The designers, engineers, and others tackling the environmental problems we face never cease to come up with amazingly imaginative ideas. Here are some of our favorite recent projects:
The Sahara Forest Project
A British architecture firm has designed a desert greenhouse system [1] that uses seawater to cool and water plants. One of the challenges of growing plants in the desert is not just the lack of water, but the soaring temperatures. As anyone knows who’s ever watched their little green friends wilt in the summer heat, after a certain point, plants just don’t do well. The Sahara Forest Project envisions using giant solar mirrors, called “concentrated solar power” arrays, to evaporate seawater, whose vapor is then pumped into greenhouses and used to reduce indoor temperatures by as much as 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The cooled vapor is then collected to water the plants. "The crops sitting in this slightly steamy, humid condition can grow fantastically well," Charlie Paton, one of the designers, told the UK Guardian [2]. On the environmental front, the designers say the seawater greenhouses could help reverse the damage caused by traditional desert greenhouses, which rely on groundwater and suck it out five times faster than it can be replaced. Pilot projects are already on the ground in the Canary Islands and the Gulf states of Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Solar Sails
Chinese cargo ships will soon be sporting giant aluminum sails, which they’ll use to capture wind and solar and help power the ships. Solar Sailor [3], the Australian company which builds the sails, says harnessing ocean winds will allow the ships to reduce their fuel consumption by 20 to 40 percent. Solar energy captured by solar panels covering the sails will provide about five percent of the ships’ electricity needs. The sails are 90 feet long — as big as the wings of a jumbo jet. The company’s CEO told the Sydney Morning Herald [4] he expects the fuel savings alone will allow shipping companies to break even on the sails within four years. A cruise boat in Sydney harbor has been using the solar sail technology for several years, and New York’s Circle Line ferry company has partnered [5] with the Australian firm to build a wind-powered hybrid electric ferry for its fleet.
Folded Bamboo + Paper House
In the aftermath of an earthquake, shelter is key. Homes in many parts of the world simply collapse during a trembler’s shaking. After China’s magnitude 7.9 quake earlier this year, millions were left homeless. In response, Savannah College of Art architecture professor Ming Tang came up with an idea for a temporary shelter that folds, origami-style, making it easy to transport and set up, as well as inexpensive to produce and easy on the environment. The structures are made of bamboo poles assembled together like the bones of an umbrella. They can then be transported to the location of a disaster, unfolded, and covered with recycled paper. The idea, which is in the concept stage, received an honorable mention in a design competition [6] earlier this year that asked participants to imagine new ways of building homes and other structures.
