From the ultra pure sand used to make silicon wafers to the very-specific-size-grain sand used for concrete... thrown in with a Star Wars sand reference. Yup, Jon, you've become a Sand Nerd :P
he's only just touched the surface of the world of sand. Fracking sand is a huge industry too and has very limited supplies since it needs a very particular sand shape which is not common.
I'm curious why a mix of rock and sand isn't used. As a mining engineer in Australia. We could send them untold volumes of NAF (Non Acid Forming) crushed waste rock from any number of mines in whatever size they want for penny's on the $$. I mean, presently it's just being dumped on the waste rock pile. It's already blasted and stockpiled. It literally has no value here. In fact it represents a significant cost to keep expanding the waste rock dump. Thus if someone wanted to pay transport it would represent a cost saving here. Would surly reduce the volume of sand required and provide a more stable foundation it a blend was used.
Is not suitable for land reclaimation, need to use sand and not just any kind of sand.. if any kind of sand can be used, then Singapore wont have this sand problem because saudi arabia have tons of sand but those are not suitable for use.
@@billybiljun3416 well yeah, pears have a short growing season and spoil fairly quickly, especially the sweeter dessert pears. Chile being in the southern hemisphere experiences summer when the northern hemisphere has winter so their pears get ripe when pear demand is at its highest globally. China specializes in packaging and low cost manufacturing and is the worlds leading consumer of things like plastics like those used in packaging so it's more cost effective to buy south American pears and package them in China. They grow them in the cheapest place they can, package them in the cheapest place they can, and sell them in the highest paying place they can. The alternative would be to pay 10x as much to grow them in greenhouses in America and spend a fortune to store them in the US all winter so they could be sold year round.
The benefit of the polder model from the Netherlands, is that you expose fertile soil to the air. Inland lakes were pumped dry with windmills centuries ago (1400s a few and mostly took off after the 1500s). The ground is then available for agriculture. The cities founded in polders, then become major economic centers today; the 4 largest cities in the Netherlands today are below or at sea level today. Half the country would flood if the dykes disappeared over night. However, the images show in the video are from a different project. A major inland bay was dyked off with a major piece of construction at the mouth of the bay (1933). It allows regulating its water flow, to prevent the sea from bringing in salt water as the tide rises. The inland lake is filled with river water, which left a rich clay sediment at the bottom of the new lake. Around the same time this large landmass was dyked off (1924), adding the 12th province to the Netherlands. Later a second landmass (13:58 image in the video) was reclaimed. What is supposed to become the 2nd largest airport for the Netherlands, has been build on this reclaimed land, but is yet to open. Reclaiming land at the sea is entirely different, since sand is a poor soil for agriculture. The Netherlands is a river delta, where long rivers deposit clay on the bottom of bays. Your best application of sandy reclaimed land is usually construction or housing. And nobody in their right mind would dyke off an area with fertile clay and dump sand on it to raise the land level... The Netherlands happens to benefit from the these clay deposites and was able to quickly convert a salty sea bay into agricultural land. However... the number of people that moved here cant even support a major hospital financially... Its main hospital went bankrupt a few years ago.
The hospital bankrupt has always sounded to me like a management problem or hubris. That said, I worry we'll have to build some really large Delta Works this time. I think a country like Bangladesh might not be able to afford to do the same and will just disappear ?
@@autohmae The hospital went backrupt after poor financial management put it at risk, and a decrease in the number of patients left it unable to pay its employees. And that then led bankrupsy was declared, as insurers withdrew financial support. However, its not the first regional hospital in the last 10 years that had issues with its financial position. The Red Cross hospital in Beverwijk was about to close its ER department around 2014, which meant ambulances would have to drive a lot further to get treatment for emergency patients. Thankfully some party invested in it; cant remember the details too well; I was only an intern back then ^^" There are some methods of building natural dykes by laying down a long, gentle slope and growing plants on the beaches. The underlying idea being that the sea lays down sediment with its waves and a natural dune rises. There are some technical universities working on sustainable sollutions, given you are willing to redesign the entire coast and river line... But we would be converting our beaches into mangroves essentially... But inland we would also have to rise the dykes along rivers - or build such natural dunes/dykes along the rivers. We would have to remove housing for about 2km or more to have this effect occur naturally. But if we build dykes by hand, the costs go up exponentially with their height. At some point these costs will be too much, and floods and storms will occasionally flood residential areas, causing people to move inland. Bangladesh... I am not too familiar with their country. It seems their river delta makes the issue highly complex. Doesnt Bangladesh already experience significant flooding regularly due to the variability of the river levels and heavy rains? I cant comment too much on it, since I clearly dont know enough.
I was in Singapore in 2018 and it's amazing how much they keep expanding, understandably so. They are a powerhouse and when your country is just a big island, it's important to keep your status and improve for both the economy and your people. Bet Malaysia regrets kicking them out now. We'd love to expand our territory peacefully through reunification but alas.
No regret.... Singapore is better as a country... Singapore are Malaysia biggest trade partners, biggest investors and An Miltary ally in FPDA pact , so on Malaysia to Singapore...just imagine Singapore is a state in Malaysia...maybe their full potential as a state in Malaysia is just comparable to Malaysia richest state of Selangor...Tunku Doing a good decision..not everything can benefits Us by just merged...
Singapore has already find a solution to this problem by using waste Ash and construction waste without have to import from other.Singapore is a small island with zero resources of any kind so the government have to keep finding way to produce resources out of nothing.
Great video as usual. But a minor factual error in here. "Marine Parade HDB apartments now regularly sell for millions of SGD$ now". That is incorrect. Only last month did Marine Parade have its first ever 7-digit sale, when a single unit changed hands for S$1.01M. It's rare enough that when it happens, that it makes the local news. I suspect you may be confusing this with private condos in the general vicinity.
I was about to look that up because I've heard that normal apartments aren't quite as expensive as one would think when looking at a Manhattan style ultra wealthy island city.
“I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating - and it gets everywhere.” Always found it kind of funny though that the Middle East with all its sand, can’t actually use it for construction because it’s too smooth.
+Alozhatos There is nothing Singapore can do if her larger Malay neighbours in Indonesia and Malaysia refuse to sell sand to this tiny Chinese nation. Because the prerogative lies with them.
When I saw the title of this one, I knew it was an immediate winner - fantastic video, it’s exactly one of those “you don’t even know that this was a problem; here’s why you’re wrong, it matters” *chefs kees*
Congratulations on 300K subscribers 🎉🎊! Asianometry is one of the first channels I put on Patreon after watching only one of the videos! Thank you so much for the informative, educational videos.
