Conceptual illustration of the Sahara Forest Project that
will produce fresh water, electricity and food in the desert
(Image: Sahara Forest Project Foundation / Screenergy)
An ambitious project that aims to turn arid desert land into
a green oasis took a step closer to becoming reality last week
when an agreement was signed on the rights to develop a pilot
system in Jordan. The Sahara Forest Project’s (SFP) first
facility will be located on a 2,000,000 square meter (21,527,821
sq. ft.) plot of land in Aqaba, a coastal town in the south of
Jordan where it will be a test bed for the use of a combination
of technologies designed to enable the production of fresh
water, food and renewable energy in hot, arid regions.
The partners behind the
Sahara Forest Project are Bill Watts of Max Fordham
Consulting Engineers, Seawater Greenhouse, Exploration
Architecture and the
Bellona
Foundation, an international environmental NGO based in
Norway, who have been working on the idea since 2009.
In 2009, after first studies showed that the concept was
feasible and economically viable, the project was presented
internationally at the December 2009 UN Climate Conference in
Copenhagen, Denmark, where it was well received. In June, 2010,
Jordan’s King Abdullah II saw a project presentation during a
visit to Norway and was impressed enough to say he was ready to
facilitate its implementation in Jordan.
The main pillars of the project are saltwater greenhouses,
concentrated solar energy, and cultivation of traditional
crops along with energy crops such as algae, which all come
together in one location to solve a whole range of environmental
problems.
The SFP would use saltwater greenhouses to grow crops
throughout the year in desert locations without any supply of
freshwater. Seawater is evaporated from grilles at the front of
the greenhouse to create cool humid conditions inside. A
proportion of the evaporated seawater is then condensed as
freshwater that is used to irrigate the crops, re-vegetate
surrounding dry areas and provide water to the concentrated
solar power plant.
The solar power plant is in turn used to generate electricity
to power the pumps to transport the seawater from the Red Sea to
the saltwater greenhouse and the fans to circulate the humid air
within the greenhouse. The greenhouse will also be used to
cultivate algae to absorb CO2 and provide biomass to be used for
energy and food production.
The project partners say that, in essence, when these
different technologies are put to use in a combined approach,
the processes will start “feeding” each other and provide not
only environmental, but also commercial benefits.
The project envisions three separate stages of development.
In depth studies will be carried out throughout 2011,
construction of a Demonstration Center is slated to start in
2012, and commercial-scale development is set to start in 2015.
Via
Treehugger