If you see a lush green enclave surrounded by spectacular columns of mirrors in the heart of the Sahara as you move across Jordan, then do not dismiss it as a mere figment of your imagination. This is not your tired, weary brain playing tricks on you, but the modern miracle of science that is changing the most inhospitable terrain into an eco-hub. Jordan and Norway have just signed an agreement to go ahead with the Sahara Forest Project – a magnificent enclave that will harness energy from the sun and the seas.
The project idea was first floated around in 2008 and it took 2 years to get people interested in the potential of solar energy that can be tapped into in the dry Sahara outback. As incredulous as it sounds, the Sahara Forest Project uses both the energy of the oceans with Seawater Greenhouse Technology and concentrated solar power technology that will see the sapping Saharan heat transformed to grow greenery!
The project is now on to its test phase with a 200,000 square meter plot in Aqaba being used as the site for the initial scaled down model. If all goes well (and we have no reason to doubt otherwise), then in the next few years it will expand to the 2 million square meters right next to the current site. With Norway’s financial backing, the know-how of the local Jordanians, The Dead Sea to assist and the mighty Apollo warming it up, Green Sahara might indeed be a reality!
Via: Treehugger
