It is amazing that sometimes a simple sounding technology can make a world’s difference to the world itself. You talk about high tech research and nanotechnology and quantum physics, but we struggle to make sure that 1/3rd of the world have proper drinking water to sustain their existence. While the planet is 75% liquid on top, it is still mere 3% of it that is fresh water. Now we have technology that promises to take the seas and oceans and convert them in to pure, fresh water!
The windmill works on the simple process of reverse osmosis, something you must have heard of in your high school ‘ionic chemistry’. There is no electricity required for the reverse osmosis system, so it could be an ideal solution for many third world countries. It’s capable of producing enough water for 500 people in a single day. Water reservoirs will allow enough water to be stored for five days, so even in mild drought situations, or if there is not enough wind for a few days, there will be enough reserve water.
The windmill was designed at the Delft University of Technology, Delft in The Netherlands. It runs by using the wind’s mechanical force to pump water, and utilizes a high tech reverse osmosis membrane. The pumped water is pushed against this membrane at approximately 60 bar of pressure, and the salt is kept inside while pure water travels across the membrane. This would mean that you can derive fresh water out of the seas. The windmill setup is estimated to 5 to 10 m3 of fresh water a day, based on the device’s capacity at varying wind speeds. This could be the technology that changes the world and quenches the thirst of many souls across the planet.
The technology is still in developmental stage and it is now almost ready for field testing. We have seen many such claims fall apart in the past, but one hopes and prays that this one will come through. While the prospect is really exciting, it still makes me wonder what man would do if he had this sorts of technology. Oceans drive the planet and hopefully we won’t exhaust them one day out of sheer greed.
