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| Topic: The Science for a Green World | |
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Another thing I am concerned about is drinking water. As the world population grows access to drinking water is in some countries slim. Entire fresh water lakes in Africa have disappeared in the past leading to border wars.
I find it ironic that Steamliners or Cruise ships have machines to convert the ocean's water into fresh water, yet it is not so popular amongst the people on land where the water is needed the most. I am sure there are individuals who have simple machines doing this now, but I just don't understand why we can't do it as a whole for each country to allow enough water for everyone. If I remember correctly, and please correct me if I am wrong, but the world's fresh water supplies is under 10%. This water can deplete at a alarming rate if the world population grows. I am even thinking about buying stocks from water company corporations! 
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ships use steam plants to distill the sea water
the energy required to delainate salt water on a large scale is too restrictive New Mexico has a couple of experimental desalination plants. There is a brine aquifer under New Mexico/Texas big enough to supple freshwater for 100 million people for 200 years if it could just be desalinated but so far its just too expensive |
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Edited by
metalwing
on
Sat 08/01/09 10:14 AM
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The Saudis and the Cayman Islands run desalination plants on a fairly large scale. I'll dig a bit and see what Cayman does. When I was there they seem to have plenty of water.
Edited addition by Metalwing Here Smiless. They are making a buck or two. The Consolidated Water seawater desalination plant reported a 34% increase in total revenues to US$12.5 million, reports Forbes magazine (March 18, 2008). Total revenue for the year increased 29% to US$49.1 million. Substantial increases in revenues and gross profits are primarily due to increased demand for potable water here and higher prices, said Chief Executive Rick McTaggart. The company's first full operating year at Blue Hills plan in Nassau, Bahamas also played a factor, as did construction of a new seawater desalination plant in Tynes Bay, Bermuda and expansion of the North Sound plant on Grand Cayman Island. |
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Researchers develop low-cost, low-energy desalination process
A low-cost water desalination system developed by New Mexico State University engineers can convert saltwater to pure drinking water on a round-the-clock basis – and its energy needs are so low it could be powered by the waste heat of an air conditioning system. Prototyp Water Desalination project control centerA prototype built on the NMSU campus in Las Cruces can produce enough pure water continuously to supply a four-person household, said Nirmala Khandan, an environmental engineering professor in NMSU’s Department of Civil Engineering. New Mexico and other parts of the world have extensive brackish groundwater resources that could be tapped and purified to augment limited freshwater supplies, but traditional desalination processes such as reverse osmosis and electrodialysis consume significant amounts of energy. This research project, funded by the NMSU-based New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute, explores the feasibility of using low-grade heat – such as solar energy or waste heat from a process such as refrigeration or air conditioning – to run a desalination process. Khandan said the project builds on a process, first developed by researchers in Florida, that makes distillation of saline water possible at relatively low temperatures – 45 to 50 degrees Celsius (113 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit) rather than the 60 to 100 C (140 to 212 F) required by most distillation processes. The system utilizes the natural effects of gravity and atmospheric pressure to create a vacuum in which water can evaporate and condense at near-ambient temperatures. Two 30-foot vertical tubes – one rising from a tank of saline water and the other from a tank of pure water – are connected by a horizontal tube. The barometric pressure of the tall water columns creates a vacuum in the headspace. At normal temperatures, Khandan said, evaporation from the pure-water side will travel to the saline side and condense as the system seeks equilibrium. “That’s nature,” he said. “We want it to go the other way.” Raising the temperature of the water in the headspace over the saline column slightly more than that of the freshwater column causes the flow to go in the other direction, so that pure, distilled water collects on one side and the brine concentrate is left behind in a separate container. A temperature increase of only 10 to 15 degrees is needed, Khandan said. “That’s the trick of this vacuum,” he said. “We don’t have to boil the water like normal distillation, so you can use low-grade heat like solar energy or waste heat from a diesel engine or some other source of waste heat.” Potentially a desalination system using this method could be coupled to a home’s refrigerated air conditioning system, Khandan said. “When you air condition a house, you are pumping the heat outside the house, and the heat is wasted into the atmosphere,” he said. “We want to capture that heat and use it to power this desalination system.” The 30-foot-tall NMSU prototype is powered by a solar panel. Khandan and his research assistant, civil engineering doctoral student Veera Gnaneswar Gude, have modified the process originally developed by Florida researchers to incorporate a thermal energy storage device that allows the system to operate around-the-clock, using stored energy at night. The Institute of Energy and Environment housed in the NMSU College of Engineering helped them instrument the system. Their research on the system’s capabilities has been presented at national and international conferences. As with any desalination process, the system leaves behind a brine concentrate that must be disposed of, and some potential users may be put off by the unit’s height, “but this technology could go to commercial scale pretty quickly,” Khandan said. “The overall cost of desalination by this process can be very competitive.” The project is one of many research initiatives at NMSU aimed at addressing the critical needs of New Mexico and the nation. -NMSU |