Only thing to add is that SG is looking into using the incinerated trash as reclamed land, see Semakau Landfill where portions of the landfill that are full have been converted into parks / green spaces for settling
Singapore has been stealing the sand of nearby Indonesian island using vacuum ships, leaving the island with tiny chunk left or dissapear completely. What a shame.
@@vennsim71 nope. The islands were small. May be islets is the correct terms, no one lives there. They use large ships with sucking pipe to sucked the sand. No, that is against the law. But hey, Singapore has military backers like Britain and US.
@@wisewarnanazara317 If Indonesia saw any problem with that, they would do something about it now wouldnt they? Either it never happened or it was of no concern to anybody
@@ianc9699 We did, By building military / police outpost on the remaining island that has not disaaperar. It did cause a degree of protest among the citizen at that time. It's quite rampart and they did that at the time we face economic and political hardship. I believe they had reduced the stealing sand practice for now. As far as I know, nowadays they mostly buy sands from Myanmar. Our economy, military, and diplomacy has grown quite well in the past two decades. I think Singapore govt start to think that having good relationship with our govt is much better than stealing sand.
The photo of the HDB shown at 2:26 is the actual HDB at marine parade neighbourhood, not some random HDB photo. I'm really impressed with the accuracy of your research...
Anakin: I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Asianometry: People use sand for a variety of purposes Anakin: LIKE HATING IT Singapore: It's over Anakin, I have the high ground! Anakin: You underestimate my power- Singapore, wielding the power of sand: *No u*
Well, Singapore has expanded an island via reclaiming the sea using incinerated garbage. Look up Pulau Semakau. The government certainly came up with tonnes of ideas.
You Missed the Traditional Wooden beam and boulder method. Timber beams back filled by rough "locking" shaped boulders and topped with clay soil is a traditional sea wall method. I think this earthen damp method has worked up to around 300ft deep or around 100meters. It still runs into the issues of shipment and wood support maitanence, but can use much less enviormentally strained reasources than sand and steel.
@@nvelsen1975 Wood doesn't always rot. Wood fully submerged in saltwater lasts hundreds of years if maintained. Though wood is a common food item for undersea critters in the darkest parts of the oceans, so tracking pests is essential. But the main purpose for the wood is initial framing and not actually permanent support. The reason that I mentioned "locking" shape boulder and clay is that this style of land expansion basically acts as an earthen dam, and has a wider base than top. The main structural component is the boulders, and intentional presure put apon the boulders and general setling of the boulders locks them into plase with mechanical stone joinery. The clay component is to act as waterproofing layers both keping water out from the other side, and to prevent water intrusion into the stack of boulders. Making sure that water is not overly penetrating your bowlder stack is essential for preventing hydraulic separation working against the mechanical stone joinery. The stone filled wood frame is actually how many old dams and piers were built and has lasted thousands of years in some locations.
@@nvelsen1975 The oldest wooden building with original timbers is hundreds of years old. Standard reinforced concrete/carbon steel shaters in around 50years. The keys are preventing bugs, rot, and overly drastic moisture changes in the wood. sunken wooden ships and hundreds of years old buildings can be maintained if they keep roughly the same moisture content and avoid dryrot temperature/moisture conditions. sea burial of wood is usually pretty good if deep sea wood worms don't find it. And keeping would out of around 50·f 10·c and 50% moisture content should lessen dryrot issues.
I remember sand dredging being a problem in my home country as well. It was so bad that the environmental minister had to keep flying in Army choppers to document it all - fortunately she was part of the family that owned the largest TV media company at that time so she was always in the headlines and so succeeded in her advocacy.
I was just watching a Lee Kuan yew interview from Harvard and he was saying that he basically got scammed for buying a lot of glass making machinery but Singapore had no sand so he had to sell it 😂
I wonder if we can use crushed glass in concrete instead of sand, it'll be rough and angular just like sea sand. It would be a good use for harder-to-recycle colored glass.
Glass is made from (purified) sand in the first place. Despite the high quality (and cost) of the raw material, most glass ends up crushed and used in asphaltic concrete which is used for the surface of roads. There simply isn't enough glass to make much of a scratch in the problem.
Thank you for using SI units. Finally, we all can understand. If someone develops method for converting desert sand into more coarse types, he'll become very rich. I'd work on it, but I'm too stupid for that.
Singapore need to begin thinking about how to live with sea water, not sand all the time. An outside the box mentality is critical for the next phase of development in this modern day urban city state.
Only in July 2022 was there a first HDB flat sold for over 1 million SGD in Marine Parade. there has never been one sold over a million before this. so the "Marine Parade HDB apartments now regularly sell for millions" is absoutely false. we dont have that many millionaires lah hahaha
This is like the opposite of clickbait. A video with a seemingly mundane title that inspires genuine curiosity. "Why do they need sand? And where will they get it?? I must know."
Reclaiming ocean as land is not an engine of growth. It's a barrier. The engine is demand, and the engine of demand is good governance making Singapore an attractive place to make a living which makes it a place to invest in; there is a yield on the investment. If Tahiti reclaimed ocean as land, it would not drive growth, so it's not an engine of growth. The reclaimed land would only have costs and no yield. People would not want to make a living there and people would not want to invest there. There is poor governance.
I wonder if they build the land high enough with sea level rise in mind, I know they do with sinking but seems like it could be unusable in not to distant future without tearing down everything and adding more. Im surprised that sand is the preferred material for reclamation. Also wonder why they build land rather than structures into the sea floor or floating?
Even if all ice on earth melted sea level will not rise more than 2 meters. Floating structure does not work for heavy industry nor high density residential. Singapore just don't have enough space for a sprawling floating city. For now importing sand is cheaper if that become a problem then the next less expensive solution is to put their industry underground.
@@kazedcat if all ice melted sea level would rise 70 meters. Since 1990 sea level rose 10cm. If your claim was true 5% off all land ice on Earth should melt since 1990. Which is completely not true.
@@volkhen0 There is not enough ice to cover the entire earth with additional water 70 meters high. Ice is less dense than water so if your projection is true then the equator should be covered right now with more than 70meters of ice. Just look at the surface area of the earth covered in ice that is a tiny fraction compared to the entire surface of the earth. Also yes a significant portion of the polar ice cap has melted already. And don't expect the sea level to continue its rise indefinitely the volume of ice on earth is not infinite.
@@kazedcat ice in Greenland and Antarctica is kilometers thick (2160m on average) 70m is 3.2% of that average thickness (70/2160=0.032). Total Earth surface are 510 million sq km. Greenland + Antarctica = 16.5 million sq km. If you do math then you will see that both ice land masses make 3.2% of land area (16.5/510=0.032). Coincidence? No. Checkmate, mate.
In Devon, in southwest England, there is a former landfill site slowly being washed away by the sea because it was literally on the beach. Hopefully modern developments using landfill have a better strategy for combating erosion.
