HEALING STRIP

Abstract

In 50 years time, the projected Singapore population growth to 6.5 million inhabitants would exert its toll on our current resources. And one of these resources that are critical to sustain our growth is the requirement for more energy. Yet, as studies point out that we may have passed the world’s oil peak output, the paradigm shift of fossil fuel dependence to a renewable resource calls for a new exploration of possibilities to empower our nation. To pursue this, we entertained biological solutions that self-regenerate in the form of algae bio-fuel. We begin colonizing our unwanted dead urban spaces- our expressways as cultivation alga-culture grounds. The PIE (Pan-Island Expressway) provides us with limitless supply of CO2 that nourishes these microphytes, while we reap cleaner bio-fuel. This intervention has a theoretical potential to meet our energy demands, equivalent of 2 Tuas power station’s output upon the conversion of areas above PIE as alga-farmlands. Through this, a series of nerve centres along the highway spine provides opportunistic areas for programmatic functions, with the first centre intended as a research village to cross-breed native algae species to produce optimal alga-biofuel strains as well as to heal the cleaved central nature reserve. This perseverance for greener energy spearheads our city’s metamorphosis from an industrial to an ecological one.