Project Name : From deserts to forested havens
Theme Name : Natural Resource & their Conservation
Objective/Aim: To provide freshwater, food and renewable energy in hot, arid regions as well as re-vegetating areas of unhabitated desert and also generate by taking a number of proven technologies and merging them into a system that works holistically to do its work.
Scientific Principle: The core technologies of the project are
1. Sea water cooled greenhouses: Saltwater cooled green house provide suitable growing conditions that enable year-round cultivation of high-value vegetable crops even in desert conditions that can be very hot but also and humid, particularly at night and in the winter.
2. The simplicity of the process imitates the hydrological cycle where seawater heated by the sun evaporated, cools down to form clouds, and returns to the earth as rain, for or dew.
3. Concentrated Solar Power: This technology uses mirrors to concentrate the sun’s energy to produce heat that is used to produce steam to drive steam turbines which in turn drives a generator to produce electricity.
Material used: Waste thermocol, wood, PVC pipes, aluminum sheet, cardboard, plastic container, polymer sheet and flexible pipes.
Working Investigation/Finding: Bye re vegetating desert areas, the project will sequester carbon from the atmosphere into the plants. It represents a unique possibility of removing carbon – di – oxide from the atmosphere and storing it in the biological material, thereby controlling global warming.
Dust reduction – PV facilities elsewhere in the Middle East have suffered from very repid dust accumulation on the panels, which requires very frequent labor or water intensive cleaning. By re vegetating areas around and under the PV panels, the Forest Project will provide local dust arresting, while trees and earthwork will provide protection from wind and the dust carried with it.
Biogas generated by the decomposition of the plant residues from the green house can be used and complemented along with natural gas for the CSP plants.
Utility and Further Scope of the Project: The project is producing; high value crops are grown which increase the project income, food and biomass are produced through algae cultivation and magriculture, manufacturing of salt and fresh water.
Name of the School: Oxford Sr. Sec. School, Vikaspuri, New Delhi.
