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Drinkable water extracted with solar-powered desalination system
- Gys 5y agoI think it refers to this research: https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0047390 https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0047390
- failwhaleshark 5y agoI was initially afraid this was going to be a solar self-filling water bottle KS. [0] So, it's basically a porous mirror of the tried-and-true emergency solar water collector design. It seems legitimately legit. I wonder if an extremely dark material (nanotube appliqué[1]) on a porous material would be able to process water faster? The trillion dollar question is: How much material do you need to generate enough fresh water for an average human? And, can it be made more durable than a diaper? 0. https://youtu.be/aPvXnmBIO7o https://youtu.be/aPvXnmBIO7o 1. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.9b08290 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsami.9b08290
- snypher 5y agoThe slightly smaller (billion dollar) question is fresh water to live, or, fresh water to wash cars/water gardens/et al? In my state the average resident uses ~120 gallons a day which I believe is far too much.
- sempron64 5y agoWere there plenty of water would you think the same? Is proscribing asceticism and passing judgement morally superior to engineering abundance?
- scsilver 5y agoLooking at nature, excess/waste often leads to deterioration of a system, or atleast ups the probability of deterioration. In that sense, efficient systems are more sustainable, and nature rewards naturally selects that which sustains. Thats my moral opinion on efficiency vs abundance.
- failwhaleshark 5y agoLive. Like survival desert island-style.
- psadri 5y agoI looked into this space. The major problem with the evaporative approach is that takes way too much energy. Reverse osmosis is ~50x more efficient. The best way to get fresh water is to use solar panels to generate electricity and use it for reverse osmosis. - 540kcal/liter Evaporate - ~10kcal/liter RO
- webmobdev 5y agoThere is so much energy we receive from the sun that is untapped - I wonder what will be the scientific breakthrough that will allow us to harness it fully? Solar panels aren't there yet, as they are inefficient and require a battery, making the whole setup costly and unviable in the long term.
- Valgrim 5y agoIn this case the battery is not necessary. You don't need to store electricity to create water during off-peak hours, you just need to store excess water created during peak hours. Also the article is not about solar panels, but a novel solar thermal distillation device.
- webmobdev 5y agoIn case it wasn't clear, I wasn't commenting about the desalination process, but about harnessing the potential solar power in general. In this context, I feel solar panels that generate electricity still have a long way to go to be affordable and efficient.
- willcipriano 5y agoSounds like it would have a application in wilderness survival kits if they can find a way to do without the quartz top of the box.