We are doing a lot of research to gather the necessary materials and to find information that supports our Deep Root Irrigation Precipitation System. The posts in this section show what we have done so far.
BBC covered an interesting project in Chile. There is practically no rainfall in the Atacama desert in Chile, and yet there’s fog. Fog-catchers is the answer! Take a look at this great coverage of the protect by Fellipe Abreu and Luiz Felipe Silva.
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We are not the only ones thinking of how to use atmospheric water in places where water is scarce. Here’s a project the University of Engineering and Technology of Peru (UTEC). The students turned a billboard into an atmospheric water collector and added a tap for everyone to use! Check it out:
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There’s a very interesting project being launched in Qatar this month — sea water is collected by evaporators and used to create an oasis in the middle of a desert: The ultimate aim of the Sahara Forest Project is to return vast areas of desert back to life, providing food, water and clean energy...
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Daikin Industries from Japan developed a hydrophobic coating. This is just the thing for D.R.I.P.S. — we want to be able to coat our atmospheric water collector so that every single drop of moisture gets delivered to the roots of plants.
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Just read a post from DRIPtech — they want a product designer who can help them design “affordable irrigation technologies for small-plot farmers in developing countries”! Well, that’s us! Check out the post: Job Posting: Director of Product Design
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There was an interesting article in the Economist about a chemist, Mr. Chhatre, who developed interesting coatings for aluminum mesh to increase their fog collecting properties. He’s starting a test project in South Africa. We can use technology like this as one of the possible top to the DRIPS project. Since the his invention...
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This year (2011), we are still focusing on food. We want to know the true cost of food — its price; the distance it traveled to get to our dinner tables; the people who grew it; the methods that were used to grow it; how it was produced; how good is it for us...
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There’s an interesting blog post about water pumps. There needs to be a cheap and easy solution for people to pump water out of the ground. Here’s the article: BUILDING A BETTER MOUSETRAP IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
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There’s an interesting report on the use of trees in agriculture — how intermixing the trees among the crop fields actually produces higher yields. Part of the problem discussed in the report is poor water management among rural farmers. Here’s quote: “In Africa, it is generally agreed that poor soil management — along with...
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As long as there’s some water available, it can be turned into drinking water and into water for growing crops. iDew is a simple solar water distiller—similar to what was built in the show Voyage of the Mimi. Take a look:
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Here’s a Twitter feed from the EDF Design Challenge. The results of the July 12th jury will be announced there.
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Scientific American just published an article on the use of computers to conserve water: “Satellite control of company and municipal irrigation systems, based on custom weather data, saves billions of gallons of water nationwide.” The article, “Smart Irrigation: A Supercomputer Waters the Lawn” by Ingfei Chen, was published on July 4, 2011 in the...
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Domingos is a farmer living in the highlands of Serra Malagueta. He says that they get 1000 liters per day from one of his fog nets! He grows potatoes, many different varieties, like we did. Check out the cool use of old beer bottles—he recycles them to help build his structures for farming. The...
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To make our collection of resources a bit more international in scope, here are few videos we found on how to make fog collectors with cheap materials and use them around the globe. Enjoy! The cool addition here are the fans inside the cage that lower the temperature for better fog collection (at least...
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We found another design solution for dew collection: WATERBOXX. Groasis waterboxx was elected Popular Science’s 2010 Best Innovation of the Year. Waterboxx was invented by Pieter Hoff. His ideas was to help trees grow in dry environments and replant the desert. The idea is to catch rain water and dew and store it inside...
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We’ve got an invitation to The Energy Lab — EDF’s new pavilion in France, featuring the winning designs from the EDF Sustainable Design Challenge....
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Our project and its video was just posted on The Water Channel! Here’s a description of what they do: TheWaterChannel was launched at the...
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So now we have three prototypes: two from India and one locally-produced. They are very different. But the latest version is what we are...
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We just got our first glimpse of DRIPS from India — these were produced in India and are being shipped to us now. Can’t...
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This year (2011), we are still focusing on food. We want to know the true cost of food — its price; the distance it...
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