A LETTER OF INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE BLUE REVOLUTION

I've been thinking about how to gain funding for the Blue Revolution since around 1990.  Blue Revolution Hawaii was organized around a dozen years ago.  My TEDx talk of December 2021 introduces the concept.  If asked, here is a letter of introduction:

Dear 

A pioneering group in Hawaii called Blue Revolution Hawaii has spent the past decade developing the foundation for a new concept to save Planet Earth and Humanity, while providing free enterprise profit and enhancement of the marine environment.  The monumental accomplishments of society have been for war (Manhattan Project) and world dominance (Apollo Project).  In the meantime, global warming has become a serious threat. 

In the ocean around us is the solution to remediating the Greenhouse Effect and preventing the formation of hurricanes. All geoengineering concepts currently seem focused on goading Mother Nature at astronomical cost. 

Around the world, at a depth of 1000 meters, the deep water temperature is around 4 C.  If brought to the surface, combined with the warmer temperature, electricity can be generated.  Further, this fluid is pathogen-free and rich in nutrients in the exact ratio needed to regenerate growth at the surface. 

Next generation fisheries and marine biomass plantations can be supported with this "free" fertilizer.  The macro/micro algae growth  can be converted into biofuels and other bio-products.  The total system for clean energy production provides baseload electricity and a sel-sustainable opportunity for a cornucopia of commodities, including freshwater.

This is the BLUE REVOLUTION awaiting imaginative leadership for someone seeking a legacy.  There are three phases:

1. A grant of $75,000 to the University of Hawaii to host a summit for interested billionaires and their staff in Hawaii to produce a strategic plan for the Blue Revolution.
2. $150 million to build  the Pacific International Ocean Station--a floating experimental facility--by 2030 in the Hawaiian EEZ, where the deep ocean and surface waters will be used to generate electricity and produce freshwater through ocean thermal energy development (OTEC).  

1. This effluent will then be maintained in the photic zone where the marine growth cycle can be initiated to start next generation fisheries and marine biomass plantations.  
2. On the platform, technology transfer activities will develop novel ways to produce hydrogen, biofuels, biopharmaceuticals and a range of potential products.  
3. Techniques will be tested to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  
4. At this early stage, hurricanes actually pose a problem, but if enough of these ultimate plant ships are placed in sites where they form, ocean storms can be ameliorated.

3. $150 billion to establish the first floating city and industrial park complement to host a million people.

1. Port headquarters in Honolulu Harbor at the Aloha Tower.  
2. The 2050 World Expo will be hosted on this marine city, 200 hundred years after the first held in London.  
3. The floating structure will be towed near the equator, where early future metropolises will be located.  Hurricanes do not get close to the equator.  
4. With control of hurricanes, many of these ocean cities can be located at more desirable sites.
5. In time, there could well be a 1000 floating countries, each with its own governance and lifestyle.  Hope the United Nations can mature to handle this crowd.

The following references provide details:

• A powerpoint presentation by Patrick Takahashi, who wrote the original OTEC bill when he worked for Senator Spark Matsunaga.
• Chapter 4 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth.
• From the Huffington Post:

• Blue Revolution
• The Ultimate Ocean Ranch

About a decade ago I endowed my penthouse to the University of Hawaii to start the Blue Revolution program on the Manoa Campus.  It has been awaiting cost-matching so we can begin to operate.

The key to the Blue Revolution is this imaginative billionaire, or, hopefully an armada of them.  Here is a blog site on this subject. 

• The number of billionaires in the world varies according to what is considered in their worth.  Here is a realistic list which shows:
• 2863 billionaires
• Top ten countries
• USA  724
• China  698
• India  140
• Germany 136
• Russia 117
• 
  Hong Kong has the most billionaires/million people, with almost 9.  The U.S., for example only as 2/million.  The world average is 0.35.
• CEOWorld Magazine updated the above and listed Elon Musk at $220 billion as the richest person, with Jeff Bezos #2 with $177 billion.  #100 is Donald Bren of the U.S. has a worth of $19 billion.