As someone that lives in the american southwest id much rather my government sell off our near unlimited supply of sand instead of our very limited supply of water
It is not any sand. They need very specific type of sand. Usually it comes from river sand. Desert sand is not usable for construction. There is a quite limited supply.
@@fusion9619 not exportation per se but giving near unlimited water rights to large corporations as incentivization for them to build industries that rely heavily on it. data centers, chip fabs, water bottling plants etc. that take millions of gallons a day from our very limited and very slowly replenishing underground aquifers or above ground reservoirs imo i think these places should be forced to pay tax for a pipeline that supplies desalinated sea water instead.
@@jimster1111 yeah, big problem. Unfortunately I think we have to just let a disaster strike. I can't support forcing anyone to do/pay anything, and I don't think the democratic process can handle this problem. Or tbh, any problem. Giving rights and subsidies is the same as taxing everyone else. It's also illegal by WTO rules that we ratified, but no one makes a peep when the US breaks international law.
I'm probably missing something, but isn't it possible to just use regular "dirt" or soil? Like dig a hole in the Cambodian forest with minimal environmental impact and export that clay (like a quarry)?
I didn’t know that you lived in Foster City in San Francisco Bay Area. Many areas in SF Bay are built up with sand, rocks or garbage. Bay Farm Island is built up from garbage as that used to the dump for Oakland & Alameda as I was child growing up in that area seeing that area being built.
There I was, thinking sands were just sands ... but then I realize, once again, my own ignorance on a matter I thought to have little complexity. Thank God for the RUclipsrs I guess.
There is no shortage of sand because sand can be manufactured. Dynamite is used to make big rocks from bedrock. These big rocks have been broken apart to make medium rocks. Those medium rocks are broken apart to make small rocks. These small rocks can be broken apart to make tiny rocks. These tiny rocks can be broken apart to make sand.
The Taiwanese Deer you use as your aviator is charming. You topic is timely and certainly it’s needed to be discussed in detail. Sand use needs to be evaluated. In an oil drill site off California concrete tetrapods were created with aggregate and sand on top. The tetrapods also created habitat and it’s still in use today built in the 1960s
As you say it is reason for criticism, I have never heard any critics about my country constructing the 'Maasvlakte' at Rotterdam to increase the harbor area. This is not a polder area.
Thank you for a great video. I live in Singapore, and it is so tiny that it is seriously short of land. Singapore leaders have a fixation on increasing the population (despite it being so crowded already), so there is a unrelenting need for sand for land reclamation, concrete to house all these people, and buildings for these people to work in.
Why can't Singaporeans just move to where there's land? Less than 6% of the Earth's surface is populated. There's land that's just going begging to have people living on it. There's a phrase for filling in the ocean. It goes like this, shoveling shit against the tide. It means participating in a hopeless task.
Land is cheap in small countries where nothing of value is taking place. Land is expensive in Vancouver, though Canada is big. Land is only valuable, if there is something of value going on right where the land is; so country size matters not.
You should visit the Netherlands for 2 reasons. First making polders was not only in the west but also in the north. Groningen and Friesland. Many by monks. Second : the Dutch harvest a lot of sand and small rocks from land, pits, lakes, rivers and sea. Their fleet of dredges is problaby the largest in the world. Look at the artificial island of Dubai. Dredging sand is not seen as a problem for environment at all. Many pits are used now for recreational purposes. And sometimes to dump cars involved in crimes, as the pits are deep. In the past they used to skim the agricultural soil by 2 meters, the layer of pure sand under the fertile soil, but I think that is not allowed anymore.
@@sbaumgartner9848, that is why I am curious. Desert sand has been wind blown and polished to within an inch of its life, so maybe it is too smooth and round. I wonder if any experiments have been done to see how poorly or well it might act as a replacement.
Generally, buildings constructed on a sand base haven't been stable. Even "good" sand has a bit of a liquefaction problem. What is there to stop the sand from slowly spreading out below the sea's surface, causing the whole mass to slowly sink? The Osaka airport used a lot of rock as well as some sand. And it's still sinking very gradually. The Millenium Tower in San Francisco is slowly sinking and tilting because it was built on sand, rather than being anchored to bedrock. Undoubtedly the wrong kind of sand, but the whole idea of building on sand is puzzling. "Let's just pour sand over coral reefs and fish, destroying them. What could go wrong?"
Imagine if enough research is done so that desert sand is economically viable, it would be great to reduce the spreading of deserts. I believe desert sand is the future if made viable.
No, the land is not used to enrich "the people" but the government Sovereign Wealth Fund, GIC. According to Singapore law, all land sales proceeds go straight to the country's reserves. But for some reason those proceeds are counted in government revenue, which is why for many years Singapore's government spending has been running in a surplus. That surplus is actually government revenue that nobody can use. Also you skipped the fact that the Singapore government forcefully acquired most of the land in the country at dirt-cheap prices...then proceeded to sell that land back its citizens over-valued. So much for "unlock vast wealth for its people". As for land-reclamation...well much of the reclaimed land is only 90cm above sea level which makes them vulnerable to sea level rise. Then there's also the fact that many archaeological artefacts from pre-modern Singapura were probably buried under all that land reclamation, along with all the coral reefs. So in summary, no, the wealth is not going to Singaporeans but to the government. Singaporeans instead are forced to grapple with sky-high prices for private housing and a shortage of "affordable" public housing thanks to the government's need to leverage real estate to prop it up the economy. And we all know property bubbles last forever and won't ever burst!
@@m0nz13 That's another thing that most people outside of Singapore seem to get wrong too, especially when they refer to Singapore's "successful" public housing scheme, HDB. They seem to keep quoting the ~80-90% figure. People who purchase Public housing in Singapore are not owners, but leaseholders for a 99-year lease. So the real home ownership rate in Singapore is closer to 21% (The rate of private home ownership).
WA State has 12 million cubic feet of sand, piled 230 feet high, at the headquarters of Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, created by excavating for Grand Coulee Dam. It's almost like a strategic reserve.
I don't really see a "problem". It's a technical and economic consideration. At the supplier end, there can be abuse in illegal taking of sand that destroys some beaches and other scenery (I've seen this in India) but this can be prevented by local enforcement if they really want to. I don't see why Singapore should stop its projects if they economically are working.
Well, sand is tiny Singapore’s lifeline to survive just like water. The reason why it’s larger neighbouring countries ban exporting it to them are purely political and NOT environmental. Claiming environmental consequences are just to disguise their agendas.
Create more land not only one way to the water. What they should do is create a second level of land on top of many buildings. Using buildings as pillars to support the second floor that connects together as one large piece. Only build residential and light constructions, sidewalks, and bicycle lanes. No one ever does it before in world history. It sounds crazy, but this may be a better solution.
