coming soon!

Model now available on Google 3D warehouse, download this free model.
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Nomadic Museum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomadic_Museum

The Nomadic Museum is a temporary structure used to house the Ashes and Snow photography and film exhibition by Gregory Colbert. The first Nomadic Museum, designed by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban and engineers Buro Happold, debuted with the opening of Ashes and Snowin New York City in March 2005. The museum then traveled to Santa Monica, California, in 2006, Tokyo in 2007, and Mexico City in 2008.

Carbon structures

We have seen in a couple of other post interesting structures, inspiring for Open_Sailing Instinctive Architecture, and Nomadic_Ecosystems. These structures are used for fish farms, design of oil rigs etc.
These ones are carbon alotropes.

Eight structures made of carbon: diamond, graphite, Buckminsterfullerene, C540, C70, amorphous carbon, and single-walled carbon nanotube

Using the same element (in this case carbon), different arrangements can result in wholly different structures known as allotropes.  From Wikipedia:

For example, carbon has 3 common allotropes: diamond, where the carbon atoms are bonded together in a tetrahedral lattice arrangement, graphite, where the carbon atoms are bonded together in sheets of a hexagonal lattice, and fullerenes, where the carbon atoms are bonded together in spherical, tubular, or ellipsoidal formations.

I love the permutations and simplicity and am imagining an art practice that restricts itself chemically.  It would be known as “Atomic Minimalism” and artists would restrict themselves to single elements, varying only their structure.

Thanks to http://www.jeffreythompson.org/blog/tag/chemistry/

Very nice collection of pictures about wave power researches :

http://science.gallery.youngester.com/2009/06/renewable-energy-from-ocean.html

Power is currently being harvested from the ocean in two different ways:

There are three basic ways to tap the ocean for its energy. We can use the ocean's waves, we can use the ocean's high and low tides, or we can use temperature differences in the water. Let's take a look at each.

Wave Energy

Kinetic energy (movement) exists in the moving waves of the ocean. That energy can be used to power a turbine. In this simple example, to the right, the wave rises into a chamber. The rising water forces the air out of the chamber. The moving air spins a turbine which can turn a generator.

When the wave goes down, air flows through the turbine and back into the chamber through doors that are normally closed.

This is only one type of wave-energy system. Others actually use the up and down motion of the wave to power a piston that moves up and down inside a cylinder. That piston can also turn a generator.

Most wave-energy systems are very small. But, they can be used to power a warning buoy or a small light house.

Tidal Energy

Pictures of La Rance Tidal Station Another form of ocean energy is called tidal energy. When tides comes into the shore, they can be trapped in reservoirs behind dams. Then when the tide drops, the water behind the dam can be let out just like in a regular hydroelectric power plant.

Tidal energy has been used since about the 11th Century, when small dams were built along ocean estuaries and small streams. the tidal water behind these dams was used to turn water wheels to mill grains.

In order for tidal energy to work well, you need large increases in tides. An increase of at least 16 feet between low tide to high tide is needed. There are only a few places where this tide change occurs around the earth. Some power plants are already operating using this idea. One plant in France makes enough energy from tides (240 megawatts) to power 240,000 homes.

This facility is called the La Rance Station in France. It began making electricity in 1966. It produces about one fifth of a regular nuclear or coal-fired power plant. It is more than 10 times the power of the next largest tidal station in the world, the 17 megawatt Canadian Annapolis station.

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)

The idea is not new. Using the temperature of water to make energy actually dates back to 1881 when a French Engineer by the name of Jacques D'Arsonval first thought of OTEC. The final ocean energy idea uses temperature differences in the ocean. If you ever went swimming in the ocean and dove deep below the surface, you would have noticed that the water gets colder the deeper you go. It's warmer on the surface because sunlight warms the water. But below the surface, the ocean gets very cold. That's why scuba divers wear wet suits when they dive down deep. Their wet suits trapped their body heat to keep them warm.

Power plants can be built that use this difference in temperature to make energy. A difference of at least 38 degrees Fahrenheit is needed between the warmer surface water and the colder deep ocean water.

Advantages of Tidal and Wave Generators

Today’s most promising water-based generators operate something like floating wind turbines anchored to the sea floor. Moving ocean water creates pressure that turns a hydraulic turbine, which in turn is linked to a generator that converts the hydraulic energy into electricity.

