Tuesday 2 September 2008

The Sahara Garden


Vast greenhouses that use seawater to grow crops could be combined with solar power plants to provide food, fresh water and clean energy in deserts. It uses mirrors to focus the sun's rays and generate heat and electricity.
The Sahara Forest project will use seawater and solar power to grow food in greenhouses across the desert. The greenhouses work by using the solar farm to power seawater evaporators and then pump the damp, cool air through the greenhouse. This reduces the temperature by about 15C compared to that outside. At the other end of the greenhouse from the evaporators, the water vapour is condensed. Some of this fresh water is used to water the crops, while the rest can be used for the essential task of cleaning the solar mirrors. The nutrients to grow the plants could come from local seaweed or even be extracted from the seawater itself. Read the full article from the Guardian here.

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