This is a huge and concerning topic. I learned about it a few years ago. It's too bad not enough people know about the situation. When I've mentioned it to other people or watch other videos there's always this hype about new technologies to replace sand. Sure, sure, but how many decades before it actually becomes a reality?
Lovely! Like some countries have an strategic oil reserve, Singapore has a strategic land reserve. There's a sand dune near the airport. And it's under guard ...
@Asianometry Very interesting and diverse topics. Please do one researching about the implication of mountains and hills destruction ongoing inside PRC 😉
can tunneling be a source of sand? I imagine digging around deep under the sea or under the city can create plenty of industrial work space (caverns are great for controlling air pollution and heat), aid in transportation, and provide shelter without disrupting the surface.
we also import sand frm north korea too during that time no neighbours want to sell us because we are expending so we went to Kim jong Ii at that time who is daring to sell us, until the UN sanctions hits them thus we cant import anymore
How about using limestone mountains for reclamation projects? Supply is unlimited & environmental concerns are minimal. Sand should be used only for concreting?
The Singaporeans have a robust ship-building industry. Why not build a flotilla of very large ships and floating structures for people to live and work on and have a maritime based lifestyle ala the Sea Gypsies of North East Borneo? Anyhow, I work in the sand mining industry in Malaysia. And in all my life I've seen so many attempts to get G2G and underhanded deals to get sand to Singapore as well as Brunei and China. All have failed one way or another. Though the Singaporeans can pay a very good price and just a mere 100,000 tonnes of the freshwater stuff can make one an instant millionaire, it's best for my country to stop making quick money out of exploiting of natural resources and keep all our sand and other finite resources for our own use. Plus, sand is actually super finite (meaning we're using it much faster than it is occurring) and the various grades used for concreting and plastering is actually getting harder and harder to come by making it potentially far more valuable than oil in the next 10 years.
@@mabamabam No. It's not the transport costs. It's expensive because you can only use certain grades of fresh water sand as aggregate to mix into concrete and for plastering. Marine sand is more abundant but is only good for land reclamation therefore relatively cheaper however you can't build anything if you don't have coarse fresh water sand as aggregate for your concrete. So this is why Singaporeans and even Bruneians are willing to pay a hefty premium for this resource. But it's getting harder to source especially the rare one we call as zone 1.
@@TheLoreNiac If its not transport costs then they wouldnt be stealing local sand they would just buy it from places with lots of sand. Good sand isnt rare. Its just rare close to singapore.
"In the world of sand sales, solid information is hard to come by"
😂😂😂
"however sand mining is a charged subject" 😆
Is it just me or were the images super grainy?
The information used to be rock-solid long ago, but it ended up split up into tiny bits.
This has resulted in some sinking issues, but the idea still stands.
Puns will sink this comment.
From the ultra pure sand used to make silicon wafers to the very-specific-size-grain sand used for concrete... thrown in with a Star Wars sand reference. Yup, Jon, you've become a Sand Nerd :P
UYURGH UYRRRGH UUUUUURGHHH. That's Sand People speak for NERRRRD
Sand + water makes clay which's the bedrock of all civilizations
@@ThexXxXxOLOxXxXx No, clay is a completely different component of regolith. Clay, silt and sand are distinct chemically and in particle size.
@@gljames24 It's no use to speak science to people who talk about Adam and Eve.. and even misquotes the lore...
I love sand and water.
He's finally dune it, he's finally made a video about sand. He shore has some interesting topics for videos.
I agree, this topic on sand dredging is really groundbreaking research
he's only just touched the surface of the world of sand.
Fracking sand is a huge industry too and has very limited supplies since it needs a very particular sand shape which is not common.
Though some of the islands are a bit rubbish, or all rubbish.
Shore ‘nuff!
Ahem... didn't you forget the obligatory "I'll see myself out" at the end of that barage? :P
I'm curious why a mix of rock and sand isn't used. As a mining engineer in Australia. We could send them untold volumes of NAF (Non Acid Forming) crushed waste rock from any number of mines in whatever size they want for penny's on the $$.
I mean, presently it's just being dumped on the waste rock pile. It's already blasted and stockpiled. It literally has no value here. In fact it represents a significant cost to keep expanding the waste rock dump. Thus if someone wanted to pay transport it would represent a cost saving here.
Would surly reduce the volume of sand required and provide a more stable foundation it a blend was used.
I'd reckon that shipping substantial amounts of sand over land would just not be competitive, even if the sand itself was free.
I've been thinking the same thing
@@stereomachine I suppose it's then a just question of cost, and new developments will take some time to become cheap
@@stereomachine For use in cement, sure, but for reclaiming land?
Is not suitable for land reclaimation, need to use sand and not just any kind of sand.. if any kind of sand can be used, then Singapore wont have this sand problem because saudi arabia have tons of sand but those are not suitable for use.
It’s crazy how interconnected and complex and specialized our civilization is. Makes you realize how fragile it all is.
At least some people are starting to get it now,...
Your school scammed you 💀
This reminds me about pears that were cultivated in Chile, packaged in China, sold in USA.
@@billybiljun3416 well yeah, pears have a short growing season and spoil fairly quickly, especially the sweeter dessert pears. Chile being in the southern hemisphere experiences summer when the northern hemisphere has winter so their pears get ripe when pear demand is at its highest globally. China specializes in packaging and low cost manufacturing and is the worlds leading consumer of things like plastics like those used in packaging so it's more cost effective to buy south American pears and package them in China. They grow them in the cheapest place they can, package them in the cheapest place they can, and sell them in the highest paying place they can. The alternative would be to pay 10x as much to grow them in greenhouses in America and spend a fortune to store them in the US all winter so they could be sold year round.
It is solid as a house of cards
The benefit of the polder model from the Netherlands, is that you expose fertile soil to the air. Inland lakes were pumped dry with windmills centuries ago (1400s a few and mostly took off after the 1500s). The ground is then available for agriculture. The cities founded in polders, then become major economic centers today; the 4 largest cities in the Netherlands today are below or at sea level today. Half the country would flood if the dykes disappeared over night.
However, the images show in the video are from a different project. A major inland bay was dyked off with a major piece of construction at the mouth of the bay (1933). It allows regulating its water flow, to prevent the sea from bringing in salt water as the tide rises. The inland lake is filled with river water, which left a rich clay sediment at the bottom of the new lake.
Around the same time this large landmass was dyked off (1924), adding the 12th province to the Netherlands. Later a second landmass (13:58 image in the video) was reclaimed. What is supposed to become the 2nd largest airport for the Netherlands, has been build on this reclaimed land, but is yet to open.