Many of the adventurous rich dream of conquering outer space.  I've had this dilemma because I think, at this stage of development for society, we need to focus on what we need on this globe first.  So why can't we do both, for there remains some concern that we might be the only intelligent life in the Universe, and we need to assure for our continued existence by expanding our presence

There is that global warming inconvenience, of course.  But what if there is a higher order opportunity that incorporates reducing the Greenhouse Effect?

The ocean is that vast unknown and potential site for the cornucopia of benefits:  sustainable products and energy, next generation fisheries, reversing global warming, preventing hurricanes, establishing marine cities and the like.  The would be the Blue Revolution.

So at this initiation stage, Blue Revolution Hawaii seeks $75,000 to host that first billionaire's summit to justify $500,000 to begin serious planning for the Pacific International Ocean Station (PIOS), which is currently estimated to cost $150 million when commissioned in 2030.  For additional information:

• Contact Patrick Takahashi at PatKenTak@hotmail.com.
• Details can be found at 2020 Blue Revolution Hawaii

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BILLIONAIRES

How does anything magnificently monumental happen?  More recently, wars inspired the USA to change the world with two incredible accomplishments:  The Manhattan Project and the Apollo Project.  The former was to beat Hitler build an atomic bomb, leading to victory in World War II, and latter to bankrupt the Soviet Union to end the Cold War.

The first one listed above, the Transcontinental Railroad, was built by three private companies over public lands provided by government grants and financed by state and federal subsidy bonds.  The leader of the organization was Leland Stanford, who went on to found Stanford University.  Hoover Dam was financed by a $140 million mortgage loan from the U.S. Treasury, and was finally paid off in 1987.  President Herbert Hoover pushed the bill in Congress during the great depression.  He was in the Pioneer Class of 1891 at Stanford, and that tower is named for him.  

However, he makes all the lists for worst presidents of U.S.  Here he is #9 and Donald Trump is #2.  With Trump at the bottom are usually Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan. Incidentally, by far, Trump has been the richest president, and only billionaire, with Washington #2, Jefferson #3 and Hoover #8.

In this 21st century we are now threatened by global warming, and it will take the combined efforts of the entire world to overcome this problem.  While there has been some progress, the danger is perhaps too subtle that we will probably need something fearsome like tens of millions one hot summer dying to catalyze any real solution.  I have suggested The Venus Syndrome to throw a two-by-four clout into the fray.

Billionaires seem to be romantically spurred by outer space, in particular the colonization of Mars.  It's their money, and as my posting on THE ULTIMATE EVOLUTION OF LIFE indicated, perhaps they are rightfully being foresightful.

Personally, I think it is premature to spend so much money today to do what we might need to do some time in the future, like a millennium from now.  We have urgent current needs on Planet Earth today, and the Blue Revolution offers an opportunity to accomplish so many things for the benefit of both our economy and environment, while creating commodities for profit.  Watch my TEDx talk of a few months ago.

Simply:

• A thousand meters deep in the ocean is a FREE cold water resource capable of providing electricity, freshwater, hydrogen, range of sustainable bioproducts, exciting living habitats and the potential for both remediating climate warming and preventing the formation of hurricanes.

• 
  Envisioned is a simple two-step process leading to perhaps a thousand nations at sea someday:
• $150 million to build and operate the Pacific International Ocean Station to develop the science, technology and pre-commercialization of enterprises for next generation fisheries, marine biomass plantations and assortment of sustainable options.
• By 2050, $150 billion to build the first ocean city to host the 2050 World Ocean Expo.

But the big question is how to get to even step one.  Governments and companies are just not capable of investing such sums.  The one answer is a billionaire or two or more.

Since Blue Revolution Hawaii formed a dozen years ago, we determined that the optimal, and maybe only, pathway was through an inspired billionaire.  The individual who suggested this strategy was Guy Toyama, who unfortunately passed away a decade ago at the age of 42.  From my remembrance:

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.  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.  

Axios just published:  China is making new billionaires much faster than the U.S.

• China and the U.S. together have 55% of the world's known billionaires.
• China as 1133 to the U.S.'s 716, with a growth rate three times that of America.
• China has three cities with the most billionaires.  New York City is #4.
• 60-70% of all female billionaires in the World are from China.
• However, the American billionaires control 32% of all combine wealth, compared to China's 27%.
• The total market cap of Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet are equivalent to the top 500 most valuable non-state controlled companies in China.

