Sunday, February 16, 2014

Can This Solar Desalination Startup Solve California Water Woes?

A startup called WaterFX offers  a solar-powered, ultra-efficient desalination system.(Credit: www.fastcoexist.com) Click to enlarge.
One of the most interesting potential solutions to California's water woes is desalination.  A startup called WaterFX is pioneering one new ultra-efficient, solar-powered method that could help the technology become more cost-effective and sustainable.

Since WaterFX uses renewable energy, and regular desalination uses massive amounts of electricity, the solar tech can help push costs down for producing freshwater.  It could also make it possible for farmers in the Central Valley-- the most productive farming region in the world-- to use local water instead of relying on aqueducts pumping water from hundreds of miles away.

That's because the Central Valley happens to have a lot of salty water that can't otherwise be used.  The area is naturally salty, and every time a farmer irrigates a field, he also end up pumping salty water out of the soil.  Farmers have been struggling to find a economical way to dispose of the runoff, which can harm wildlife and the ecosystem.

Can This Solar Desalination Startup Solve California Water Woes?

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