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It would be nice to create somekind of instrument that solar panels can be used when it sunshines and when it doesn't a wind panel is used instead. So what I am saying is a plant that can use both at the same time to create energy. Duel plant maybe we can call it. I really don't like the idea that we use more and more of the resources of our planet to get what we need. Wind and Sun would be the best option for it doesn't destroy anything at all. Don't mind me. Just weird imaginative ideas coming out of my head. Who knows maybe something like this already exists.
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Researchers develop low-cost, low-energy desalination process A low-cost water desalination system developed by New Mexico State University engineers can convert saltwater to pure drinking water on a round-the-clock basis – and its energy needs are so low it could be powered by the waste heat of an air conditioning system. Prototyp Water Desalination project control centerA prototype built on the NMSU campus in Las Cruces can produce enough pure water continuously to supply a four-person household, said Nirmala Khandan, an environmental engineering professor in NMSU’s Department of Civil Engineering. New Mexico and other parts of the world have extensive brackish groundwater resources that could be tapped and purified to augment limited freshwater supplies, but traditional desalination processes such as reverse osmosis and electrodialysis consume significant amounts of energy. This research project, funded by the NMSU-based New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute, explores the feasibility of using low-grade heat – such as solar energy or waste heat from a process such as refrigeration or air conditioning – to run a desalination process. Khandan said the project builds on a process, first developed by researchers in Florida, that makes distillation of saline water possible at relatively low temperatures – 45 to 50 degrees Celsius (113 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit) rather than the 60 to 100 C (140 to 212 F) required by most distillation processes. The system utilizes the natural effects of gravity and atmospheric pressure to create a vacuum in which water can evaporate and condense at near-ambient temperatures. Two 30-foot vertical tubes – one rising from a tank of saline water and the other from a tank of pure water – are connected by a horizontal tube. The barometric pressure of the tall water columns creates a vacuum in the headspace. At normal temperatures, Khandan said, evaporation from the pure-water side will travel to the saline side and condense as the system seeks equilibrium. “That’s nature,” he said. “We want it to go the other way.” Raising the temperature of the water in the headspace over the saline column slightly more than that of the freshwater column causes the flow to go in the other direction, so that pure, distilled water collects on one side and the brine concentrate is left behind in a separate container. A temperature increase of only 10 to 15 degrees is needed, Khandan said. “That’s the trick of this vacuum,” he said. “We don’t have to boil the water like normal distillation, so you can use low-grade heat like solar energy or waste heat from a diesel engine or some other source of waste heat.” Potentially a desalination system using this method could be coupled to a home’s refrigerated air conditioning system, Khandan said. “When you air condition a house, you are pumping the heat outside the house, and the heat is wasted into the atmosphere,” he said. “We want to capture that heat and use it to power this desalination system.” The 30-foot-tall NMSU prototype is powered by a solar panel. Khandan and his research assistant, civil engineering doctoral student Veera Gnaneswar Gude, have modified the process originally developed by Florida researchers to incorporate a thermal energy storage device that allows the system to operate around-the-clock, using stored energy at night. The Institute of Energy and Environment housed in the NMSU College of Engineering helped them instrument the system. Their research on the system’s capabilities has been presented at national and international conferences. As with any desalination process, the system leaves behind a brine concentrate that must be disposed of, and some potential users may be put off by the unit’s height, “but this technology could go to commercial scale pretty quickly,” Khandan said. “The overall cost of desalination by this process can be very competitive.” The project is one of many research initiatives at NMSU aimed at addressing the critical needs of New Mexico and the nation. -NMSU Gee. What if you used the waste heat from a power plant. ATOM BRAND drinking water for all! Good Post, as usual. |
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Well I guess I am just showing impatience as usual, as I want that the whole world would be doing this with "drinking water" and "energy" such as the use of solar and wind.
