When it comes to the future of travel, many experts have looked beyond Earth to the cosmos, naming space tourism as the next big trend. But it turns out there’s another trend that’s quietly making waves on our home planet, targeting destinations beneath the sea instead of above the sky: underwater hotels. The trend has been dubbed “inner space tourism” by Tony Webb, managing director of the new Planet Ocean Underwater Hotel, which is in development after receiving a U.S. patent for its innovative design last year. Webb even describes the 12-room luxury submarine hotel, which will float about 30 feet beneath the ocean surface, as being “like the International Space Station.” Just like the ISS, the property presents an exciting opportunity to do some science.
Planet Ocean aims to donate 10 percent of its proceeds to coral reef restoration — and wherever the movable hotel is located, marine biologist Dr Thomas Goreau will grow a natural coral reef habitat in that same area. The plan includes relocations to various sites around the world. “One point of this is to try to link the tourism to improving the environment,” Goreau, president of the Global Coral Reef Alliance told. “We help people restore reefs and having hotels do something and be part of the solution would be great. So far, they’ve been part of the problem.” Indeed, about 58 percent of the world’s reefs are threatened by human activity, such as the coastal development of buildings or yachts causing reef damage, according to the United Nations Environment Program. Restoring reefs is possible, however. Goreau and his colleagues at the alliance invented the so-called biorock method, in which low-voltage electrical currents are used to stimulate the growth of reefs on limestone surfaces. “We can grow reef frameworks all around an underwater hotel, and put them down on flat sand,” Goreau said.
“We can grow reefs of any size and shape around those and that material is limestone. It’s the only marine construction material that gains strength with age.” Planet Ocean itself will only be positioned above the sand, so as to reduce any potential negative impacts on the environment, Eleanor Mitch, CEO of the hotel, told The Huffington Post. She added that non-corrosive and non-pollutant marine equipment will be used to build the hotel. Marine biologists will help the hotel to select the best sites to settle in, Mitch said. The underwater property also will make an effort to avoid hurricanes and any other weather-related risks. “We believe that the future of travel and tourism will be tailor-made experiences,” she said. “We also firmly believe in responsible travel and tourism, which means that local economies and the environment benefit from these activities. It has to be a win-win scenario.”
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The General Secretariat of the Central American Integration System (SG-SICA) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) today announced last week a strategic partnership on the creation of a Mesoamerican Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (MCREEE). During the next months, SG-SICA and UNIDO, with financial support of the Austrian Development Agency (ADA), will execute a consultative preparatory process to assess the added value, feasibility and best technical and institutional design for such a centre. The process will include the development of a needs assessment, consultative workshops, as well as the development of a project document on the centre’s first operational phase. Once established, the technical centre is expected to support the SICA Member States through targeted regional programmes and projects on sustainable energy in the areas of capacity development, knowledge management and exchange, technology innovation, policy and legislation, as well as investment and business promotion. It will also contribute to better technical coordination, donor harmonisation, long-term sustainability of project interventions, as well as the documentation of lessons learned. The centre will become part of the Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centers, a South-South multi-stakeholder partnership, coordinated by UNIDO in partnership with various regional organizations which are already working in other parts of the world, including in Africa, the Pacific and the Caribbean regions.
The nickel-63 isotope’s properties make it a very convenient basic element for tiny, safe and low-power batteries, also known as beta-voltaic cells, with a long service life of over 50 years. They can be used in pacemakers and also as self-contained power supply sources of space satellites. As nickel-63 does not exist in nature, it is obtained by irradiating nickel-62 isotopes with neutrons inside nuclear reactors. The resulting substance is later subjected to radio-chemical processing and is divided using gas centrifuges. A group of MISiS scientists headed by Professor Yury Parkhomenko, head of its faculty of semiconductor and dielectric materials studies, have developed a technology for making systems that convert the nickel-63 isotope’s beta-radiation energy into electric power on the basis of piezoelectric mono-crystals for use by self-contained AC beta-voltaic cells.
Prime minister Aleksandar Vučić met Ulrich Schumacher, chief executive of Zumtobel Group AG, supplier of integral lighting solutions, to discuss further successful cooperation and investment prospects. The Austrian company decided to move its project centre for Central and Eastern Europe from Poland to Serbia. After the first meeting with Schumacher in November, Zumtobel donated advanced street lighting to Niš and the capital city, the government in Belgrade said. The Austrian group’s head said the reasons for the decision were Serbia’s favourable geographic position, tax system, highly-skilled and well-educated workforce, capable of becoming part of big companies. There are plans for expansion of operations of the regional centre to entire Europe, Schumacher said. An ad for jobs in the company is open until March 4 for 15 electrical engineers and architects. In the second phase of development, the company plans to hire another 50 Serbian university graduates, according to the statement.
Sri Lanka has given indications it intends to significantly increase the share of renewable energy in its electricity generation by the end of the next decade. Secretary to the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs recently told media outlets that his government is considering increasing the share of renewable energy in electricity generation to 100% by 2030. The new consideration by the Sri Lankan Government represents a significant increase over the recently stated plans of the countries electricity utility. The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) proposed the Long-term Generation Expansion Plan 2015-2034. Sri Lanka’s installed power generation capacity at the end of 2014 was 3.9 GW, of which 11%, or 442 MW, is based on renewable energy capacity.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) signed on 17 February in Paris a memorandum of understanding (MoU) setting out the outlines of closer co-operation between the two organisations on projects of mutual interest in the energy field.