Image by Getty Images via @daylifeNew York Times
New Technology Could Make Desalination More Accessible
a Singapore company, memsys clearwater says it has developed a better technology that could revolutionize the economics of desalination. Called vacuum multieffect membrane distillation, it uses a relatively new process that combines thermal and membrane technologies, working in a vacuum so that the water boils at a much lower temperatures of 50 to 80 degrees Celsius (122 to 176 Fahrenheit) instead of the usual 100 degrees Celsius. It also comes in small, modular units suitable for use in disaster zones and remote communities.
In membrane distillation, steam from boiled seawater passes though a one-way permeable membrane, to be condensed on a cold surface and collected. The main advantage of membrane technology over reverse osmosis is that it does not require high pressure, said Adrian Yeo Piah Song, a researcher at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Reverse osmosis needs large pumps and heavy-duty piping operating at high pressure. The supporting infrastructure makes it hard to install outside developed countries.The new technology enhances efficiency by putting water through a cascade of membrane distillation processes working at progressively lower temperatures and pressures, recovering energy at each step to power the next.
“We have the first modular thermal separation process,” Götz Lange, managing director of memsys, said during an interview. “We didn’t change the thermal technology itself — you can’t change physics — we are just the first to put this advanced technology of thermal separation into a very tiny, cheap and reliable modular concept.”
After seven years of development, a small demonstration unit, powered by solar energy for extra sustainability, was installed last year at Marina Barrage, a dam completed in 2008 across the mouth of Marina Bay that has converted what is left of the old Singapore harbor after massive land reclamation, into a freshwater reservoir.
The demonstration unit has been designed for disaster relief. Able to fit in a 20-foot, or 6-meter, shipping container, it is completely mobile and runs on solar power so that it can operate without external infrastructure support. It can produce 1,000 liters, or 265 gallons, of fresh water a day. A key advantage of the technology is that it can use waste heat or solar-thermal energy to boil the water, Mr. Lange said.
SOLAR DISTILLED WATER FRESNEL LENS WATER FILTRATION SYSTEM CLEAN DRINKING WATER
Solar distillation and desalination of ocean salt water for the masses.
PURRE Water Coalition News
Current Issues
future looks ominous for florida's water quality
There are concerted efforts in the legislature to enact a weak state fertilizer ordinance that would not only prevent municipalities from enacting stricter local rules in the future but will preempt any local ordinances already in place.
• There are determined maneuverings nationally to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s pollution limits for our waterways (called “numeric nutrient criteria,” meaning specific, numeric limits on the amount of polluting nutrients that can be put into our water). Sen. Marco Rubio is adding an amendment to that effect to every bill being introduced.
• The new chairman of the South Florida Water Management District is Joe Collins, vice president of a company that has sugar, cattle and landscaping operations and is a large landowner around Lake Okeechobee. He will play a prominent role in water management decisions that often pit agriculture against coastal, estuary, and environmental needs.
• Florida’s new governor, who will be able to appoint five members to the water district board at the end of this month, has been outspoken in his opposition to the acquisition of U.S. Sugar land. New chairman Collins abstained from the vote on that deal because his company has contracts with U.S. Sugar.
• Meanwhile, the governor is seeking to cut the water management district’s budget 25 percent – probably a death blow to any future land purchases and therefore any restoration of a flow way south from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay, saving our estuaries and solving Florida’s water problems for good.
Source of latest Gulf oil spill determined
Libya: the West and al-Qaeda on the same side
Statements of support for Libya's revolution by al-Qaeda and leading Islamists have led to fears that military action by the West might be playing into the hands of its ideological* enemies TM. The leading roles in the revolution are played by a similar cross-section of society as that in Egypt next door – liberals, nationalists, those with personal experience of regime brutality and Islamists TM who subscribe to democratic principles.
( "playing into the hands of its mock* enemies." Fixed that. TM ? Usual handy designer bigotry and generalization.)
Jamie Gorelick Who ‘Helped to Bring us 9/11 AND Housing Collapse’ Is On Short List to Lead FBI
Barack Obama really knows how to pick them. It’s not often that one person plays key roles in two — count ‘em, two — trillion-dollar disasters but Jamie Gorelick is one.
House Republicans Propose To Starve Out Strikers
Buried Provision In House GOP Bill Would Cut Off Food Stamps To Entire Families If One Member Strikes | Think Progress
All around the country, right-wing legislators are asking middle class Americans to pay for budget deficits caused mainly by a recession caused by Wall Street; they are attacking workers’ collective bargaining rights, which has provoked a huge Main Street Movement to fight back.Now, a group of House Republicans is launching a new stealth attack against union workers. GOP Reps. Jim Jordan (OH), Tim Scott (SC), Scott Garrett (NJ), Dan Burton (IN), and Louie Gohmert (TX) have introduced H.R. 1135, which states that it is designed to “provide information on total spending on means-tested welfare programs, to provide additional work requirements, and to provide an overall spending limit on means-tested welfare programs.”
