The idea of going offshore to satisfy our renewable energy needs isn’t new, but the grand vision of Japan’s Shimizu Corporation goes way beyond harnessing green energy at sea for use in cities on Terra firma – it takes the whole city along for the ride. The company, along with the Super Collaborative Graduate School and Nomura Securities, is researching the technical issues involved in constructing its Green Float concept – a self-sufficient, carbon-negative floating city that would reside in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean.
The concept would comprise individual floating cells or districts resembling water lilies with a radius of 1km (0.62 miles) that would form a compact village that could house 10,000 to 50,000 people. Joining these districts together would form a city or module that would be home to 100,000 people, while a group of modules would form a country (though we assume there is some red tape involved before you get a seat at the U.N.).
