I suppose I was incorrect in what I said… UV does damage and change plastics, but not break it down (aka biodegrade).

I don’t know much about all the plastics and all the technology out there in the world, but I have heard of and seen pyroplast incinerators that turn thousands of tons of garbage into a small pile of dust and plasma incinerators that reduce thousands of tons of garbage into a small pile of carbon. Both processes create hydrogen and other gases which can then be used to run generators which produce electricity. The resulting emissions are significantly less toxic that normal garbage incinerators/furnaces.

I look forward to learning more about plastics and ways to recycle/reuse them to keep them out of the ocean and landfills.

Thanks again for the info, technotard.

1. They are working on making plastic bags from the types that do dissolve in UV so that they will disappear in the future when placed in landfills.

2. For over 3 decades, I have been building structures from plastics, including the largest solar structure in the U.S., none of which have any sign of degradation. In fact, the materials I use outlast conventional roofing materials.

But using plastic to build it is just crazy. Build it out of steel and concrete.

If you want to build a ship out of plastic bottles, start with something smaller, like a kayak. A large ship has serious stresses and plastic will not handle the job well, especially with a giant reservoir of water on top.

Nice try, no cigar.

If we’re using energy to create a gradient that produces energy, we will likely end up with less energy than we started with through the inefficiency of each process.

Having said that the basic premise of building off shore platforms to house such things as solar or wind generation is a good one I just think the material used for construction needs very careful thought

1) Manpower required to build such structure will be too high.
2) For keeping the plastic bottles together again plastic rope/thread will be necessary which adds to more consumption.
3) Plastic breaks down when exposed to sunlight making the structure unstable in a short time and increasing plastic pollution in seas to a very large extent.
4) The weight of pumps,stored water will increase the speed of degradation of the platform.

Instead of this I suggest number of such kind,but shallow, platforms be made and coupled together with suitable mechanism to harness the potential of sea waves for power generation be made. No doubt this will also add to plastic polution to seas but at least it will be much more long lasting than earlier one.