Reclaiming land at the sea is entirely different, since sand is a poor soil for agriculture. The Netherlands is a river delta, where long rivers deposit clay on the bottom of bays. Your best application of sandy reclaimed land is usually construction or housing. And nobody in their right mind would dyke off an area with fertile clay and dump sand on it to raise the land level... The Netherlands happens to benefit from the these clay deposites and was able to quickly convert a salty sea bay into agricultural land.
However... the number of people that moved here cant even support a major hospital financially... Its main hospital went bankrupt a few years ago.
The hospital bankrupt has always sounded to me like a management problem or hubris.
That said, I worry we'll have to build some really large Delta Works this time.
I think a country like Bangladesh might not be able to afford to do the same and will just disappear ?
@@autohmae The hospital went backrupt after poor financial management put it at risk, and a decrease in the number of patients left it unable to pay its employees. And that then led bankrupsy was declared, as insurers withdrew financial support.
However, its not the first regional hospital in the last 10 years that had issues with its financial position. The Red Cross hospital in Beverwijk was about to close its ER department around 2014, which meant ambulances would have to drive a lot further to get treatment for emergency patients. Thankfully some party invested in it; cant remember the details too well; I was only an intern back then ^^"
There are some methods of building natural dykes by laying down a long, gentle slope and growing plants on the beaches. The underlying idea being that the sea lays down sediment with its waves and a natural dune rises. There are some technical universities working on sustainable sollutions, given you are willing to redesign the entire coast and river line...
But we would be converting our beaches into mangroves essentially...
But inland we would also have to rise the dykes along rivers - or build such natural dunes/dykes along the rivers. We would have to remove housing for about 2km or more to have this effect occur naturally.
But if we build dykes by hand, the costs go up exponentially with their height. At some point these costs will be too much, and floods and storms will occasionally flood residential areas, causing people to move inland.
Bangladesh... I am not too familiar with their country. It seems their river delta makes the issue highly complex. Doesnt Bangladesh already experience significant flooding regularly due to the variability of the river levels and heavy rains?
I cant comment too much on it, since I clearly dont know enough.
"Half the country would flood if the dykes disappeared over night" Please God, make it happen.
I was kind of shocked he glazed over that fact while pointing out that it had been done in Asia "for decades".
I was in Singapore in 2018 and it's amazing how much they keep expanding, understandably so. They are a powerhouse and when your country is just a big island, it's important to keep your status and improve for both the economy and your people. Bet Malaysia regrets kicking them out now. We'd love to expand our territory peacefully through reunification but alas.
no we are not regretting kicking them out, they are better as an independent nation
Yes, we feel darn good being kicked out. We wouldn’t do well at all with them. It’s a blessing totally.
@@vennsim71 tunku is a visionary and think ahead of it's time
@@MrAizatazmi and Malaysia sank like her currency… certainly visionary..
No regret.... Singapore is better as a country... Singapore are Malaysia biggest trade partners, biggest investors and An Miltary ally in FPDA pact , so on Malaysia to Singapore...just imagine Singapore is a state in Malaysia...maybe their full potential as a state in Malaysia is just comparable to Malaysia richest state of Selangor...Tunku Doing a good decision..not everything can benefits Us by just merged...
Singapore has already find a solution to this problem by using waste Ash and construction waste without have to import from other.Singapore is a small island with zero resources of any kind so the government have to keep finding way to produce resources out of nothing.
Don't be think very positive of SG govt 😂, you people of SG just resource of them and don't know anything in the dark side
@@pustakarileks7404 and you know, how?
Great video as usual. But a minor factual error in here. "Marine Parade HDB apartments now regularly sell for millions of SGD$ now". That is incorrect. Only last month did Marine Parade have its first ever 7-digit sale, when a single unit changed hands for S$1.01M. It's rare enough that when it happens, that it makes the local news. I suspect you may be confusing this with private condos in the general vicinity.
I was about to look that up because I've heard that normal apartments aren't quite as expensive as one would think when looking at a Manhattan style ultra wealthy island city.
Not many people in the world can make a 15 min. presentation on sand so interesting.
“I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating - and it gets everywhere.”
Always found it kind of funny though that the Middle East with all its sand, can’t actually use it for construction because it’s too smooth.
the second great irony of the Middle East
@@declangallagher1448 except for oil
I love how diverse your videos are, subbed for cpu videos but keep coming back for the interesting other topics
I have just returned from 3 days camping on sand beach and have sand everywhere. I hate sand now.
Otherwise, cool topic for video!
Lies again? Serie A Leader San Siro
Singapore sand issue. I still remember how contentious this issue in Malaysia.
+Alozhatos
There is nothing Singapore can do if her larger Malay neighbours in Indonesia and Malaysia refuse to sell sand to this tiny Chinese nation.
Because the prerogative lies with them.
When I saw the title of this one, I knew it was an immediate winner - fantastic video, it’s exactly one of those “you don’t even know that this was a problem; here’s why you’re wrong, it matters”
*chefs kees*
Congratulations on 300K subscribers 🎉🎊! Asianometry is one of the first channels I put on Patreon after watching only one of the videos! Thank you so much for the informative, educational videos.
Yay! Thank you!
The sand market is just so hard to grasp, the data so granular!
Only thing to add is that SG is looking into using the incinerated trash as reclamed land, see Semakau Landfill where portions of the landfill that are full have been converted into parks / green spaces for settling
Singapore has been stealing the sand of nearby Indonesian island using vacuum ships, leaving the island with tiny chunk left or dissapear completely.
What a shame.
Can’t be the case. Must be someone sold, someone bought. Might as well say they can simply go over with huge barges and steal a mountain.
@@vennsim71 nope. The islands were small. May be islets is the correct terms, no one lives there.
They use large ships with sucking pipe to sucked the sand.
No, that is against the law.
But hey, Singapore has military backers like Britain and US.
@@wisewarnanazara317 If Indonesia saw any problem with that, they would do something about it now wouldnt they? Either it never happened or it was of no concern to anybody
@@ianc9699 We did,
By building military / police outpost on the remaining island that has not disaaperar.
It did cause a degree of protest among the citizen at that time. It's quite rampart and they did that at the time we face economic and political hardship.
I believe they had reduced the stealing sand practice for now. As far as I know, nowadays they mostly buy sands from Myanmar.
Our economy, military, and diplomacy has grown quite well in the past two decades.
I think Singapore govt start to think that having good relationship with our govt is much better than stealing sand.
@@wisewarnanazara317 wow i thought singapore always had good relations with Indonesia since the 90s
The photo of the HDB shown at 2:26 is the actual HDB at marine parade neighbourhood, not some random HDB photo. I'm really impressed with the accuracy of your research...
Anakin: I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.
Asianometry: People use sand for a variety of purposes
Anakin: LIKE HATING IT
Singapore: It's over Anakin, I have the high ground!