I thank you for posting that there are some countries already doing great things concerning the water and energy use. I hope many countries will hop along and do this also. Just imagine the whole world will get its energy from the use of sun and wind only! And of course imagine that the whole world can have a glass of water every single day. Yes there are many people in the world who don't get a glass of clean water to drink everyday. It is sad indeed. |
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seawater desalination is pretty easy.
But the inland processes are more tricky. for one the brackish water is composed more of calcium and silica rather than salt and builds up scale in the system differently and the residue has to be disposed of without contaminating the surface |
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seawater desalination is pretty easy. But the inland processes are more tricky. for one the brackish water is composed more of calcium and silica rather than salt and builds up scale in the system differently and the residue has to be disposed of without contaminating the surface Every process we have just about creates waste products of some type. Take desalination. It removes the H2O from the sea water... and leaves behind brine... What will our oceans be made of in 700 years? Will it become a salinated sludge? |
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Edited by
smiless
on
Sat 08/01/09 12:19 PM
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Here are some questions for fun.
When you brush your teeth do you let the water run? When you shave do you let the water run? When you wash dishes do you create a sink of soapy water and a sink of water without soapy water, or do you let the water run? Or do you use a dishwasher? Is it a modern dishwasher or a older version. Do you drink bottled water or do you drink water from tap. Do you use a purifier when drinking tap water? Does your state allow you to water the grass or plants at anytime of the day or is it restricted to certain hours per day? Do you spend 30 minutes taking a shower or do you take quick ones and just get the job done? Or do you take baths instead? If you have more then add them please. |
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Here are some questions for fun. When you brush your teeth do you let the water run? I sit on the couch and brush my teeth. it makes me brush longer When you shave do you let the water run? I shave in the shower When you wash dishes do you create a sink of soapy water and a sink of water without soapy water, or do you let the water run? Or do you use a dishwasher? Is it a modern dishwasher or a older version. sink of soapy water and turn on the faucet and rinse for each piece (my sink also drains out to the yard and waters the trees Do you drink bottled water or do you drink water from tap. Do you use a purifier when drinking tap water? both, depends on if I'm home or out. my tapwater is co-op well water. I live in the sandhills so it is very well filtered naturally Does your state allow you to water the grass or plants at anytime of the day or is it restricted to certain hours per day? yeah but most people here don't have grass other than wild native grass Do you spend 30 minutes taking a shower or do you take quick ones and just get the job done? Or do you take baths instead? ten or fifteen minutes If you have more then add them please. |
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I live in the desert. Water is always an issue. We have a de-sal project/plant near us, but I've got to tell you that local politics can be DEATH to what otherwise makes sense and is the right thing to do. I can never quite wrap my brain around the politics vs the science and need...
