THE GOVERNMENTS of Norway and Jordan are backing an innovative pilot project to create a renewable energy based, sustainable farming oasis in the Sahara desert using concentrated solar power and a low-cost, sustainable method of water desalination.
The Sahara Project’s founders – designer Charlie Paton, engineer Bill Watts of Max Fordham Engineers and architect Michael Pawlyn, all of whom are British – secured the support of the two governments, along with €85 million of funding, after recently joining forces with the Bellona Foundation, a Norwegian environmental organisation.
The project will be developed on 200,000sq m of land in Aqaba, on the south coast of Jordan, where the team will be able to demonstrate the feasibility of combining the two key technologies to produce large amounts of food, water and renewable energy.
They also aim to reverse desertification.
A key element of the plan is the Seawater Greenhouse, a proven technology designed by Paton that is already used in several countries including Australia, Oman and the UAE.
It involves the same precipitation-evaporation-condensation cycle that creates rainfall. Under controlled conditions, desert air is sucked through a filter of seawater – from the Red Sea, in the case of the pilot plant – which removes dust and pollen. The air is also cooled and humidified, creating optimal growing conditions for crops in the greenhouse.
The dampened air then passes to another section of the greenhouse, over pipes filled with hot seawater (heated by solar energy). As the air’s temperature increases, it reaches its saturation point and is cooled using cold seawater. The contrast in temperatures causes condensation and desalination, producing freshwater.
This freshwater will be heated by solar power to provide steam to drive a turbine, generating electricity. In turn, the electricity will be used to power the greenhouse’s pumps and fans. The water will also be used to grow crops around the greenhouse, while any excess heat from the solar plant can also be used for desalination.
Before the seawater is evaporated, it can also be used to grow micro-algae, seaweed, shellfish, shrimp and fish. The waste products of these processes can be used as fertiliser and soil conditioner to rejuvenate desert soil.
The project’s synergies also include the provision of water needed to keep the solar mirrors free from dust and operating efficiently. The greenhouse’s evaporators also make efficient dust traps.
Within recorded history, large tracts of the Sahara and other deserts were covered with forests of cypress, cedar and other plants, and one of the aims of the project is to prove that sustainable technologies can be applied to desert areas to restore some level of vegetation.
The project will now enter the next three stages of its development: in-depth studies in 2011, construction of a demonstration centre, to begin in 2012, and commercial scale development beginning in 2015.
The Jordanian government has granted an additional 500 acres of land to the project’s founders, for later expansion.
“We are very happy for the support of Jordanian and Norwegian governments. It is encouraging that we share the same vision of a more integral approach to solving challenges in the food, water and energy sector,” said Frederic Hauge, president of the Bellona Foundation and a founding partner of Sahara Forest Project.
New landing technique to cut emissions
SOUTHWEST Airlines, the US low-cost airline that inspired Ryanair, has adopted more efficient landing techniques that will deliver substantial savings in CO2 emissions and fuel costs.
The scheme involves using GPS satellite navigation to calculate approaches called Required Navigation Performance (RNP) that make the most efficient use of airspace. This enables planes to take the most direct route possible to a runway.
Last month the airline announced that it expected to save €11.85 million a year by deploying the new procedure at 11 airports including San Jose, Los Angeles, Chicago, Oklahoma and Amarillo.
Once it is rolled out to all airports used by Southwest, the company predicts it will make annual savings of €44 million.
“RNP sets the stage for Southwest to continue doing its part to conserve fuel, improve safety and reduce carbon emissions and greenhouse gases, while simultaneously taking advantage of the high-performance characteristics that exist in an airline’s fleet,” said Captain Jeff Martin, vice president of Southwest’s operations co-ordination centre.
The US Federal Aviation Administration predicts that if US air traffic control procedures adopted further use of satellite navigation systems, 1.4 billion gallons of fuel and around 14 million tons of CO2 could be saved over the next eight years.
In brief
A FRENCH ENERGY and defence firm has paid €14m for an 8 per cent stake in Irish tidal energy firm OpenHydro
THE EU is considering infrastructure bonds and a streamlining of national finance schemes to finance renewable energy development
WATER RISKS are an increasing concern for institutional investors, the UK’s Carbon Disclosure Project says
GE HAS teamed up with oil firm ConocoPhillips and US energy firm NRG to launch a $300m early stage cleantech investment fund
KENYA HAS embarked on a 10-year €2bn geothermal energy exploration plan
FRANCE HAS requested bids for €10bn of offshore wind energy projects
EUROPE MUST invest €2.9 trillion to meet its 2020 CO2 emissions goal, a study by Barclays Capital and Accenture claims
SINGAPORE-BASED tidal energy firm Atlantis Resources will develop India’s first 50MW tidal farm in Gujarat state
CLEAN ENERGY sources, including hydropower, supplied over 26 per cent of China’s electricity last year, according to its government
March 2011
3: National Renewable Energy Summit, Croke Park Conference Centre; energysummit.ie
14-16: Cleantech Forum,
San Francisco; events.cleantech.com
14-17: European Wind Energy Association Annual Conference, Brussels; ewec2011.info
24-25: Irish Wind Energy Association Annual Conference, Dublin; iwea.com
