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"A unique greenhouse that is irrigated using seawater will be built in the desert by the end of this year
The $5.3 million Sahara Forest Project, just outside Doha in the Qatari desert, will borrow tricks from nature to extract the salt and create conditions that are ripe for plant growth, all without any external energy or resources.
The 10,000-square-metre site works by exploiting the difference in temperature between surface seawater and water taken from hundreds of metres below the surface. Using solar power, these are both pumped to the site through separate pipes. The hot desert air is used to evaporate the warm surface water as it flows over "evaporative hedges" at one side of the greenhouse. This now cooled, moist air passes over the plants creating a comfortable temperature around them, and then condenses as it passes pipes through which the cold deep seawater is pumped, creating fresh water.
It's an idea that is inspired by the way a camel's nostrils evaporates and condenses moisture to keep it cool, and by the way fog-basking beetles are able to capture water from the warm night air in the desert, says Sahara Forest Project's Michael Pawlyn, a biomimicry architect who was one of the lead architects behind Cornwall's Eden Project.
The saltwater will also be used to grow algae which will be used in biomass production."
"A unique greenhouse that is irrigated using seawater will be built in the desert by the end of this year
The $5.3 million Sahara Forest Project, just outside Doha in the Qatari desert, will borrow tricks from nature to extract the salt and create conditions that are ripe for plant growth, all without any external energy or resources.
The 10,000-square-metre site works by exploiting the difference in temperature between surface seawater and water taken from hundreds of metres below the surface. Using solar power, these are both pumped to the site through separate pipes. The hot desert air is used to evaporate the warm surface water as it flows over "evaporative hedges" at one side of the greenhouse. This now cooled, moist air passes over the plants creating a comfortable temperature around them, and then condenses as it passes pipes through which the cold deep seawater is pumped, creating fresh water.
It's an idea that is inspired by the way a camel's nostrils evaporates and condenses moisture to keep it cool, and by the way fog-basking beetles are able to capture water from the warm night air in the desert, says Sahara Forest Project's Michael Pawlyn, a biomimicry architect who was one of the lead architects behind Cornwall's Eden Project.
The saltwater will also be used to grow algae which will be used in biomass production."