Ocean-powered generators have important advantages over both conventional forms of power and other renewable energy alternatives, such as wind and solar power. Ocean-generated energy is:

* Clean. Unlike coal, oil, or nuclear energy, the electricity produced by tidal or wave generators is emission free. Powering houses with ocean-generated electricity could potentially save millions of tons of carbon emissions each year.

* Unobtrusive. Ocean-borne generators ride the waves without protruding above the water’s surface, so they don’t obstruct views the way today’s huge wind turbines can.

* Consistent. Waves and tidal movements are predictable and occur all year round, so ocean generators aren’t affected by clouds or seasonal changes as solar collectors are.

Moving from Experimental Technology to Commercial Reality

Wave and tidal generators are currently in advanced phases of testing or initial commercial operation in several locations around the world. A tidal current generator developed by Sea Generation Ltd. began operating in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough in June, 2007, with a potential capacity of 1.2 megawatts. A wave farm consisting of three generators built by Pelamis Wave Power opened off Portugal in September, 2008. Operating at full capacity, the farm can generate enough electricity to power more than 1,500 houses. Both of those projects, though, have been dogged by technical problems caused by the harsh ocean environment.

British company Checkmate Seaenergy developed a new, simpler generator, the Anaconda Wave Energy Converter, to help combat breakdowns caused by the corrosive effects of seawater. While the Seagen and Pelamis turbines are primarily made of metal, the Anaconda is made mainly from fabric and rubber.

A small-scale Anaconda generator has just completed testing in a tank in Hampshire, England. If the tests prove successful, larger versions of the power generator will be tested in the ocean. Checkmate Seaenergy, the Anaconda’s maker, hopes to have wave generators in commercial production by 2014.

Future Prospects for Renewable Energy from the Ocean

Many governments have set ambitious targets for generating electricity from renewable sources. The European Union plans to generate 20% of its electricity from renewables by the year 2020. The United States recently set a target of generating 25% of all electricity renewably by 2025.

As with many new technologies, getting the funding to overcome technical problems and test new installations is one of the major obstacles standing between ocean-power generation and commercial success. Even in a difficult economic climate, the new water-powered generators are promising enough that governments and private companies are pressing ahead with plans to generate a small but significant part of their electricity needs from the ocean.

Generating technologies for deriving electrical power from the ocean include tidal power, wave power, ocean thermal energy conversion, ocean currents, ocean winds and salinity gradients. Of these, the three most well-developed technologies are tidal power, wave power and ocean thermal energy conversion. Tidal power requires large tidal differences which, in the U.S., occur only in Maine and Alaska. Ocean thermal energy conversion is limited to tropical regions, such as Hawaii, and to a portion of the Atlantic coast. Wave energy has a more general application, with potential along the California coast. The western coastline has the highest wave potential in the U.S.; in California, the greatest potential is along the northern coast.

Energy

California has more than 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) of coastline, and the combined average annual deep water wave power flux is over 37,000 megawatts (MW) of which an upper limit of about 20 percent could be converted into electricity. This is sufficient for about 23 percent of California's current electricity consumption. However, economics, environmental impacts, land-use and grid interconnection constraints will likely impose further limits to how much of the resource can be extracted. Although technology is still at a relatively immature pilot project stage, economic projections indicate that ocean energy could become cost-competitive over the long-term.

Current Pilot Projects

In the spring of 2009, the Sonoma County Water District applied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for three wave project preliminary permits. The projects will be located in state waters offshore Del Mar Landing (the northwestern portion of the county) and off Fort Ross further to the south. Each of the three projects would begin as pilots in the two to five megawatt (MW) range, could potentially expand to commercial facilities in the 40-200 MW range, and would include substations, transmission lines, appurtenant facilities, and submersible electric cables.

With these applications, the total number of FERC permits and applications for wave and tidal projects in California waters totals twelve.

Wave Energy

Wave energy conversion takes advantage of the ocean waves caused primarily by interaction of winds with the ocean surface. Wave energy is an irregular and oscillating low-frequency energy source that must be converted to a 60-Hertz frequency before it can be added to the electric utility grid.