Forbes annually ranks billionaires.  Curently:

• #1    Elon Musk  $266 B  U.S.
• #2    Jeff Bezos  $191 B  U.S.
• #3    Bernard Arnault  $172 B  France
• #4    Bill Gates  $135 B  U.S.
• #5    Warren Buffett  $126 B  U.S.
• #6 - #9 from the U.S.
• #10  Mukesh Ambani  $96 B  India
• #16  Zhong Shanshan  $71 B  China
• #27  Zhang Yiming  $50 B  China
• #100  Li Xiting  $17 B  Singapore
• #200  Stefano Pessina  $10 B  Monaco
• #300  Stewart and Lynda Resnick  $8 B  U.S.
• #400  Philippe Laffont  $7 B  U.S.
• #500  Huang Yi  $6 B  Hong Kong
• #600  Marc Rowan  $5 B  U.S.

Donald Trump was still a billionaire last year at $2.5 billionaire, but missed making the Forbes Top 400 billionaires list for the first time in 25 years.  He has apparently lost $600 million since the pandemic started.  Forbes also indicated that his debt total now is $1.3 billion.  However, various sources, all saying that it is essentially impossible to accurately determine how much he is really worth, nevertheless seem to also say that as of this month he is a billionaire.

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JEFF BEZOS

One of the difficulties of securing mega-sums for the Blue Revolution is that billionaires seem enamored of outer space...like many of us were.  You've heard about their dreams:

• South-African-Canadian-American billionaire Elon Musk,^[3] behind SpaceX and a project to colonize Mars.^[4][1]
• American billionaire Jeff Bezos, behind Blue Origin and establishing a true industrial base in space.^[4][2][1]

• British billionaire Richard Branson,^[3] behind Virgin Galactic/Virgin Orbit and space tourism, low-cost small orbital launchers, and intercontinental suborbital transit.^[4][2][1]

• Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, backing the Breakthrough Starshot project for an interstellar probe.^[5]

But there are 2816 billionaires out there, with a wealth of $11.2 trillion.  Some of them surely must have the imagination to accomplish something especially magnificent for Humanity on Planet Earth.

A few years ago one of us compared himself with Elon Musk, perhaps with a tinge of sarcasm.  How stupid.  If he had any possible interest in the Blue Revolution, that went with that posting, for there was deprecation of space as a viable field of current investment.  The wonder of space is the vastness and uncertainty.  There is something about childhood romance and imagination that deserves pursuit.

One of us worked for NASA on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, but subsequently felt that space exploration involving real people and billions of bucks was both dangerous and not a smart way to spend your money.  There are too many other more important priorities.  The Apollo Project was an almost necessary policy decision that helped end the Cold War.

We avoided nuclear holocaust through  this space adventure, but there was a compelling political reason.  Here we went again, but some of us don't see space being profitable for at least a century, and perhaps millennium.  Fine if you are rich and seek this seeming ultimate adventure, but not ideal for saving Planet Earth and Humanity.  Yes, someday possibly necessary, but not today, nor for the next century.  Well, perhaps we haven't yet learned our lesson.

Of course, many billionaires will live out their dreams, for they deserve and can afford it.  We, too, are captivated by their imagination and efforts.  Perhaps, though, one or more might want to also look into the Blue Revolution, for the potential benefits are more immediate and, maybe even necessary, for the survival of Planet Earth and Humanity now.  Here is where they can truly mold their legacy:  floating cities, remediation of global warming, sustainable products, hydrogen, prevention of hurricanes...all while actually making a financial profit!

The Atlantic had an article on Jeff Bezos  About the magazine, did you know:

• It was founded in 1857?
• Has around half a million subscribers.
• Almost expired, but recovered, in 2101 posting its first profit in a decade, and in 2016 being named Magazine of the Year by the American Society of Magazine Editors.

Today, Jeff Bezos runs nearly 40% of all e-commerce in the U.S.  Amazon controls half of the cloud-computing industry.  They sell 42% of all books and a third of the market for streaming video.  Add selling food and getting into real estate.  Then there is The Washington Post, with The New York Times, the conscience and nemeses of Donald Trump.

