Gaia Ships - 20th Century Luxury Lifestyle

In the January 2008 issue, Popular Science has a scoop the web I hope will soon incorporate, examine, exhume and reveal every detail possible, and if not - I may very well compile available facts here to edify a remarkable achievement and huge step forward in human habitation for the next centuries.

Picture this: a building that is 95% self contained and self sustaining. Everything from food production to power generation to support a large population of humans - anywhere enough land and sunlight is available.

A team of scientists, grad students and engineers from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France has created a lunar station they call Luna Gaia. (link not yet active as of this writing) Luna Gaia is 95% self contained... that's right - they already have a building design. Now, to be fair... the extent and sophistication of that design hasn't been revealed to me. I'm looking forward to doing some more digging and posting about it here in the next weeks.

My first thought is excellent work - how can I use this closer to home? And, since I'm an American to my core, how do I and others profit from this? Of course this story doesn't begin with this teams lunar habitat. It starts from a core of an idea that is my personal life's goal. To see a significant portion of humanity living sustainably both on earth, and throughout the solar system.

First, we have to crack the code of sustainable living here on earth. This Luna Gaia habitat's precepts and fundamental assumptions can give us a leap forward in this regard. 95% sustainable is HUGE. Think about being able to survive, live and thrive indefinitely, only ever bringing in 5% of your groceries.

To give you a comparison - the common American's lifestyle would dissolve in *days* without replenishment. Look to the lessons of Hurricane Katrina. Observe the dependence on outside resources and infrastructure (food, water & power) American's, and to most extents, the entire developed world's inhabitants have. Wars are fought due to this dependence. Like Drug addicts - we require constant input or the our entire way of life falls apart with fatal consequences.

How to break that addiction - or rather, bring that cycle of supply -> human need/desire to a extremely local proximity?

My life experience says it's Dumb to ask such a question without providing at least some solution, even a possibly flawed one... here's mine*:

*subject to refinement at a moments notice as I learn more about "how it all works".

The "Gaia Ship". A plaza of connected buildings incorporating residential, retail, office, light industry, medical; power production, advanced waste management, recycling, and even food production to take things to their logical extremes. This would be a dense, luxurious living arrangement for thousands of people. And the real draw - 95% sustainable living. An Oasis in a suburban consumption desert.

To properly frame this concept: Think about what a distant future "Space Station" is like in Science Fiction. In many cases it's a large, highly interdependent structure playing host to thousands of individuals and all of their living needs. Of course there are people who go outside - miners & other industry, shuttle and spaceship pilots, trader and tourists. I say this so that you understand that a true to reality concept of even a far future space station is that it requires some level of outside interaction. We're now back to 95% self contained. With only 5% of your needs being provided externally - what happens when you can be sustained by only 5% - but are able to have more...!?! Profit!!

--a quick aside - I don't think that 95% is close enough to provide for anything more in the near term than a near earth station like the Luna Gaia habitat. Either there needs to be much cheaper ways to provide that 5% of groceries, like "living off the land" as is currently proposed for most extra earth terrestrial outpost projects; or reducing that 5% even further using advanced resource recycling technologies.

So... the fundamental question becomes how close can we get to only 5% of the needs of thousands of earth residents being provided via an internal only cycle? And what of the excess can be used to profit residents and owners of these complexes?

Power Generation on site - "Free" to residents

• Solar, radiant and Panel based
• Geothermal
• Hydro?
• Wind

Connected to external electrical grid for overflow. Surplus energy is sold to grid to subsidize expenses.

Community Parking Garage & Vehicle infrastructure

• Underground - living space is built on top of shared garage, office, and workshop spaces.
• Recharging / Refueling stations
  
• Ground level green space is maximized
  
• Utility access

Duplexes, Condos and larger multi family homes all available.

• Dense urban living - more than suburban, more than apartments.
• Above and below ground vertical space utilization.

Community spaces

Fee based

• Modern Office spaces
• Both private and reconfigurable (cube). Geared to telecommuters and entrepreneurs.
  
• Light Industry
• Scientific, Bio tech and Medical Lab

Retail

• Specialty and Grocery
• Focus and emphasis on environmentally friendly products
• Residents have input on what shops are available
  

Shared

• Education Center
• Geared to all age groups - toddler, child, teen, adult
  
• High dependence on computer education.
• Classes / Tutors
• Reading space / Library
  
• Green space
• Sports fields
• Gardens
• 'Wild'
• Walking / Running paths
• Pet focused
• Clubhouse
• Large screen displays
• Games
• Party's
• Underground Garage
• No streets or driveways inside community
  
• Gives protection from elements
• Thermal control
• Accessible Utility space
• Storage space

So, a couple of the the questions that remain unanswered... and prime topics for later posts, what is required to have this plaza / Gaia Ship / complex function? At what scales? How many people ? What resources make up that 5% (or more) of non-sustainability? Can they be eliminated? What does living here look like, who is the audience and what are they willing to pay for truly living "green".

I solicit any feedback and encourage you to contribute to the idea. It's a brainstorm at the moment - but if there any interested collaborators out there I'm eager to hear from you.