Although many wave energy devices have been invented, only a small proportion have been tested and evaluated. Furthermore, only a few have been tested at sea, in ocean waves, rather than in artificial wave tanks.

As of the mid-1990s, there were more than 12 generic types of wave energy systems. Some systems extract energy from surface waves. Others extract energy from pressure fluctuations below the water surface or from the full wave. Some systems are fixed in position and let waves pass by them, while others follow the waves and move with them. Some systems concentrate and focus waves, which increases their height and their potential for conversion to electrical energy.

A wave energy converter may be placed in the ocean in various possible situations and locations. It may be floating or submerged completely in the sea offshore or it may be located on the shore or on the sea bed in relatively shallow water. A converter on the sea bed may be completely submerged, it may extend above the sea surface, or it may be a converter system placed on an offshore platform. Apart from wave-powered navigation buoys, however, most of the prototypes have been placed at or near the shore

The visual impact of a wave energy conversion facility depends on the type of device as well as its distance from shore. In general, a floating buoy system or an offshore platform placed many kilometers from land is not likely to have much visual impact (nor will a submerged system). Onshore facilities and offshore platforms in shallow water could, however, change the visual landscape from one of natural scenery to industrial

The incidence of wave power at deep ocean sites is three to eight times the wave power at adjacent coastal sites. The cost, however, of electricity transmission from deep ocean sites is prohibitively high. Wave power densities in California's coastal waters are sufficient to produce between seven and 17 megawatts (MW) per mile of coastline

According to the European Union, "Among the different converters capable of exploiting wave power, the most advanced is unquestionably the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter, a kind of "undulating sea serpent" developed by Ocean Power Delivery. This technology is the object of a commercial contract for installation of a farm in Portugal. In 2007, three machines, with a total capacity of 2.25 megawatts (MW(, are in installation phase, and should be joined by 27 others in the years to come. Another 5 MW project is being studied for England this time."

None of these plants are located in California, although economic feasibility studies have been performed for a 30 MW wave converter to be located at Half Moon Bay. Additional smaller projects have been discussed at Fort Bragg, San Francisco and Avila Beach. There are currently no firm plans to deploy any of these projects

As of the mid-1990s, wave energy conversion was not commercially available in the United States. The technology was in the early stages of development and was not expected to be available within the near future due to limited research and lack of federal funding. Research and development efforts are being sponsored by government agencies in Europe and Scandinavia

Many research and development goals remain to be accomplished, including cost reduction, efficiency and reliability improvements, identification of suitable sites in California, interconnection with the utility grid, better understanding of the impacts of the technology on marine life and the shoreline. Also essential is a demonstration of the ability of the equipment to survive the salinity and pressure environments of the ocean as well as weather effects over the life of the facility

Permitting Issues. Some of the issues that may be associated with permitting an ocean wave energy conversion facility include:

* Disturbance or destruction of marine life (including changes in the distribution and types of marine life near the shore)

* Possible threat to navigation from collisions due to the low profile of the wave energy devices above the water, making them undetectable either by direct sighting or by radar. Also possible is the interference of mooring and anchorage lines with commercial and sport-fishing.

* Degradation of scenic ocean front views from wave energy devices located near or on the shore, and from onshore overhead electric transmission lines

Tidal Energy

Another form of ocean energy is called tidal energy. When tides comes into the shore, they can be trapped in reservoirs behind dams. Then when the tide drops, the water behind the dam can be let out just like in a regular hydroelectric power plant.

Tidal energy has been used since about the 11th Century, when small dams were built along ocean estuaries and small streams. the tidal water behind these dams was used to turn water wheels to mill grains.

In order for tidal energy to work well, you need relateivel large increases in tides. An increase of at least 16 feet between low tide to high tide is generally needed. There are only a few places where this tide change occurs around the earth. Some power plants are already operating using this idea.

According to the European Union:

"Ninty percent of today's worldwide ocean energy production is represented by a single site: the La Rance Tidal Power Plant (240 MW) that was commissioned in 1966. This type of installation has remained unique in the world and has only been reproduced at much smaller capacities in Canada (20 MW), China (5 MW) and Russia (0.4 MW).

