Think Green Live Clean

H. Koppdelaney

New green technologies and the desire for sustainable living have become the resource for a new renewable energy project soon to be underway in 2010. The project is known as the Sahara Forest Project, a center that will work as a model for the development of larger scale green complexes intended to be built in deserts around the world. The idea is to provide a sustainable “oasis” for desert communities. Scientists are deliberating between arid sites in the Middle East, Africa, Australia, and the U.S. to be the first to host this experimental facility. As with most new green developments, the project has stirred up controversy amongst environmentalists and specialists.

As stated by those developing the project, the Sahara Forest Project is a balanced approach that will be able to provide jobs, energy, water, and food for local desert communities while operating within the very models found in nature. More specifically, the centers will inevitably mimic some of nature’s most basic processes. An example of this holistic approach can be found in the proposed plans for special greenhouses that will utilize dry, hot desert air and sea water to produce fresh water that can be used for both crops and clean drinking water sources. While this may sound like a magic trick executed by a genie in a lamp, the process is actually modeled after a common natural system. As hot air (in this case the desert air entering the greenhouse) is cooled by the sea water it is humidified. The humid air acts as a resource for the plants growing within the greenhouse as it continues through an evaporator where sun-heated sea water flows. When the warm humid air encounters cool sea water, fresh water condenses and collects in droplets on the outside of tubes. This fresh water is then collected. In nature this same process is what explains the formation of clouds and rain from evaporated sea water. Approximately 10% of the humid air will become fresh water in the tubes, but the rest will flow outside and water an area of surrounding trees that will be planted.

This is just one example of the several sustainable processes being combined by the project. Solar energy will be widely used as an energy source by heating the water within tubes and boilers in order to power steam turbines that will generate electricity. An excess power not used by the complex will be distributed into the local community. Algae ponds are another potential energy source in the form of the energy-rich biofuel found within the fatty acids of the lab-grown algae.

The complex will employ members of the local community on all levels, thus increasing job opportunities and the availability for more natural resources. Some governments have begun to support the construction on similar facilities within the next several years. However, there is fear that the green technology may still be too complex for local peoples to operate. This is not the only concern. Some experts are warning that reforestation plans may alter the natural context of these desert sites. If the intention is to restore natural ecosystems, this industrial project seems to stray from the simple but effective approaches such as working with local peoples on community-centered natural resource management programs. These concerns will be tested and studied as the construction of the first test site begins.

To learn more and see pictures of the project click here