Article by Peter Green, Bloomberg, Oct 14 2013
The issue of most of the water on earth being saline and the depletion of fresh water is an important one. However according to Christopher Gasson, publisher of Global Water Intelligence, a lot of progress is being made to resolve this problem. Desalination plants have been growing more efficient, a 30% improvement in energy efficiency has been made in the best functioning plants. This article as a reminder that those plant should not be considered as an unreliable weapon against fresh water depravation. The usual criticism of these plants is that only economically developed countries have them and the they consume a lot of energy. Gasson, however, said in a statement: ''The energy industry needs water, both in refining power generation as well as upstream. The water industry also needs energy, and the two seem to be coming together in increased demand for desalination.'' Desalinated water can create energy, that should partially make up for the energy it requires. Desalination methods have been improved throughout the years, as well. More than 66% now use more efficient membrane and pumps to purify water, the rest boil water and recover the salt-free steam. South Africa, Jordan. Mexico, Libya, Chile, India and China; are the countries that are the countries that are expected to have the biggest desalination growth in the next five years. That is good sing, because we are used to progress in wealthier countries when it comes to desalination. It is also important to note that fresh water is not always drinkable, so this does not do much regarding that, hopefully some good news will emerge for potable water in the near future...
The issue of most of the water on earth being saline and the depletion of fresh water is an important one. However according to Christopher Gasson, publisher of Global Water Intelligence, a lot of progress is being made to resolve this problem. Desalination plants have been growing more efficient, a 30% improvement in energy efficiency has been made in the best functioning plants. This article as a reminder that those plant should not be considered as an unreliable weapon against fresh water depravation. The usual criticism of these plants is that only economically developed countries have them and the they consume a lot of energy. Gasson, however, said in a statement: ''The energy industry needs water, both in refining power generation as well as upstream. The water industry also needs energy, and the two seem to be coming together in increased demand for desalination.'' Desalinated water can create energy, that should partially make up for the energy it requires. Desalination methods have been improved throughout the years, as well. More than 66% now use more efficient membrane and pumps to purify water, the rest boil water and recover the salt-free steam. South Africa, Jordan. Mexico, Libya, Chile, India and China; are the countries that are the countries that are expected to have the biggest desalination growth in the next five years. That is good sing, because we are used to progress in wealthier countries when it comes to desalination. It is also important to note that fresh water is not always drinkable, so this does not do much regarding that, hopefully some good news will emerge for potable water in the near future...
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This is the future of the water industry. Although I'm not necessarily a technocentrist, I believe that once we are forced into a corner, we will find a way out using technology. I feel like many technological development aren't happening because of economic reasons. Once our lives are on the line, the technology will be developed. This article shows exactly that. I believe that desalinization of water is the future to the freshwater industry. 70% of the earth is covered in salty water, and once we are able to convert this to freshwater, our water criss will be solved.
ReplyDeleteKerim you make a very good point. When we are forced to pull together and solve a problem, we often turn to technology, and that's just the way it is. We would all ideally like to be ecocentric and environmental managers to allow for the environment to be as natural as possible, but technology is necessary and will become even more so in the near future.
DeleteDefinitely one day their will not be fresh water and we will need to convert salt water to drinkable water, but as Kerim already mentioned until we are in corner we will not do anything, now still it is not a profitable business because there is still a lot a brands with fresh drinkable water and now it would be very hard to go on a market with distillate sea water. But when the fresh water becomes very expansive because there isn't so much left the distillate sea water will became a profitable business and people will invest money in it because of a profit and because world will really need it to survive.
ReplyDeleteDusan,
ReplyDeleteYou brought up a very good point about desalination being the newest and most important company of the future. Several countries have already begun to use this, that's true, but some have already realized the complicated process, expense and environmental impact of the release of the highly concentrated water on the output of the whole system. This will need further looking into.