Seawater Greenhouse
The Seawater Greenhouse ( English for seawater greenhouse is) a greenhouse , comprising a sea water desalination plant contains and its water demand can therefore be covered with salt water, making it especially suitable for arid, water-deficient regions. This simulates the natural water cycle in the greenhouse on a small scale.
The technology has been developed by a British company ( Seawater Greenhouse Ltd. ) since 1991 and has been ready for the market since the late 1990s. There are greenhouses with this technology on the Canary Island of Tenerife (since 1992, pilot plant), in Oman (since 2006) and in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi ( UAE , since 2000). The concept has been in commercial use in Australia since 2010 under the name Sundrop Farms .
concept
The greenhouse uses solar and wind energy for the processes that take place inside, but is not completely energy self-sufficient. The manufacturer specifies an electricity requirement of less than 3 kWh per cubic meter of processed water, whereby the efficiency depends on the climate (the sunnier, the more efficiently the fresh water is generated). It consists of a steel structure that represents the actual greenhouse and a significantly larger tent that adjoins it. Different types of plants can be grown in both zones. The steel construction is aligned in such a way that the prevailing wind direction can be used to ventilate the greenhouse, but this usually has to be reinforced by fans.
In the front wall of the steel structure, the incoming salt water is heated and evaporated. The process cools the air flowing in and increases the relative humidity . The doubly constructed roof filters infrared waves from the sunlight so that only the light required for photosynthesis gets into the greenhouse and heats the air between the two surfaces, which is discharged and then supports the evaporation process of the salt water.
A second evaporation system is located between the steel structure and the tent, which allows the humidity to rise to the dew point . Behind this, this air enters a condenser, in which distilled water is obtained, and is then discharged into the tent.
Awards
The concept won the Institution of Engineering and Technology Award 2006 in the sustainability category and the Tech Museum Award 2006, and it also took second place in the 2007 Prize for the Environment of the University of St. Andrews .
Sahara Forest Project
In cooperation with the manufacturer Seawater Greenhouse Ltd. With a team of architects, the concept for the Sahara Forest Project was created in 2008 , a possible way to use large-scale greenhouses in deserts in combination with solar systems for food production. Solar tower power plants are supposed to supply the energy for the pumps in the greenhouses and, with their waste heat, also support the evaporation process of the sea water (in the solar tower power plants, mirrors are used to bundle the sun's rays and thereby evaporate water, which is used to drive a steam turbine). According to the developers, such a system should generate significantly more electricity and drinking water than it needs to function. Charlie Paton, one of the developers of the concept, estimated the cost of such a system for a 20 hectare greenhouse complex in combination with a 10 megawatt solar power plant at € 80 million. So far, however, investors are still being sought for such a project.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Boost for hi-tech greenhouse agriculture project , Adelaide Now, April 27, 2011
- ↑ Description of the concept ( Memento of the original from September 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the manufacturer's website
- ↑ IET press release on the winner of the Sustainability Award ( memento of the original from March 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Tech Awards 2006
- ↑ St. Andrews Prize for the Environment 2007 - Winners announced
- ^ A b Seawater greenhouses to bring life to the desert , The Guardian , September 2, 2008
Web links
- Seawater Greenhouse website
- Solar Forest Project: Energy generation and desert greening , report in the Innovations-Report, September 4, 2008