[Coral-List] Saving Venice etc.

[Iain Macdonald]

Dear Bill,
 
It would be nice if the link below was accessible to all.
 
One quick observation - Protocell like many game changing direct (artificial) solar to fuels/product technology is quite a long way to being mass produced / commerical. Biorock is a two stage sunlight - PV=electricity - product so probably isn't as efficient as the proposed methods but biorock has an advantage as it has already been applied as your link suggests(?). The processes involved are very different but not exclusive and certainly worth exploring further.
 
Two quick questions - why do "Corals and oysters grow faster and survive environmental stress better on Biorock structures"? What is the proven mechanism, something that's always interested me.
 
How well would biorock work in the waters around Venice? Certainly not as well as in the marine environment?
 
Iain Macd.

--- On Sun, 21/11/10, Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
Subject: [Coral-List] Saving Venice etc.
To: "coral-list coral-list" <Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Date: Sunday, 21 November, 2010, 15:46


Thomas J. Goreaugoreau at bestweb.net
Nature 468, 377 18 November 2010) doi: 10.1038/468377d
Published online 17 November 2010

Rachel Armstrong and Neil Spiller suggest that Venice's sinking
foundations might be supported by an artificial reef grown using
'protocells' that precipitate limestone from sea water (Nature 467,
916–918; 2010). The technology already exists to grow structures
rapidly from sea water, and this could be applied in Venice
immediately.

'Biorock' electrolysis of sea water has been used for nearly 35 years
in more than 20 countries to grow limestone structures of any size and
shape in sea water and brackish water (W. Hilbertz IEEE J. Oceanic
Eng. 4, 94–113; 1979).

Biorock products have a load-bearing strength of up to 80 newtons per
square millimetre (80 megapascals), around three times higher than
concrete made from ordinary Portland cement. Corals and oysters grow
faster and survive environmental stress better on Biorock structures.
These have helped to restore severely eroding beaches on atoll islands
within just a few years (for example, see
http://go.nature.com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/buyqjk).

-- 
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