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Here are some questions for fun. When you brush your teeth do you let the water run? When you shave do you let the water run? When you wash dishes do you create a sink of soapy water and a sink of water without soapy water, or do you let the water run? Or do you use a dishwasher? Is it a modern dishwasher or a older version. Do you drink bottled water or do you drink water from tap. Do you use a purifier when drinking tap water? Does your state allow you to water the grass or plants at anytime of the day or is it restricted to certain hours per day? Do you spend 30 minutes taking a shower or do you take quick ones and just get the job done? Or do you take baths instead? If you have more then add them please. 1). No, I wet my tootbrush and turn the tap off 2). No, but I do fill the sink halfway so I can rinse the razor 3). I use a dishwasher and I try to only run full loads, it's pretty new 4).Bottled water is from the  ! I use tap and a glass, call me old-fashioned and I dont purify, the water isn't that bad out of the tap 5). Sometimes TN does water restrictions, but only during really dry times 6). I grew up in a house with 4 brothers and 2 parents, so we all had to learn how to take 5-7 minute showers and to this day I can't break the habit
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Edited by
smiless
on
Sat 08/01/09 02:45 PM
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When you brush your teeth do you let the water run?
NO I CREATE MY OWN SPIT TO BRUSH MY TEETH. When you shave do you let the water run? NO I WAIT FOR IT TO RAIN AND COLLECT THE RAIN WATER. When you wash dishes do you create a sink of soapy water and a sink of water without soapy water, or do you let the water run? Or do you use a dishwasher? Is it a modern dishwasher or a older version. I PUT DIRTY DISHES OUTSIDE AND WAIT FOR IT TO RAIN. Do you drink bottled water or do you drink water from tap. Do you use a purifier when drinking tap water? TAP WATER Does your state allow you to water the grass or plants at anytime of the day or is it restricted to certain hours per day? RAIN DOES WELL Do you spend 30 minutes taking a shower or do you take quick ones and just get the job done? Or do you take baths instead? SWIM IN THE OCEAN And there you go! I am the winner!!!! I preserve the Earth the best! Just joking! I use dishwasher, use limited water, drink purified water, and water the garden at the hours they let me. Yes I am a insane nutcase answering my own questions |
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Is this TRUE or FALSE? You tell me!
The year is 2089 12.6 billion people populate the planet. Drinking water is only for the rich. The rest suffer and much poverty, diseases, death, and unhappiness occurs. There are cheap distilling pumps like in "Water World" with Kevin Costner where you can pee into a cup and have the pump somehow making it drinkable again. They are the cheapest but only the upper middle class can afford them. Much of the planets population is unemployed because robots do most if not all of the work. Only oversight supervisors seem to live middle class life. The rich of course are the owners of the few corporations still left of the planet. |
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Natural organic farming in nutrient dense soil
Get rid of pesticides which deplete soil and poison the population. Get rid of all plastics for their detrimental effect on our endocrine systems. "Slow Death by Rubber Duck" is an interesting read ... |
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Here's some random and interesting data I have. Not sure how accurate it is, but I'll go with it:
Average Amount of Garbage Produced by Americans each day: 4.6 lbs. Type of Trash: Paper - 32.7% Yard Waste - 12.8% Food Waste - 12.5% Plastics - 12.1% Metals - 8.2% Wood - 5.6% Glass - 5.3% Textiles - 4.7% Rubber/Leather - 2.9% Other - 3.2% Where our trash goes: Landfill - 54% Recycled - 33.4% Incinerators - 12.6% Recession Recycling: $10 - The amount per ton that Harvard used to be paid for their recyclables $35 - The amount per ton Harvard now pays to get rid of them 1.7 million: The number of homes the U.S. could power for 24 hours if we turned a days worth of garbage into fuel How much of our trash is recyclable? 80% How much of our trash do we recycle? 33% 60 days The average time it takes for an aluminum can to be recycled and put back on the shelf $304,479 Average cost per acre to build a landfill Trashy Nations: Who's tossing out the least/most junk worldwide (pounds per capita) Ireland - 1,764 Norway - 1,764 U.S. - 1,672 Netherlands - 1,375 U.K. - 1,287 Japan - 913 Mexico - 759 China - 253 |
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When you brush your teeth do you let the water run?