But you know all that.  From that article written by Franklin Foer:

• Bezos is relentless, but thinks there is a virtue to wandering.
• Was made by his mother, in almost all ways.
• Flirted with becoming a theoretical physicist at Princeton.
• Is elitist, and fosters a meritocracy of hard-working intelligence.  A lot of PhD economists.  Few women at the top.  Top six are white men.  In history, one black female on the board.  But not much different from Google and Facebook.
• If you're going in for a Bezos meeting, you're like preparing as if the world is going to end.
• Hire smart people who are tasked to find smarter people.
• Invent and Simplify...Bias for Action...Have Backbone...Disagree and Commit.  Some of 14 principles.
• Fanatic about Star Trek and wants to get into outer space.
• Has a profit-making company called Blue Origin, dealing with space.  At least that's blue.

• Admires Gerard O'Neill and his Space Cylinder, which somewhat looks like a first image of the Blue Revolution platform. 

O'Neill imagined colonies housed in miles-long cylindrical tubes floating between Earth and the moon. The tubes would sustain a simulacrum of life back on the mother planet, with soil, oxygenated air, free-flying birds, and “beaches lapped by waves.” When Bezos describes these colonies—and presents artists’ renderings of them—he sounds almost rapturous.

• Entrepreneurs will decide how space will be governed.  Looks like an opportunity for The Seasteading Institute.

• From the author:  In contrast to the dysfunction and cynicism that define the times, Amazon is the embodiment of competence, the rare institution that routinely works.  600 million items for sale from 3 million vendors. Has set aside $700 to retrain a third of its 600,000 employees.  No unions.  The company is deeply trusted by the public...unlike politicians and just about everyone else, these days.
• Whoops, Forbes indicated that Bezos is no longer the richest person in the world.  He only has $115.6 billion.  Bernard Arnault of LVMH is worth 117 billion.  Bill Gates is #3, but would have been #1 had he not donated $35.8 billion to charity.

Bezos worries that in the coming generations the planet’s growing energy demands will outstrip its limited supply. “We have to go to space to save Earth,” he says.

Makes sense.  But what about timing and global warming and the rest of this century?  

While Bezos is developing the technology for space, perhaps he might also want to consider in parallel the NEXT GREATEST CHALLENGE FOR PLANET EARTH AND HUMANITY, which, of course, is the Blue Revolution.  This posting is way too long already, so I leave with a few references for your perusal:

• From The Huffington Post:  Blue Revolution
• Blue Revolution Hawaii 2020
• Progress on the Blue Revolution

Someone out there, please send this posting to Jeff Bezos, or one of his associates, or a friend of them, or...  Here is a central e-mail site:

PatKenTak@hotmail.com

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PROGRESS AND VISION FOR THE BLUE REVOLUTION

Blue Revolution Hawaii last year organized a session at Aquaculture America 2018 to encourage early thinking of the concept.  Board member Benny Ron has been working with NOAA and international partners in advancing the field.

Usually, on all campuses world-wide, there is a solid core of ocean scientists dedicated to measuring, modeling and repeating the process with better equipment over time.  Now and then there might be a couple of ocean engineers, half helping those scientists with the technology of measurement, and the other half attempting to create a career to apply ocean science knowledge, linking with industry to do something useful for the economy and world.  There is almost no federal funding in this esoteric area.

In essence, the Blue Revolution is that esoteric field.  The Blue Revolution has been touted for three decades as something ideal for the future of our society, for, while producing sustainable products and clean energy, shows promise for reducing the incidence of hurricanes and remediating global warming.  As the ocean gets most of the warming, the concept shows promise for reversing climate change.

While we have been drawing together the various elements to build the first Blue Revolution Platform, the greater vision has to do with what could be the ultimate outcome.  The magnitude of this effort could well rival the to monumental accomplishments in modern history:  The Manhattan Project and Project Apollo.

So let us first quickly review those two previous great challenges:  beating Hitler in his quest for the Atomic Bomb, and overcoming the Soviet Union in space with Project Apollo to the Moon.  Both efforts cost $25 billion, but only $2 billion was spent to build the bombs, which has a worth of $25 billion today.  On the other hand, Apollo actually cost $25 billion in the early to mid 70's, or $150 billion in 2019 dollars.

