EcoTech Today

Australia’s “Green” Water Progress

Even though life would be bland without Facebook and television, we (as in human beings) can survive without electricity. But, as you probably learned way back in preschool, we can’t live without (fresh, drinkable) water.

Earth-Policy.org warns that “water scarcity may be the most underestimated resource facing the world today.” They point out that by 2050, 1.7 billion people in the world will be suffering from “hydrological poverty.” Yikes. That’s pretty scary stuff.

Worried yet? Here’s some good news. Over in Australia, scientists at RMIT University have found a new eco-friendly way of producing fresh water. TheAge.com reports that a team of renewable energy researchers figured out that their man-made solar pond can be used to produce afffordable fresh water from salty ground water (with zero greenhouse emissions to boot).

Originally, the solar pond was created to research how it could be used for heating applications.  

[GEEKTAILS] The technologies developed by the RMIT team rely on two phenomena: water in a vacuum boils at lower temperatures than 100 degrees, and when steam condenses, it gives off heat. So in the project at Pyramid Hill, salty water from beneath the ground is pumped to the surface and then sent through pipes on the bottom of a hot solar pond and heated.

The heated water then goes to a vacuum chamber, where it boils at 65-70 degrees and, as the vapour condenses, the heat given off is used to further warm incoming water, making the process highly energy efficient. A series of interconnected vacuum chambers continues the process until the fresh water produced comes out at room temperature — TheAge.com

Dr. John Andrews told TheAge that he estimates production of fresh water from salty ground water woulc cost between $2 and $4 per kilolitre.