WWII vet discovers he’s not a U.S. citizen
( That's how you know 'Starship Troopers' is a false comparison to the fascist state : military service is not a component of citizenship. I knew there had to be ONE reason why not. )
Olbermann Worst Person of the Day March 23 Online
Justice week highlights modern-day slavery
Seed Daily
Plasticity Of Plants Helps Them Adapt To Climate Change
Study published in Trends in Plant Science, provides an overview of plants' molecular and genetic mechanisms
Dairy Farmer Finds Unusual Forage Grass
WHO understates Japan food safety problems
WHO had no evidence of contaminated food from Fukushima prefecture, where the damaged Daiichi plant is located, reaching other countries. "We can't make any link between Daiichi and the export market. But it's safe to suppose that some contaminated produce got out of the contamination zone,
Natural Sequence Farming
Land management and farming practices could have an effect on global climate change
Chemical-Free Pest Management Cuts Rice Waste
Carvalho was awarded a EUREKA grant in 2006 for a project that involved rice farmers and scientists to find a more eco-friendly way to protect rice and other crops. Five years later, the solution they developed is already being put to use in India, and other developing countries are considering adopting the new system as well.
Space Daily
Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison
The Biogreen foam does offer a new bonus, as it has been independently tested and verified to not produce any V.O.C.s (Volatile Organic Compounds) that account for that initial smell that many people complain of when they first get their mattress. While both mattresses have been rated safe, allergy sufferers will be happy to know that the Biogreen visco-elastic foam is about as hypo-allergenic as you can get. Additionally, we can't help but be impressed by the fact that this lack of off-gassing is an environmentally green way to go.
New York Town Sees Opportunity in GM's Contamination Cleanup Agreement
General Motors polluted 270 acres near Massena over a 40-year period. The main contaminants are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
The company has agreed to pay $154 million for continued cleanup operations as part of its bankruptcy agreement. Overall it will pay $773 million for contamination on 89 sites within 14 states.
The online news site of the local ABC affiliate there hailed the agreement as one that will “not only clean up pollution that threatens public health and safety in these communities, but will also make these sites available and attractive for economic development.” The exact amount going for the cleanup is $120.8 million which may not be near enough if the soil has to be removed and disposed of at a hazardous waste site. Those costs are estimated at $1 million per acre, making the $120.8 million about $150 million short.
However, if phytoremediation can be used then there could be money left over for a party, or something.
US set Haiti up for disaster
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hK1FjQyEg&NR=1&feature=fvwp
( U.S. reports difficulties in getting aid to the people. Now check out reports from Japan post tsunami. Sound familiar ? Bring back Aristide ? Need some research to support that contention - but he's back. )
( Given the talk about Yahoo! selling social bookmarking community Delicious - which it bought well after I had harmonized my Firefox browser(s) with del.icio.us - I thought an updated backup prudent.
Demand is high. Expect delays. My Yahoo! Bookmarks I have never shared - nor are there nearly as many...originally in 2 separate Yahoo! utilities .
Some think that dead links make such a list more of a pain than something useful. I admit, running Linkchecker seems interminable for someone with as many connections as I have. I just don't know any other way to pick out what was 'hot' in the past except with a chronological list - as I bookmark sources almost exclusively and blog articles. Really notable and exceptional posts go to StumbleUpon - but it I use rarely, and as for Similarweb ; I really have no experience with it.
I sent Yahoo! a note telling how I had two separate personal pages of RSS aggregators accessed publicly through my sidebar links..and wouldn't mind doing the same in My Yahoo! Is it a good idea - or did you notice? BTW Pageflakes seems to have died after a brief resurrection. I plan on having a look at what was collected there in a past post...manyana.
You may have noticed a lack of tags on posts lately. Zemanta was slow much of the time - my post lengths being so long. I expect that has something to do with that part of the utility being dropped. It also is beneath the post editor instead of beside it on the right...which requires double scrolling to match locations. I don't find any noticeable interference from password managers Xmarks { Pale Moon} or LastPass { Firefox } any more, however. )
Export / Download Your Delicious Bookmarks
How do I cross post from Diigo to Delicious
Diigo’s “Save to delicious” feature (found under Tools once you login) allows you to simultaneously add your new bookmarks to delicious.( Rather than listing everything on the sidebar, I use items as samples for the Topical Index 'Opit Online' and Readers & Gadgets files )
10 Most Beautiful Waterfalls
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