Anakin: You underestimate my power-
Singapore, wielding the power of sand: *No u*
Well, Singapore has expanded an island via reclaiming the sea using incinerated garbage. Look up Pulau Semakau. The government certainly came up with tonnes of ideas.
Few years ago Cambodia said they had exported x Billion tones to S'pore. Yet S'pore said they'd imported x by x by x Billion tones from Cambodia!
You Missed the Traditional Wooden beam and boulder method. Timber beams back filled by rough "locking" shaped boulders and topped with clay soil is a traditional sea wall method. I think this earthen damp method has worked up to around 300ft deep or around 100meters. It still runs into the issues of shipment and wood support maitanence, but can use much less enviormentally strained reasources than sand and steel.
Wood that rots, and flood defenses...? Nonsense.
@@nvelsen1975 Wood doesn't always rot. Wood fully submerged in saltwater lasts hundreds of years if maintained. Though wood is a common food item for undersea critters in the darkest parts of the oceans, so tracking pests is essential. But the main purpose for the wood is initial framing and not actually permanent support. The reason that I mentioned "locking" shape boulder and clay is that this style of land expansion basically acts as an earthen dam, and has a wider base than top. The main structural component is the boulders, and intentional presure put apon the boulders and general setling of the boulders locks them into plase with mechanical stone joinery. The clay component is to act as waterproofing layers both keping water out from the other side, and to prevent water intrusion into the stack of boulders. Making sure that water is not overly penetrating your bowlder stack is essential for preventing hydraulic separation working against the mechanical stone joinery. The stone filled wood frame is actually how many old dams and piers were built and has lasted thousands of years in some locations.
@@nvelsen1975 The oldest wooden building with original timbers is hundreds of years old. Standard reinforced concrete/carbon steel shaters in around 50years. The keys are preventing bugs, rot, and overly drastic moisture changes in the wood. sunken wooden ships and hundreds of years old buildings can be maintained if they keep roughly the same moisture content and avoid dryrot temperature/moisture conditions. sea burial of wood is usually pretty good if deep sea wood worms don't find it. And keeping would out of around 50·f 10·c and 50% moisture content should lessen dryrot issues.
The importation of excessive quantities of sand from around Asia for Singapore is polluting , destructive and unsustainable
I remember sand dredging being a problem in my home country as well. It was so bad that the environmental minister had to keep flying in Army choppers to document it all - fortunately she was part of the family that owned the largest TV media company at that time so she was always in the headlines and so succeeded in her advocacy.
I was just watching a Lee Kuan yew interview from Harvard and he was saying that he basically got scammed for buying a lot of glass making machinery but Singapore had no sand so he had to sell it 😂
thats not much of a scam... seems more like a bad business plan
“scammed” = “I was a lousy businessman”
But he’s pretty astute with his business vision and acumen. That why Singapore is what it is today.
So lucky I found this channel. Good ass videos my Asian brother.
I wonder if we can use crushed glass in concrete instead of sand, it'll be rough and angular just like sea sand. It would be a good use for harder-to-recycle colored glass.
Glass is made from (purified) sand in the first place. Despite the high quality (and cost) of the raw material, most glass ends up crushed and used in asphaltic concrete which is used for the surface of roads. There simply isn't enough glass to make much of a scratch in the problem.
@@gregvanpaassen Thanks for the extra info. I didn't know it was used in asphalt.
lots of glass is recycled, crushed and melted again: it is easier to melt recycled glass than make new glass
Too expensive. Their competitoris literally dirt-cheap .
glass is recycled by making sand and glass again
Thank you for using SI units. Finally, we all can understand.
If someone develops method for converting desert sand into more coarse types, he'll become very rich. I'd work on it, but I'm too stupid for that.
"Sports Illustrated" units?
@@Asianometry bikinis! OK maybe football fields.
Singapore need to begin thinking about how to live with sea water, not sand all the time. An outside the box mentality is critical for the next phase of development in this modern day urban city state.
With the number of rivers drying up this summer, sand mining can be done with a bulldozer instead of a dredge.
Only in July 2022 was there a first HDB flat sold for over 1 million SGD in Marine Parade. there has never been one sold over a million before this. so the "Marine Parade HDB apartments now regularly sell for millions" is absoutely false. we dont have that many millionaires lah hahaha
I noticed that, good video overall but that’s a completely false statement.
The sand must flow
This is like the opposite of clickbait. A video with a seemingly mundane title that inspires genuine curiosity. "Why do they need sand? And where will they get it?? I must know."
My favorite PowerPoint presentation channel
These projects are so massive. A sight to behold.
Reclaiming ocean as land is not an engine of growth. It's a barrier. The engine is demand, and the engine of demand is good governance making Singapore an attractive place to make a living which makes it a place to invest in; there is a yield on the investment. If Tahiti reclaimed ocean as land, it would not drive growth, so it's not an engine of growth. The reclaimed land would only have costs and no yield. People would not want to make a living there and people would not want to invest there. There is poor governance.
I wonder if they build the land high enough with sea level rise in mind, I know they do with sinking but seems like it could be unusable in not to distant future without tearing down everything and adding more. Im surprised that sand is the preferred material for reclamation. Also wonder why they build land rather than structures into the sea floor or floating?
Even if all ice on earth melted sea level will not rise more than 2 meters. Floating structure does not work for heavy industry nor high density residential. Singapore just don't have enough space for a sprawling floating city. For now importing sand is cheaper if that become a problem then the next less expensive solution is to put their industry underground.
Sea Walls ,Walls my dude .
@@kazedcat if all ice melted sea level would rise 70 meters. Since 1990 sea level rose 10cm. If your claim was true 5% off all land ice on Earth should melt since 1990. Which is completely not true.
@@volkhen0 There is not enough ice to cover the entire earth with additional water 70 meters high. Ice is less dense than water so if your projection is true then the equator should be covered right now with more than 70meters of ice. Just look at the surface area of the earth covered in ice that is a tiny fraction compared to the entire surface of the earth. Also yes a significant portion of the polar ice cap has melted already. And don't expect the sea level to continue its rise indefinitely the volume of ice on earth is not infinite.
@@kazedcat ice in Greenland and Antarctica is kilometers thick (2160m on average) 70m is 3.2% of that average thickness (70/2160=0.032). Total Earth surface are 510 million sq km. Greenland + Antarctica = 16.5 million sq km. If you do math then you will see that both ice land masses make 3.2% of land area (16.5/510=0.032). Coincidence? No. Checkmate, mate.
In Devon, in southwest England, there is a former landfill site slowly being washed away by the sea because it was literally on the beach. Hopefully modern developments using landfill have a better strategy for combating erosion.
"isn't it like penguins needing to import sand?" well... yes.
