Greenhouse to capture water from the sea

Green Prophet loves to find potential everywhere – so how about desert seawater greenhouse construction in Qatar? They are also doing this in Abu Dhabi.

What exactly is a desert seawater greenhouse, you might ask?

According to the Seawater Greenhouse website: “Seawater Greenhouse is a unique concept which combines natural processes, simple construction techniques and mathematical computer modeling to provide a low-cost solution to one of the world’s greatest needs – fresh water.

“The Seawater Greenhouse is a new development that offers sustainable solutions to the problem of providing water for agriculture in arid, coastal regions.”

How the seawater greenhouse works.

In layman’s terms, the seawater greenhouses use seawater to humidify the air in the greenhouse while sunlight distills the fresh water out of the seawater. This is a unique solution for desert areas where fresh water is scarce.  It is especially great for Middle Eastern countries, many of which have access to saltwater and have large areas of desert land. But it sort of also feels like a country in the west is borrowing ideas long ago practiced in the Middle East and calling it “new.”

Seawater greenhouse Powered by the Sun

But beyond being practical, the use of desert seawater greenhouses is greener than the alternatives for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, traditional desalination projects are energy intensive and consume lots of fossil fuels.

Once constructed, desert seawater greenhouses are solar powered.  Secondly, in enabling more desert areas to be used for agriculture, local agriculture is encouraged and fewer food products may be imported from far away (thus reducing a nation’s food carbon footprint).

View of the Abu Dhabi seawater greenhouse

According to Charlie Paton, the inventor of Seawater Greenhouse technology, “UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait are other countries in the region which are planning to turn its vast areas of arid lands into arable through the unique method.”

Charlie Paton, inventor of the seawater greenhouse

Read more about how Qatar’s neighbors are exploring alternative energies
Solar Technologies FZE Plans to Build Middle East’s Largest Solar Panel Plant in Dubai
Dubai’s Wind Powered Rotating Skyscraper is Building in Motion
A Green Survey of Dubai and the United Arab Emirates

Author: Karen Chernick

Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.

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