How Solar Powered Machines are Making Free Water in the Sahara Desert
the
sahara
is one of the hottest places on earth it is an extremely harsh environment receiving less than an inch of rain per year despite the fact that 2.5 million people live within the sahara
with desert
stretching across 10 countries and is expanding south at a rate of 30 miles per year, which is further degrading the land and eradicating the already meager livelihoods of the populations, it is now encroaching on more populated areas in the Sahara
region, where they live 44 million people and it is said to be 10 times bigger than a century ago in this region. temperatures are rising faster than anywhere else on earth and since the 1970s it has been plagued by severe droughts this has come at a huge cost land degradation is currently estimated at $490 billion per year the desert
of the Sahara
is just one example of how desert
s are expanding.![how solar powered machines are making free water in the sahara desert]()
In the world it is estimated that more than one billion people, which is approximately one eighth of the world's population, live in
desert
regions. ns and are over a billion people in 100 countries are threatened by desert
ification desert
ification refers to land degradation in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid areas as a result of various factors, including climatic variations and human activities when degradation of the land occurs in the world's drylands, often creating desert
conditions drylands occupy 41.3 percent of the land surface and up to 44 of the world's cultivated systems are found in drylands water
scarcity is the Gap between water
demand and supply in drylands There is high demand for water
despite lack of supply Water
scarcity is said to affect between one and two billion people It is estimated that almost half of the world population in 2030 will live in areas of great water
stress and could displace up to 700 million people, it is for this reason that innovators around the world are trying to I'm going to change this.![how solar powered machines are making free water in the sahara desert]()
In this video we will show you how the first off-grid
water
product is produced. The suction system is creating water
out of nothing in the desert
. This innovative technology is at the forefront of drought solutions and helps provide free
water
to billions of people living in drylands around the world. So stay with us as we dive into today's video. A country in West Africa was chosen as the perfect test site for a drought solution technology that can create water
out of thin air, as most of the country is in the sub-Sahara
desert
and up to 65 percent of it of Mali's total land mass is desert
or semi-arid. desert
although mali is one of the largest countries in africa it has a relatively small population which is largely centered along the nija river the nija river flows through its interior functioning as the main commercial and transport artery to the country sections of the river they flow periodically providing much-needed fertile agricultural soil along their banks as well as creating pasture for livestock in Mali three quarters of the population re Depend on agriculture for food and income and the majority are farmers growing crops dryland in small plots of land according to the agricultural and food organization.![how solar powered machines are making free water in the sahara desert]()
However, droughts and the continued advance of the
Sahara
are causing forced migrations and conflicts between farming communities as a result. There has been a decline in agricultural production that reduces household assets and leaves many of Mali's poor even more vulnerable. Mali is just one example of many farming communities around the world facing the challenges of desert
ification and water
scarcity. That's why the Sun Glacier project is creating solutions for climate change using the power of the sun combined with new technology that is cost-effective and efficient to bring water
to drought-prone regions. The project is led by Abvar Hagen, a sculptural artist.![how solar powered machines are making free water in the sahara desert]()
Dutch writer, filmmaker and innovator with a fascination for nature after traveling to the arctic he saw first hand the effects of climate change red looking for solutions rather than blaming his vision was to use the elements available in our changing climate he realized realized that there is more sunlight available in places where
water
is scarce and that using the energy of the sun through the use of solar
panels could generate energy for a machine that relies on a condensation process to create and collect water
, but extracting water
from the air seems impossible in dry desert
conditions, since humidity is almost nil;![how solar powered machines are making free water in the sahara desert]()
However, the
Solar
Glacier team of scientists and innovators knew it wasn't impossible since hot desert
s look dry they still contain a certain amount of water
in the air this is known as absolute humidity application verhagen says absolute humidity in desert
s it is up to five times more than in the netherlands it is mainly due to the high temperatures it does not rain for the sun glacier team controlling the temperature inside the water
collection unit is the key to making
water
out of thin air the team of the combine rises from two separate devices a power unit that draws and stores energy from solar
panels and the water
maker that uses the energy to cool a metal plate once this temperature is low enough the humidity in the air condenses against metal creating water
droplets that drip into an area to capture water
sun glacier says the liquid being harvested is sim Similar to rainwater
and can be used for agriculture or cleaned for drinking After the initial testing of the machine in Mali, it was obvious that more work was needed to improve the technology.![how solar powered machines are making free water in the sahara desert]()
For the past 12 years, Sun Glacier has been upgrading and optimizing technology. Tests have shown that this method of condensation has the highest efficiency. At the same time, they push the climatic limits of conventional technology. They have created several more efficient versions such as the dc-30 model which is much more cost effective as it has no battery, no inverter, no moving parts that can break, it can be plugged in or a tricky little
solar
panel and the cooling device just costs three dollars another model is droplet 20 which produces up to 30 liters of clean water
per day this is a lightweight and compact device that is built into a mobile flight case it is easy to carry and durable for travel Sun Glacier has developed the compact machine with multiple power options with a 24 volt connection so you can connect directly to your solar
powered
battery powered
installation or plugged into mains with a cooling capacity of 80 to 620 watts this highly intelligent system produces up to three liters of water
per kilowatt hour.There are now very real opportunities for
water
from solar
glacier technology to be used for drinking in off-grid locations and for large-scale agricultural applications, including greenhouse production. According to Abver Hagen, we can present. positive signs in the climate change discussion instead of blaming and shaming wants to add a positive focus says ou The climate has always been dynamic, cultures always adapt to these changes, right now it seems our climate is changing very rapidly, therefore a faster response is required, the Sun Glacier project has raised the gist that climate change means cultural change.