6 ms·

This doesn't sound like a serious business proposal. Just consider one example: > The building features elevated water storage, aeroponic farms and an energy-

This doesn't sound like a serious business proposal. Just consider one example: > The building features elevated water storage, aeroponic farms and an energy-producing photovoltaic roof that allow it to "share and distribute all it produces." In other words, this building is going to be freaking expensive: (1) Upper floors of a skyscraper is probably the most expensive place you could store water in. (2) There's a reason why we're not buying cabbages and avocados from aeroponic farms now - they're much more expensive than traditional farming. (3) If you have a city in the middle of a desert, why would you put solar panels on top of a building, instead of right next to the city? Also, there's no mention on what kind of industry and jobs the city could attract - which isn't surprising given the tone of the article.

eloff 5y ago
Every apartment building I've lived in over 20 stories puts their water reservoir on the roof. The reason is to let gravity distribute it when a tap is opened.
tadfisher 5y ago
Basically all water storage in NYC is rooftop storage. The water system needs to maintain a pressure gradient, and converting cheap electricity to potential energy is much more economical than running twice the number of pumps to meet instantaneous demand.
jcranmer 5y ago
> (1) Upper floors of a skyscraper is probably the most expensive place you could store water in. Water pipes are pressurized using gravity (there's a reason tanks for water distribution systems are commonly referred to as "water towers"); indeed, water systems frequently measure pressure using the height above sea level it can reach without pumps rather than more natural units of pressure. If the city's water mains aren't capable of pushing it to every floor of your building (which is going to be true for a skyscraper), then you'll have to naturally pressurize it yourself by keeping the main water tank high. If you don't do that, your options are either to pump the main water main anyways (just without a natural tank on the top), with lots of pressure regulators for the lower flows; several vertical water mains to service different vertical pressure zones; or one water main with lots and lots of smaller (and hence less efficient overall) pumps to keep the pressure reasonable at different altitudes. Keeping the water tank high instead lowers the amount of infrastructure you need, lowers the costs of regulating pressure, and has better fail-safe conditions if the power cuts out for a while.

eloff 5y ago

Every apartment building I've lived in over 20 stories puts their water reservoir on the roof. The reason is to let gravity distribute it when a tap is opened.

tadfisher 5y ago

Basically all water storage in NYC is rooftop storage. The water system needs to maintain a pressure gradient, and converting cheap electricity to potential energy is much more economical than running twice the number of pumps to meet instantaneous demand.

jcranmer 5y ago

> (1) Upper floors of a skyscraper is probably the most expensive place you could store water in. Water pipes are pressurized using gravity (there's a reason tanks for water distribution systems are commonly referred to as "water towers"); indeed, water systems frequently measure pressure using the height above sea level it can reach without pumps rather than more natural units of pressure. If the city's water mains aren't capable of pushing it to every floor of your building (which is going to be true for a skyscraper), then you'll have to naturally pressurize it yourself by keeping the main water tank high. If you don't do that, your options are either to pump the main water main anyways (just without a natural tank on the top), with lots of pressure regulators for the lower flows; several vertical water mains to service different vertical pressure zones; or one water main with lots and lots of smaller (and hence less efficient overall) pumps to keep the pressure reasonable at different altitudes. Keeping the water tank high instead lowers the amount of infrastructure you need, lowers the costs of regulating pressure, and has better fail-safe conditions if the power cuts out for a while.