"This type of project was abandoned for many years because of very high initial investment costs as well as the strong local impact that results from it. However, the present economic situation has encouraged South Korea to build a 260 MW dam closing off Sihwa Lake, which is set to be commissioned in 2009. Lighter new techniques, like hydro turbines, are being developed today to harness ocean currents. The leader in this field, the British company, Marine Current Turbine (MCT), should install 1.2MW in Northern Ireland following its 300 kW pilot project in Bristol Bay."

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)

The idea of using the temperature of water to make energy actually dates back to 1881 when a French Engineer by the name of Jacques D'Arsonval first thought of OTEC. The final ocean energy idea uses temperature differences in the ocean. If you ever went swimming in the ocean and dove deep below the surface, you would have noticed that the water gets colder the deeper you go. It's warmer on the surface because sunlight warms the water. But below the surface, the ocean gets very cold. That's why scuba divers wear wet suits when they dive down deep. Their wet suits trapped their body heat to keep them warm.

Power plants can be built that use this difference in temperature to make energy. A difference of at least 38 degrees Fahrenheit is needed between the warmer surface water and the colder deep ocean water. The cold ocean water can also be used to cooling buildings, and desalinated water is often a by-product.

Related articles

• Green Hydrokinetic Power - Online (forcedgreen.com)
• The Wave Motors of California (hermenaut.org)
• Ocean Power Gets Fast Track (scientificamerican.com)
• Solar power heats up energy possibilities (cnn.com)

Robot Fish Farms Under Development

http://gnews.com/science/Robot-Fish-Farms-Under-Development-2009082014450873.html

Scientists looking at the problem of overfishing have come up with a bizarre solution – giant robotic cages that would roam the oceans farming fish for human consumption. 

National Geographic magazine has reported that engineers and scientists in some of the world’s top institutions are working on designs for the autonomous fish farms. Remote-controlled prototypes have already been built. 

Experts argue that this method of fish farming would produce more healthy and sustainable fish stocks at a time of great environmental concern – the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization recently warned that 70 per cent of all the worlds’ fisheries are finding it extremely hard to replenish themselves at current catch rates. 

Concerns over depleted natural fish stocks have meant that fish farming is increasingly seen as an alternative. A standard fish farm comprises a series of cages in shallow, calm coastal waters, but these are often susceptible to disease and poor hygiene. 

This is why the concept of ‘smart’ cages allowed to roam autonomously in deeper waters are being researched by institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Offshore Aquaculture Engineering Center (OAEC). 

The OAEC’s director Cliff Goudey is making self-propelled cages which can be remotely-controlled by operators on a boat. He hopes that these automated cages could usher in a new era of fish farming. 

“Why don’t we just go with the flow and behave more like the way a large school of fish behaves?” he asked the magazine. “I think most people would agree that would have a far less negative impact on the environment. I think the idea of mobile operations will be a natural evolution.” 

Biological news posted by Daniel Coysh on Thursday, August 20, 2009

The World in a Shell

http://www.v2.nl/events/world-in-a-shell

Art container begins world tour in Rotterdam: traveling artist Hans Kalliwoda will camp out in a container on the property of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) in Rotterdam’s Museumpark.

Of all the shipping containers that will pass through Rotterdam this year, artist Hans Kalliwoda’s The World in a Shell will undoubtedly be the most striking. From March 25 through April 18, the traveling artist will camp out in a container on the property of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (NAi) in Rotterdam’s Museumpark. But “container” isn’t really the right word – The World in a Shell is a high-tech mobile house that can be converted into a museum, movie theatre or laboratory. In the next five years, the container will carry Hans Kalliwoda to 11 UNESCO world heritage sites scattered across all the continents.

For five years, Hans Kalliwoda and Delft University of Technology worked on the technical development of the shell-shaped container, in which he will have to survive in climates ranging from polar to tropical. Sustainability is a central concern. The World in a Shellgenerates its own electricity, recycles water, and is generally as self-sufficient as possible. But in the age of globalization, sustainability is also a social and cultural issue. On his around-the-world trip, Hans Kalliwoda will organize cultural activities for and by local populations. He will take the results away with him in the container, amassing an ever-growing worldwide exhibition that will bring different peoples into contact with each other.

