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.
Read more »
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:
Read more »
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...
Read more »
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...
Read more »
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...
Read more »
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...
Read more »
Here’s why D.R.I.P.S. can make a difference: time spent fetching and carrying water on their heads can be spent on education, family, community, work, or simply relaxing. Like water, time is a precious resource that shouldn’t be wasted! Wouldn’t it be great if they could use their heads for something else?
Read more »
The illustration above shows two soil levels: Water Penetration Level—the depth at which surface water no longer seep through and Evaporation water Level—the depth at which water that is in the soil can’t be evaporated by the day time heat of the surface weather above These levels can be ordered as shown or an...
Read more »
Information on evapotranspiration from Wikipedia: “Potential evapotranspiration supplements the measurement of rainfall in providing a scientific measurement-based definition of a desert. The water budget of an area can be calculated using the formula P − PE ± S, wherein P is precipitation, PE is potential evapotranspiration rates and S is amount of surface storage...
Read more »
“Encyclopedia of Deserts” by Michael A. Mares, Oklahoma Museum of Natural History (Norman, Okla.) is a good source of information on dew formation in the desert. Here’s a quote from page 177: “It is not exactly known how much dew forms on plants in desert areas, although it rage from 10 millimeters in cold...
Read more »
Here’s a link to wikipedia’s definition of a desert. Here you can learn about precipitation averages in a desert environment.
Read more »
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....
Read more »
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...
Read more »
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...
Read more »
We just got our first glimpse of DRIPS from India — these were produced in India and are being shipped to us now. Can’t...
Read more »
This year (2011), we are still focusing on food. We want to know the true cost of food — its price; the distance it...
Read more »
