The Sahara. What is it good for?

The Sahara has not been pulling its weight. Its been growing like crazy, gobbling up useful land for thousands of years. And what has it done for us?

Norway and Jordan have decided enough is enough: this relationship is not going to be all take and no give any longer.

How are they going to make the Sahara pull (a tiny fraction of) its own weight?

By using solar energy, one of the Sahara's four abundant resources (the other three being sand, heat, and bones) these two countries plan on working together to create a desert oasis.

Its a pretty cool project predicated on the fact that most of what you need to turn salt water into clean water is energy, and energy is something there is no shortage of in the Sahara. I hope however those greenhouses are insulated.. not designed to make things hotter..

Norway and Jordan Sign Agreement to Make Sahara Forest Project Oasis a Reality

by Jessica Dailey, 01/18/11

filed under: Renewable Energy,Solar Power,Water Issues

Way back in 2008, we reported on a proposal for the Sahara Forest Project, an incredible sustainable solution to resource scarcity that would turn the Sahara Desert into a source for food, water, and energy. If you thought the idea was too good to be true, think again. Norway and Jordan recently signed an agreement to allow for the development of a pilot Sahara Forest Project system on a plot of land in a coastal area in Jordan. The group will also conduct a number of studies in Jordan, with financial backing from Norwegian authorities.

The chosen test site is a 200,000 square meter plot in Aqaba, a coastal town in the far south of Jordan, close to the shore of the Red Sea. The agreement also secured an additional 2 million square meters for later expansion. The Sahara Forest Project combines Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) and Seawater Greenhouses to provide a huge amount of renewable energy and sustainable agricultural solutions, essentially turning one of the world’s most inhospitable environments into a flourishing oasis.

Seawater Greenhouses use solar power to convert salt water into fresh water, which is then used to grow fresh vegetables and algae (to absorb CO2). CSP provides the energy to power the whole operation. CSP uses thousands of mirrors to direct sunlight upon a water boiler, heating it to over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit. The boiler produces steam, which moves a turbine to create energy.