Self Sustaining Ships

solarz

Brigadier
Would it be possible to convert existing cruise or cargo ships into self-sustaining habitats?

By self-sustaining, I mean the ship would rely entirely on itself and the oceans for producing food and freshwater, and has a renewable or nearly unlimited (at least 100 years) source of energy. It will also need to be able to withstand every storm or tsunami that can occur on the high seas.

What kind of technology and setup would make this work? What would the minimum size of this ship, and how many people could it support at most?
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Realistically? I doubt it. You can alleviate some reliance, particularly with nuclear power reactors like those on the Ford class which have a core life of a hundred years. That would also make water for the ship. Food could be done to some degree but the hard part is Maintenance. Spare parts repairs. Those are the biggest problem.
 

solarz

Brigadier
Realistically? I doubt it. You can alleviate some reliance, particularly with nuclear power reactors like those on the Ford class which have a core life of a hundred years. That would also make water for the ship. Food could be done to some degree but the hard part is Maintenance. Spare parts repairs. Those are the biggest problem.

The question here would be, how much maintenance would you need for a particular power source. For example, solar panels would require the least maintenance (though they still need to be replaced eventually), and nuclear reactors would require the most.

I think a good standard would be the 100 year rule: the ship needs to be able to carry enough spare parts to maintain it for at least 100 years, obviously in addition to its other habitat requirements.

So if a nuclear reactor has a theoretical life of 100 years, but the ship has to undergo maintenance every few years, then it's not a good option. What about other options like wind or solar power? Maybe biofuel from harvesting algae? Or perhaps a thorium reactor?
 

Scratch

Captain
If the ship exibits a limited maneuverability, which I believe it simply must do, my idea would have been to put it somewhere where there are favorable conditions for harvesting natural energy.
E.g. solar power in subtropical regions. Besides putting them on top of the ship, I imagine large, floating pontongs (if sea state allows) being plastered with those panels and tugged along.
And if there a storm, try to use wine energy and also the energy contained in the waves. Some sort of mechanism that transforms the mechanical energy of the ship, or further pontons, moving up and down, into electricity.

I would really like to avoid reactors, as any major failure might be catastrophic in such a contained environment. Maybe a smaller one as back-up or to satisfy peak demands.

Spares is indeed the major issue I think, as there's no resources available to even produce spares on your own.
 

SteelBird

Colonel
I remember a movie (don't remember the title) which a group of human were lost in sea for generations. They have never seen land but were seeking for land with the only clue that was a compass printed on a girl's shoulder. The motorist had factories on their ship and their only energy resource was crude oil on the tanker.
 

no_name

Colonel
I remember a movie (don't remember the title) which a group of human were lost in sea for generations. They have never seen land but were seeking for land with the only clue that was a compass printed on a girl's shoulder. The motorist had factories on their ship and their only energy resource was crude oil on the tanker.

They were not lost at sea rather most of the exposed earth had disappeared under water due to global warming and soil (retrieved from bottom of the sea) were highly prized that they were weighted by the gram.
 

ABC78

Junior Member
Would it be possible to convert existing cruise or cargo ships into self-sustaining habitats?

By self-sustaining, I mean the ship would rely entirely on itself and the oceans for producing food and freshwater, and has a renewable or nearly unlimited (at least 100 years) source of energy. It will also need to be able to withstand every storm or tsunami that can occur on the high seas.

What kind of technology and setup would make this work? What would the minimum size of this ship, and how many people could it support at most?

I sort of had the same thoughts like that when I saw the movie the day after tomorrow. I don't like cruise ships the platform is probably to unstable for rough seas. The new x-large cargo ships maybe but would probably need a lot of retrofitting.

If I were using ship as big as an x-large cargo ship I probably limit the the population to 300 to 500 people and even then I think that number is optimistic it may have to be limited to just 200 people. In order to have enough space for a store consumables to last a year. The need for large scale life support systems since most cargo ships are ment only to have like 50-100 man crews with only what maybe 2-3 months of supply. Remember in World War Z the water desalination system was being pressed by all the evacuees.

Power I would like to go with the underwater sea turbine if it could be towed or attached to the ship. Nuclear or fusion would be great but then we would need more facility space or some sort of several support ship for safety concerns.

I reminded of the battle island concept from popular science or mechanics.

That's all for now probably think up more stuff later.
 

solarz

Brigadier
I sort of had the same thoughts like that when I saw the movie the day after tomorrow. I don't like cruise ships the platform is probably to unstable for rough seas. The new x-large cargo ships maybe but would probably need a lot of retrofitting.

If I were using ship as big as an x-large cargo ship I probably limit the the population to 300 to 500 people and even then I think that number is optimistic it may have to be limited to just 200 people. In order to have enough space for a store consumables to last a year. The need for large scale life support systems since most cargo ships are ment only to have like 50-100 man crews with only what maybe 2-3 months of supply. Remember in World War Z the water desalination system was being pressed by all the evacuees.

Power I would like to go with the underwater sea turbine if it could be towed or attached to the ship. Nuclear or fusion would be great but then we would need more facility space or some sort of several support ship for safety concerns.

I reminded of the battle island concept from popular science or mechanics.

That's all for now probably think up more stuff later.

Yes, I think it all boils down to one factor: energy. If you have energy, you can desalinate sea water for consumption.

Nuclear power does not sound like it is self-sustainable. I think wind and sun are still the most reliable sources of energy.

I'm thinking of a setup where the deck of the ship would be mostly covered with solar panels, and interspersed among them would be small wind-power turbines. All this is connected to a giant electrolysis chamber that turns seawater into hydrogen and oxygen.

Most of the time, the ship would be anchored in a sunny part of the oceans, and solar and wind power would be filling up the hydrogen fuel chamber. This hydrogen is then used for propulsion and powering the ship's various systems. The resulting water can then be used for drinking.
 
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