If Hitler succeeded before the Allies, who knows what the world would be today.  The success of the Apollo Project has been said to be primary reason why the USA prevailed over the Soviet Union around 1990, bringing an end to the Cold War and the fear of a nuclear winter.  Sure, we still have a mettlesome North Korea, a pugnaciously commercial China and a noisy Russia, but the Doomsday Clock remains precariously set at 2 minutes to Midnight mostly because of global climate change.

So that is the next greatest challenge for Humanity and Planet Earth?  Overcoming Hitler led to nuclear power, but fission using Uranium and Plutonium, with the potential for more bombs, led to Chernobyl and Fukushima, with a continuing rocky future.  The Apollo Project showed that there was no really attractive commercial case for the Moon.  How now, can we go one better by marshaling international cooperation towards a reduction of carbon dioxide combustion, while actually enhancing long-term human productivity?

This was the breakthrough clue I needed to make the Blue Revolution the next great solution.  The key is that the Blue Revolution can be profitable.  Just absorbing carbon dioxide makes no sense because it is too expensive.  Clean coal technology similarly is a money-loser.  There is no way to make a profit from reducing carbon burning, except using something else.  And one of these could well be ocean thermal energy conversion, or OTEC.

That is the advantage of the Blue Revolution, for the whole process will be powered by OTEC, a technology that begins to become competitive only at 1000 MW sizes and larger.  The total system, thus, uses the heat of the ocean, which is replenished by the sun, with the cold portion coming from Arctic and Antarctic regions.  In addition to electricity and freshwater, there will be a cornucopia of desirable products such as next generation fisheries, marine biomass plantations, hydrogen, biomethanol, comfortable new habitation options, exciting entertainment enterprises and much more.  These Blue Revolution platforms will in time become floating cities.  Most of them will be positioned along the equator, where the temperature difference is the greatest, and where hurricanes don't cross.  Of course, many platforms will be in hurricane formation zones, and the drop of ocean surface temperatures by a degree or two can eliminate the formation of these ocean storms.  And much of the ocean can be utilized for these purposes:

Let us say, then, that ocean cities and Disneys-at-Sea someday become significant, how exactly will global warming be remediated?  For now, take my word that there is promise. Not conventional snake oil, I have evidence in the next paragraph

The French invented OTEC (to the right, Jacques-Arsene d'Arsonval).  Here are two French sources I co-authored, providing intriguing insights:

• Energy from the Sea:  The Potential and Realities of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
• Artificial Upwelling for Environmental Enhancement

For decades, our team has hinted that a sum of $1.5 billion was necessary to kick-start the Blue Revolution.  This will get you a floating platform, possibly powered by a 10MW OTEC facility, supporting an array of experiments to develop sustainable co-products.  At least, at this cost, perhaps an enterprising billionaire seeking a legacy could be found to lead the effort.

The reality is that something closer to $150 billion will be required to support a full industrial park with a 1000 MW OTEC plant.  If the first system makes money, more will be built.  After all, the Navy has proposed a Columbia-class nuclear submarine force estimated to have a lifecycle cost of $347 billion.  What a $150 billion tab does is eliminate a simple billionaire, for even Jeff Bezos only has $131 billion.  But what an opportunity to save the Planet while making money.

No question that this military expense will improve our national fighting-ship.  But why, for we always annually spend more for war than the next seven nations put together.  Well, Bernie Sanders has said that the correct answer is 12 countries, but certainly somewhere in between those numbers.  Perhaps Bernie has special info, for the estimated U.S. military spending from 1 October 2019 to 20 September 2020 shows our country spending more on defense than the next NINE countries, combined.

For the record, here are some 2018 graphics showing the last official comparison:

$150 billion Blue Revolution platform (to the left, actually, is something from the Seasteading Institute) will be step one to solve our looming global warming problem.  Why?  Each will turn a healthy profit, while remediating climate change.  The more money they make, the more they will be built.  After all, remember how expensive both the Manhattan and Apollo Projects were?  Well:

So, you ask, where can anyone find $150 billion to build the first Blue Revolution Challenger?  Blue Revolution Hawaii has taken on that mission, with the first step to be an experimental platform.

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