Crystal Lagoons has developed an alternative cooling and energy harvesting system for power plants that doesn’t require the use of seawater.
Gulf countries that lack freshwater resources rely deeply on seawater desalination to meet their daily needs and cool down thermal generation plants. According to Gulf News, the United Arab Emirates alone uses four trillion litres of Gulf seawater each year to cool down its power plants, foundries and desalination plants.
The byproduct of these operations produces a hot briny fluid that is then pumped back into the Gulf, seriously compromising coral reefs and the overall marine ecosystem. But Crystal Lagoons – the same people who were behind the worlds largest artificial lagoon planned for the Red Sea, is marketing a new closed-loop cooling system that would ensure that no more water would have to be extracted from the Gulf to cool down industrial plants!
Wasted energy
Thermal power plants require water for cooling, but disposing of that water back into the Gulf is not only harmful to the marine ecosystem, according to Crystal Lagoons, it is also a waste of thermal energy.
Their cooling lagoons are set away from the sea, eliminating coastal degradation, and the water contained in them is consistently recycled.
Joaquin Konow, development director at Crystal Lagoons, told Gulf News that onshore recyclable water pools “eliminate marine pollution from cooling-dependent industries, something critical for the Arabian Gulf that today is under pressure from industrialization, and has put in risk its extensive coral reefs, pearl oysters and marine ecosystems.”
Harvested energy
According to the company’s online literature, the clear water lagoon provides water tot he thermal power plant. This eventually heats up, creating a thermal reservoir. Thermal energy can be extracted from the pool and used to heat homes and greenhouses. So this system not only saves water, but it also harvests wasted energy.
Crystal Lagoons has installed 19 programs around the world.
A report released last year revealed that coastal development in the United Arab Emirates has seriously jeopardized the health of the marine environment. This technology has the potential to seriously arrest further damage.
:: Gulf News
More on the Gulf, lagoons, and desalination:
Tinkering With Nature: World’s Largest Artificial Lagoon Planned for the Red Sea
Yale Researcher: Desalination Should be a Last Resort
Going Green Ends With Water From the Sea
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