The World in a Shell will premiere in Rotterdam, thereby starting its journey. Since art, technology and architecture come together In the container, the Netherlands Architecture Institute and V2_Institute for the Unstable Media are joining forces to organize a number of activities in and around the container. There will be workshops and a seminar on sustainability in art, architecture and science on April 1 at V2_. Follow Hans Kalliwoda's journey at http://www.worldinashell.net, or drop by The World in a Shell!

Because, technology and architecture coincide in The World in a Shell, the NAi and V2_ are joining forces to organize a number of activities in and around the container:

Official Opening: The World in a Shell

March 27 | 17:00 | NAi Museumpark 25, Rotterdam

Seminar: Art-Architecture-Science Collaboration in Sustainability

With Ute Meta Bauer, Robert Zwijnenberg, Han Brezet and Hans Kalliwoda

April 1 | 19:30 | Admission: € 7,50 | V2_, Eendrachtsstraat 10, Rotterdam | Reservation required

Workshop: The Power of Logic Versus the Logic of Power

With Ion Sorvin (N55) and Anne Romme

April 2 | 10:00–18:00 | Admission: € 20,00 (€ 15,00 in combination with the Seminar) | Reservation required

Urban Adventure: A Walk in the Invisible City

With Petr Kazil and Wilfried Houjebek

April 9 | 16:00–18:00 | Admission: € 5,00 | Reservation required

For all reservations please contact Joris van Ballegooijen

The World in a Shell is made possible with the support of: 

Mondriaan Foundation, Prins Bernhard Cultuur Fonds, SNS Reaal Fonds, Stichting Doen, UNESCO.

Partners:

TU Delft, NAi, Blindpainters

Very large floating structure

amazing pdf here (8.8 mb): 20091222very large floating structures. pdf>
Also check the Wikipedia article : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_large_floating_structure
That's where we are going, with many little modules, pre-brocken structure.
Some other links :
http://www.jtc.gov.sg/resources/archiveperiscope/periscope_2008_04/focus/article03.htm

why not ?

City Symbiosis

02-16-2009 : http://www.thefunctionality.com/blog/2009/2/16/city-symbiosis.html

Michael Rakowitz is not an architect, but he has probably made more houses than many architects in the last ten years. Architects should be envious of the artist's production and vision. He is working with the margins of society. His project Parasite uses a building's heat exhaust to inflate plastic sheeting, creating dwellings for the homeless. For Rakowitz the project is about community involvement as well as dwelling design. He is responsive to the needs of his "clients."

Courtesy Michael Rakowitz

Bill S.’s paraSITE shelter. He requested as many windows as possible, because “homeless people don’t have privacy issues, but they do have security issues. We want to see potential attackers, we want to be visible to the public.” Six windows are placed at eye level for when Bill is seated and six smaller windows for when Bill is reclining.

The article on these structure at World Changing highlights the social impact of his projects. The social agenda is remincient of Archigram, Archizoom and the social idealist and critics of the sixties,where the concept of building was challanged to mean utopian spaces, inflatable huts, or technological phenomena in the guise of a natural environment.

Copyright David Green - Courtesy Archigram

Projects like the living pod,above, imagines a green field condition where the building tapped into site resources to make its own place. Parasite deals with the roughness and tactics of city dwelling. These structures are deployable in the aims of allowing their inhabitants to move when they are at the limits of the law.

At The Functionality we want to encourage this type of tactical thinking. Architects, artists, urban designers, even graphic designers need to re-examine how we will approach the city, our suburbs and even our housing as the economic and environmental conditions unfold. We think the sooner we start the better off we will be.

These are the technical drawing for the pulleys and the roller mechanism made by Gerard Rallo.

This is going to be construct in Berlin in the next week in Atelier KW (where the Biomass Production Module is build too)

Energy_Animal update

So here's an update by Gerard Rallo and Antonio Carvalho Fernandes,  nice 3D renders ! Original .3DS file 1 | Original .3DS file 2 | original images

So the Energy_Animal now is more modular, in order to be able to upgrade and maitain it part by part, without having to change the entire thing.



This Energy_Animal is placed on little legs to be usable on land too.







And this fantastic presentation by Antonio Carvalho Fernandes.