Yeah, I laughed at the slip-up too :P
As someone that lives in the american southwest id much rather my government sell off our near unlimited supply of sand instead of our very limited supply of water
It is not any sand. They need very specific type of sand. Usually it comes from river sand. Desert sand is not usable for construction. There is a quite limited supply.
@@catchnkill Surely the answer would be to buy sand from river dredging elsewhere.
Are we exporting water? I haven't heard of that.
@@fusion9619 not exportation per se but giving near unlimited water rights to large corporations as incentivization for them to build industries that rely heavily on it. data centers, chip fabs, water bottling plants etc. that take millions of gallons a day from our very limited and very slowly replenishing underground aquifers or above ground reservoirs
imo i think these places should be forced to pay tax for a pipeline that supplies desalinated sea water instead.
@@jimster1111 yeah, big problem. Unfortunately I think we have to just let a disaster strike. I can't support forcing anyone to do/pay anything, and I don't think the democratic process can handle this problem. Or tbh, any problem. Giving rights and subsidies is the same as taxing everyone else. It's also illegal by WTO rules that we ratified, but no one makes a peep when the US breaks international law.
On the Marina Parade reclamation…There are no HDB apartments in Singapore that sell for millions of Singapore dollars.
I'm probably missing something, but isn't it possible to just use regular "dirt" or soil? Like dig a hole in the Cambodian forest with minimal environmental impact and export that clay (like a quarry)?
at least singapore's not using it for weird vanity projects like whatever the hell the dubai coastline is supposed to be
Actually the entire Marina Bay Sands area is for commercial/vanity purposes. Reclaimed lands are also used for vanity purposes, just not disclosed.
Maybe they can ask Anakin where his sand is from? I heard its coarse and rough and gets everywhere. Some good properties to look at.
Now I want to see a movie about gang wars between Sand-trafficking mafias in Indonesia 8:23
I didn’t know that you lived in Foster City in San Francisco Bay Area. Many areas in SF Bay are built up with sand, rocks or garbage. Bay Farm Island is built up from garbage as that used to the dump for Oakland & Alameda as I was child growing up in that area seeing that area being built.
There I was, thinking sands were just sands ... but then I realize, once again, my own ignorance on a matter I thought to have little complexity.
Thank God for the RUclipsrs I guess.
Surely desert sand would be suitable for land reclamation? Unlike cement which requires sand from rivers or the sea
I love how unbiased you were on this complex and political subject.
There is no shortage of sand because sand can be manufactured. Dynamite is used to make big rocks from bedrock. These big rocks have been broken apart to make medium rocks. Those medium rocks are broken apart to make small rocks. These small rocks can be broken apart to make tiny rocks. These tiny rocks can be broken apart to make sand.
hi from Mexico. Interesting video. thank you.🙂
congrats on 300k subs!
underground soil can create underground city
The Taiwanese Deer you use as your aviator is charming. You topic is timely and certainly it’s needed to be discussed in detail. Sand use needs to be evaluated. In an oil drill site off California concrete tetrapods were created with aggregate and sand on top. The tetrapods also created habitat and it’s still in use today built in the 1960s
"Sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating" - Love the opening quote from Star Wars !
As you say it is reason for criticism, I have never heard any critics about my country constructing the 'Maasvlakte' at Rotterdam to increase the harbor area. This is not a polder area.
Great video. Surprised you didn't mention sand in the context of silicon wafers, since you're RUclips's expert there
Quartz is used to make silicon wafers, so they have to get it from different places than the sand used in construction.
Thank you for a great video. I live in Singapore, and it is so tiny that it is seriously short of land. Singapore leaders have a fixation on increasing the population (despite it being so crowded already), so there is a unrelenting need for sand for land reclamation, concrete to house all these people, and buildings for these people to work in.
Why can't Singaporeans just move to where there's land? Less than 6% of the Earth's surface is populated. There's land that's just going begging to have people living on it. There's a phrase for filling in the ocean. It goes like this, shoveling shit against the tide. It means participating in a hopeless task.
@@1pcfred easier answer is greed
@@rollinghippo2940 there's nothing wrong with being greedy. Just so long as you come by everything you get honestly, that is.
Singaporeans can’t simply just go over anywhere and claim the land as their own.
@@vennsim71 no they can't. But they can suck the sand up, bring it back to their own land and then it's theirs.
Land is cheap in small countries where nothing of value is taking place. Land is expensive in Vancouver, though Canada is big. Land is only valuable, if there is something of value going on right where the land is; so country size matters not.
First time I hauled sand from Houston to Wyoming I was very confused.
You should visit the Netherlands for 2 reasons.
First making polders was not only in the west but also in the north. Groningen and Friesland. Many by monks.
Second : the Dutch harvest a lot of sand and small rocks from land, pits, lakes, rivers and sea. Their fleet of dredges is problaby the largest in the world. Look at the artificial island of Dubai.
Dredging sand is not seen as a problem for environment at all. Many pits are used now for recreational purposes.
And sometimes to dump cars involved in crimes, as the pits are deep.
In the past they used to skim the agricultural soil by 2 meters, the layer of pure sand under the fertile soil, but I think that is not allowed anymore.
Could desert sand be used to replace the river sand that has been mined? Kind of like replanting tress after you harvest the old?
I'm not a sand expert, but I know that desert sand (e.g. UAE, Saudi, etc.) isn't good for much. Not building and not for their expanding their land.
@@sbaumgartner9848, that is why I am curious. Desert sand has been wind blown and polished to within an inch of its life, so maybe it is too smooth and round. I wonder if any experiments have been done to see how poorly or well it might act as a replacement.
You’re making important work and a lot to think about…. Waste could be turned to sand etc… Thank you!
Generally, buildings constructed on a sand base haven't been stable. Even "good" sand has a bit of a liquefaction problem. What is there to stop the sand from slowly spreading out below the sea's surface, causing the whole mass to slowly sink? The Osaka airport used a lot of rock as well as some sand. And it's still sinking very gradually. The Millenium Tower in San Francisco is slowly sinking and tilting because it was built on sand, rather than being anchored to bedrock. Undoubtedly the wrong kind of sand, but the whole idea of building on sand is puzzling. "Let's just pour sand over coral reefs and fish, destroying them. What could go wrong?"
We were told not to build your house upon the sand! Old wisdom !
This video gave me semantic satiation over the word 'sand'
Always fascinating and informative!
Imagine if enough research is done so that desert sand is economically viable, it would be great to reduce the spreading of deserts. I believe desert sand is the future if made viable.
No, the land is not used to enrich "the people" but the government Sovereign Wealth Fund, GIC. According to Singapore law, all land sales proceeds go straight to the country's reserves. But for some reason those proceeds are counted in government revenue, which is why for many years Singapore's government spending has been running in a surplus. That surplus is actually government revenue that nobody can use.
