Non Nuclear Water Desalination, easy...
The Watercone desalination system is not new, but since its inception through a pilot trial last year, it is revolutionising the third world. The Watercone system has formed a simple independent, cheap, mobile solar still system, helping millions access both salt water and brackish water for personal consumption.
The incredible low technology concept requires no feature electronics, no photovolactic cells, tubes, filters, or multiple parts and can be understood within seconds.
The invention comprises a conical, self supporting and stackable unit made from transparent thermoformable polycarbonate (the same as recycled water bottles), and is outfitted with a black polycarb tray to hold dirty, or salty water. That it! The Watercone creates potable water generation, using mother nature and the power of condensation.
Method :
1. Pour salty/brakish water into the pan, then float the watercone on top. The black base absorbs the sunlight and heats up the water to support evaporation.
2. The evaporated water condenses in the form of droplets on the inner wall of the cone. These droplets trickle down the inner wall into a circular trought at the inner base of the cone.
3. By unscrewing the cap at the tip of the cone and turning the cone upside down, one can empty the potable water gathered in the trough directly into a drinking/cooking device.
There are at least 50 developing countries and almost as many (if not more) developed countries with a significant amount of coastline and plenty of sunshine around the globe today. Added to this, is the fact that millions of people also live close to water but cannot drink it or use it for agriculture because it is brackish.
Because the condensation process involved in the Watercone naturally kills waterborne pathogens and removes particulates, many chemicals, and heavy metals, it is suitable for the thousands of hospitals around the world too. It is already proving valuable to sunny third~world field and mobile hospitals, first aid and medical units ~ certainly enough to make a difference between life and death for many.
Techy Specs of smaller units :
A Watercone with a diameter of 60 to 80 cm and a height of 30 to 50 cm yields about 1.5 to 1.7 litres per day.
That is an evaporation level of 8.8 litres per square metre or millions of litres per coastal population.
The Cones are long lasting UV resistant polycarbonate and can be used daily for five years. The material is non~toxic, non~flammable and 110% recyclable.
The black pans are also recyclable.
So, now I am thinking, why arent gigantic versions of the Watercone being made to be used to provide valuable water for agriculture. By modifying the base to include a syphoning off tube of some sort, running along a chain of them, so the large cone wouldnt need to be turned over to pour the water?
Creating Jobs :
For years the water vendors have walked the markets and villages of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Based on the vicinity of salt or brackish water and outfitted with a minor credit line, these vendors are now investing in up to a dozen Watercones and selling up to 15 litres of water a day, recovering their costs within weeks.
A simple concept that uses an innovative solution to a growing problem for mankind, of not only a lack of water; but also an excess of polycarbonate, gas, oil, electricity and uranium. Not to mention the deforestation and burning of wood in developing countries, which is undertaken to heat dirty water to try and boil out the impurities.
Cheap to make and easily anchored, I would much rather look out to sea and see a bunch of these huge Polycarb cones bobbing about on the ocean, instead of that ugly, off shore desalination thing just off the Gold Coast ... and God help us .. a string of them just like it from Tasmania to Cooktown in years to come? I am not even going to outline the fact that no nuks are involved with the cone concept, (nor that marine life is completely safe using these cones), because that would be insulting your intelligence.
Places like the kilometre or so, along the desert/coastal regions of far north Australia could easily provide more water than the townships needed.
Heres what a book called; World Changing, [with foreward by Al Gore] : published on November 1st 2006 pp. 193 and 194., had to say about the Watercone (back then).
* The best- yet solar water purifiers the Watercone, a solar still that uses the sun`` heat to evaporate water, which then condenses on the inside of the cone - flip the funnel-like cone over and you can pour the water right into a container. This cheap, rugged system can purify about 1,6quarts (1.5 litres) of water per day, not only killing all waterborne pathogens but also removing particulates, many chemicals, and heavy metals. Better yet, it can also desalinate seawater- an important function for the world`s sizable coastal populations. JJF*
A National winner in the Energy Globa Award 2007. The Watercone is Patented by Augustin Produktenwicklung, Tengstasse 45, D 80796 Munich, Germany and went into mass production this year. More information is available on their website. Get there by clicking the green text at the start of this article.
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Yeah, I thought so too ... I gotta get me one of those for sure!
Lilla ...
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... and now, just enough to drink?
I hadnt considered them being used on life rafts, a great idea.
Lilla ..
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I think that the future will use a mixture of technologies to create survival needs, amongst them many independant forms of free, low technology to harvest water, energy and heat, etc.
So first up I wold have to say that I think each household would have one of these, especially those near rivers, creeks, dams, lakes and the sea...
As for big ones floating around the harbour, dams, rivers and lakes and other off shore places, yeah why not? They would be so cheap to manufacture and China is just so happy to please in that department right now.
As I wrote this post, I was thinking of the polluted, brackish state of the water in our Murray Darling River and how a stack of these things (on a large scale) floating along the river could provide plenty of water for toilet flushing and agriculture, to name just one area/issue... not to mention the moisture lost in Australia from evaporation from our water sources. Imagine if the water in the dams were covered with these things, all providing water from an otherwise lost resource.
However, as I said, ultimately I think it will take more things than just one thing alone to clean up the planet (after the oil is gone of course, no point even trying until that happens, as it just wont happen in a hurry, becasue there is still too much profit to be made) ... but eventually, the new technologies will have to be integrated, hence why the idea of the Venus project is to try and pilot the most effective ways, and then to get all the different things working together, I spose.
Realisticly, I guess it would be true to say, that a lot will depend on the current ruling money cartels to continue to profit from the innovations ... a tricky thing for them because so much of this new stuff, involves independant harvesting, per household. So I guess that means that land taxes and other things like garbage collection will have to carry the price of paying for their million dollar lifestyles?
I just do not know, but it is a great question.
Lilla ...
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oh absolutely!
if we could start using a bit of ingenuity like this in every aspect of life it would all begin to add up . . . each individual measure is just a small (but important) part of the big picture!
i guess there would be some amount of pollution associated with the manufacture of the materials (transparent thermoformable polycarbonate) but hopefully that would be a once-off to create a long-lasting product
i think most polycarbonates have a life of about 5 years when exposed to sunlight, depending on thickness . . . but the trade off of material production vs harnessing a renewable resource would surely favour this kind of project being implementing on a large scale
its definately something to think about!
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Spot on ... especially when I think of great uses for recycled plastic.
Lilla ...
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its been a while *grin* I am miffed as to what offends you about this product, I really am ... your last name isnt Rothschild is it?
Lilla ...
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I get it, but my friend you need to grow up, okay?
It is clear that you have plenty fresh water to drink, hell you even have a computer to go and hassle people on, so that means you have power too. Tell you what, when you have gone from one cup of rice a day to half a cup and not had a drink of fresh water, because your government has sold it to cocoa cola, so they can put some chemicals in it instead of sugar and a bit of fizzzz, then we may have an accord.
I do get your point, but you are barking up the wrong tree by trying to agrivate me, because we are basically on the same team here, albeit I am trying to do something about it.
What is it you Americans say .. have a nice day.
Lilla ...