We all know that the Sahara Desert is...well a desert. The biggest. However, a project has finally come up to restore the trees to the land of Northern Africa, and turn it into an oasis.
How does it work? The engineers and scientists have designed a greenhouse that draws water from the atmosphere and energy from the sun. While this sounds like something from a Sci-fi alien, it actually exists today. What happens is the sea water from the surrounding oceans/seas (Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Red Sea) is pumped to the greenhouses and then flows around the rooms in little pipes. What this causes is cool air. Now, with glass ceilings, heat comes into the greenhouse as light and condenses the cool air into humid air. Plants love humid air.Then comes the cool part. The walls of the greenhouse "catch air" and cause the humid air to condense. When it condenses, the condensed air becomes water droplets, which slide down the wall into a storage tank of fresh water. This can then be used to give plants cool, fresh water. Now I bet you're wondering "Alex, how does the air reach the walls? Air just rises and falls depending on the temperature!" Well, what happens is they installed fans to draw air through the greenhouse. Where do they get energy to power the fans? Concentrated Solar Energy! How that works is lots of mirrors direct sunlight to tanks filled with sea water, where it steams up, spins turbines and generates electricity. So, in a way, they designed a greenhouse that is solar/water powered!
I chose this topic because it was exciting to see people giving back to the environment in a positive way. And such a big way too! It seems out of this world, yet it seems right were it should be. I recommend looking at this article further if you truly care for this dying planet.
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