Also you skipped the fact that the Singapore government forcefully acquired most of the land in the country at dirt-cheap prices...then proceeded to sell that land back its citizens over-valued. So much for "unlock vast wealth for its people". As for land-reclamation...well much of the reclaimed land is only 90cm above sea level which makes them vulnerable to sea level rise. Then there's also the fact that many archaeological artefacts from pre-modern Singapura were probably buried under all that land reclamation, along with all the coral reefs.
So in summary, no, the wealth is not going to Singaporeans but to the government. Singaporeans instead are forced to grapple with sky-high prices for private housing and a shortage of "affordable" public housing thanks to the government's need to leverage real estate to prop it up the economy. And we all know property bubbles last forever and won't ever burst!
And if anything none of the houses actually belong to Singaporeans! Only time will tell.
@@m0nz13 That's another thing that most people outside of Singapore seem to get wrong too, especially when they refer to Singapore's "successful" public housing scheme, HDB. They seem to keep quoting the ~80-90% figure.
People who purchase Public housing in Singapore are not owners, but leaseholders for a 99-year lease. So the real home ownership rate in Singapore is closer to 21% (The rate of private home ownership).
This was way more intrestring then I tought.
WA State has 12 million cubic feet of sand, piled 230 feet high, at the headquarters of Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, created by excavating for Grand Coulee Dam. It's almost like a strategic reserve.
12,000,000 cubic feet really isnt much. 200m x200m x10m deep
Perhaps Singapore can learn from Venice. Also, how about use desert sand and sea sand to make glass, and use crushed glass to make sand?
I don't really see a "problem". It's a technical and economic consideration. At the supplier end, there can be abuse in illegal taking of sand that destroys some beaches and other scenery (I've seen this in India) but this can be prevented by local enforcement if they really want to. I don't see why Singapore should stop its projects if they economically are working.
Well, sand is tiny Singapore’s lifeline to survive just like water. The reason why it’s larger neighbouring countries ban exporting it to them are purely political and NOT environmental. Claiming environmental consequences are just to disguise their agendas.
Singapore raping its neighbors is not okay. Now you know.
But it's true though, what? You're going to deny that sand dredging is harming the environment?
I wonder if desert sand below the surface becomes more coarse
Create more land not only one way to the water. What they should do is create a second level of land on top of many buildings. Using buildings as pillars to support the second floor that connects together as one large piece. Only build residential and light constructions, sidewalks, and bicycle lanes. No one ever does it before in world history. It sounds crazy, but this may be a better solution.
Singapura reclamation would change the sea territory, it's invading another country slowly
This is a huge and concerning topic. I learned about it a few years ago. It's too bad not enough people know about the situation. When I've mentioned it to other people or watch other videos there's always this hype about new technologies to replace sand. Sure, sure, but how many decades before it actually becomes a reality?
Lovely! Like some countries have an strategic oil reserve, Singapore has a strategic land reserve. There's a sand dune near the airport. And it's under guard ...
"isn't it like penguins needing to import sand?"
Did he mean snow? Really flubbed that analogy lol
ummmmm @ 12:35 "penguins needing to import sand" ???? I don't get it.... did you mean something else? like 'penguins needing to import ice" ???
Excellent information, thank you.
Another great Singapore Video !
@Asianometry Very interesting and diverse topics. Please do one researching about the implication of mountains and hills destruction ongoing inside PRC 😉
As a Malaysian sand exporter country, Singapore is so small but big dreams.
To me, they seem rather stuck to a mindset that worked in the past but might not work in the future
Thank you 🙏 again for your EXCELLENT work 🙏👏👏👏
I love this sand facts channel. I wonder when sand will become so expensive that it will be just cheaper to build city-space-station
4:07 Boskalis?Anyone?
Singapore & Dubai (islands) have Dutch foundations..
I will show/find my references asap.
ok, I can't post links here.
Boskalis acquired 200 million contract in dubai
That's a good search-criterum
bottom line (no pun intended) is Sand.
Please don't remind us of our colonisers.
@@keffinsg you didn't appreciate my irony.
I recommend the book "The World in a grain", if you want details on how critical sand is for our economy, along with its impact,
can tunneling be a source of sand? I imagine digging around deep under the sea or under the city can create plenty of industrial work space (caverns are great for controlling air pollution and heat), aid in transportation, and provide shelter without disrupting the surface.
expensive
we also import sand frm north korea too during that time no neighbours want to sell us because we are expending so we went to Kim jong Ii at that time who is daring to sell us, until the UN sanctions hits them thus we cant import anymore
come on man Sahara Desert has an endless supply of sand so does saudi arabia
Bless this channel
Very interesting and unknown subject!
How about using limestone mountains for reclamation projects? Supply is unlimited & environmental concerns are minimal. Sand should be used only for concreting?
The Singaporeans have a robust ship-building industry. Why not build a flotilla of very large ships and floating structures for people to live and work on and have a maritime based lifestyle ala the Sea Gypsies of North East Borneo?
Anyhow, I work in the sand mining industry in Malaysia. And in all my life I've seen so many attempts to get G2G and underhanded deals to get sand to Singapore as well as Brunei and China. All have failed one way or another. Though the Singaporeans can pay a very good price and just a mere 100,000 tonnes of the freshwater stuff can make one an instant millionaire, it's best for my country to stop making quick money out of exploiting of natural resources and keep all our sand and other finite resources for our own use.
Plus, sand is actually super finite (meaning we're using it much faster than it is occurring) and the various grades used for concreting and plastering is actually getting harder and harder to come by making it potentially far more valuable than oil in the next 10 years.
"100,000 tonnes of the freshwater stuff can make one an instant millionaire"
$10/t ???
It really is all transport and environment cost isnt it?
@@mabamabam No. It's not the transport costs. It's expensive because you can only use certain grades of fresh water sand as aggregate to mix into concrete and for plastering.
Marine sand is more abundant but is only good for land reclamation therefore relatively cheaper however you can't build anything if you don't have coarse fresh water sand as aggregate for your concrete.
So this is why Singaporeans and even Bruneians are willing to pay a hefty premium for this resource. But it's getting harder to source especially the rare one we call as zone 1.
@@TheLoreNiac If its not transport costs then they wouldnt be stealing local sand they would just buy it from places with lots of sand.
Good sand isnt rare. Its just rare close to singapore.
China is recently holding sand back from Taiwan. Sand is a big deal for Asia.
Taiwan has a lot more land area and needs it less. Ironically a lot of it is probably being diverted to Hong Kong.
2:33 The power of sand compels you! *Throws sand at Darth Vader*
UAE is an importer of sand?!
Well, if that ain't coals to Newcastle