Architect Michael Palwyn is designing sustainable architecture that combines solar power and seawater into an ultra-efficient loop of resource conservation.
"Pawlyn, working alongside inventor Charlie Paton and engineer Bill Watts, recognized that by joining two cutting-edge technologies they could create a facility that would bring water and arable land to the Sahara Desert. The so-called Sahara Forest Project, which Pawlyn has been developing for the last few years, would be powered by a concentrated solar power plant. There, a field of mirrors concentrates the sun's rays into high-intensity light that's then used to generate steam, which in turn powers an electricity-generating turbine.
That's where things get exciting.
Some of that electricity generated would be used to power a Seawater Greenhouse, which Paton invented. The electricity would be used to pump cold seawater inland, to the greenhouse. There, fresh air passes over tubes housing that seawater; the interaction condenses fresh water from the air, which can then be used to grow biofuels and rehabilitate the surrounding desert."
FULL STORY: Exploration Architecture
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This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
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Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
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Harvard GSD Executive Education
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