NO I WET MY TOOTHBRUSH AND TURN THE WATER OFF WHILE I BRUSH MY TEETH ... USE WATER IN A GLASS TO RINSE. SOMETIMES I LET THE WATER RUN SLOWLY IF I AM WASHING A PAINTBRUSH THOUGH... When you shave do you let the water run? I SHAVE MY LEGS IN THE SHOWER When you wash dishes do you create a sink of soapy water and a sink of water without soapy water, or do you let the water run? Or do you use a dishwasher? Is it a modern dishwasher or a older version. RUN THE DISHWASHER ONCE A WEEK OR SO - MODERN ONE Do you drink bottled water or do you drink water from tap. Do you use a purifier when drinking tap water? TAP WATER THROUGH A FILTER. BOTTLED WATER IF I AM OUT BUT TRY TO AVOID PLASTICS Does your state allow you to water the grass or plants at anytime of the day or is it restricted to certain hours per day? NO GRASS TO WATER ... APARTMENT DWELLER Do you spend 30 minutes taking a shower or do you take quick ones and just get the job done? Or do you take baths instead? SHOWER WITH LOW FLOW SHOWER HEAD ... 15-20 MINUTES I was curious about water consumption though so I put the plug in my bathtub when I showered to see if I used more water with a bath or a shower ... I'd use more with a bath ... |
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Is this TRUE or FALSE? You tell me! The year is 2089 12.6 billion people populate the planet. Drinking water is only for the rich. The rest suffer and much poverty, diseases, death, and unhappiness occurs. There are cheap distilling pumps like in "Water World" with Kevin Costner where you can pee into a cup and have the pump somehow making it drinkable again. They are the cheapest but only the upper middle class can afford them. Much of the planets population is unemployed because robots do most if not all of the work. Only oversight supervisors seem to live middle class life. The rich of course are the owners of the few corporations still left of the planet. Smiless have you seen the documentary FLOW: FOR THE LOVE OF WATER? or BLUE GOLD WORLD WATER WARS? It is the rich who are going to control the water ... just look at what is happening in poorer countries like India... Water companies get the rights to dam a river for a song ... they then sell water back to the poor people for WAY more than they were paying before and more than they can afford so they are forced to drink from disease ridden ponds ... they are dying And it isn't isolated to 'those people over wherever' A water company has just received rights to dam a river near where I live - it is a main salmon spawning route so it will destroy more than one direction in the ecosystem It makes me CRAZY!@!@!@! |
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Natural organic farming in nutrient dense soil Get rid of pesticides which deplete soil and poison the population. Get rid of all plastics for their detrimental effect on our endocrine systems. "Slow Death by Rubber Duck" is an interesting read ... I agree I eat organic only 90% of the time. I buy at Whole Foods. It is a bit expensive. I never understood why until I read a few books about it. You see in Germany we go to markets all the time and most of the food we buy is organic. I never had to worry about reading a label all the time until I moved here and the food wasn't so expensive! Here in the states I heard that organic farmers are usually struggling to keep their farms. They are taxed unfairly and on top of it huge corporations are trying to oust them out or buy their farms. So organic farmers who don't use chemicals, etc. etc. have a hard time and are forced to make higher prices. I mean think about it! Why should a apple that wasn't sprayed chemicals on cost more then a apple that was sprayed with pesticide. Shouldn't the apple with pesticide cost more since pesticide costs money in itself? It is a scam in many ways and only now these huge corporations are getting a little pressure about this "organic issue" so they will now add in their english muffins or other products "no fructose syrup, or no hydrogentated oils, or other things to try to have their sales up. Also many Americans are just lazy in general. They don't want to look at the label each time to see what is in our food. They just buy and say it is okay. So it is a toss up amongst many. I even heard from a great many that it is all just for promotion and profits. organic or not doesn't make a difference. All the same thing, why not buy the cheaper. It is saddening indeed. I need to check out that book you offer. I usually don't like to read them for I get depressed knowing the truth. |
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