OASES campus (January 10, 2000)

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The campus will house the organizations three divisions (Aquaculture, Environmental, and R&D) and will allow for the execution of each division's respective needs and requirements.

Initially the campus will consist of:

two 60-foot concrete geodesic domes that will serve as the main offices and labs
two 34-foot concrete geodesic domes that will be used as a workshop and a storage facility
a series of greenhouses for coral and plant propagation
a research pool
parking facilities
research/educational ponds
alternative energy power sources

As the organizations grows, the campus will expand to accommodate additional geodesic domes that will house additional offices, labs, and a conference center. The campus will also employ the use of living waste treatment systems to purify all biological wastes. OASES will have onsite composting facilities and will recycle as much material as possible.

In addition to employing alternative energy sources, OASES will further its environmentally conscious cause by implementing a number of energy saving and innovative solutions. Photovoltaics, wind-powered generators, solar heating, and eventually PEM fuel cells will comprise the alternative energy sources that supply power to the entire campus. LED light technology will play a very large part in the overall campus lighting. With low power consumption, long lifetimes and outputs between fluorescent lights and natural sunlight, LEDs offer a viable alternative to conventional lighting systems. The concrete geodesic domes have very high insulation ratings (equivalent to approximately R36 in traditional structures) that will provide significant efficiency for heating and cooling.

One of the 60-foot domes will contain engineering and electronics labs, an aquaculture wet lab, a tissue culture lab, and a hydroponics lab. Most systems within the labs will be automated or have sensors which constantly monitor various experiments. The engineering and electronics labs will be used by the R&D division to develop and test systems that will benefit the organization's other divisions as well as the ocean and the environment. The aquaculture wet lab will be used for coral propagation, experimentation and basic research. Additional grow out tanks will be placed in greenhouse structures which will allow natural light to facilitate coral growth. The tissue culture lab will be used in the propagation of endangered species of trees and plants and will be coordinated with the hydroponics lab for rapid growth of juvenile plants. Additional transitional hydroponic and soil growing structures will be placed in greenhouses located near the coral greenhouses.