Can Solar Energy Clean Up the Gulf Oil Spill?
As I was reading an article in Solar Today Magazine (May 2010) about how…
…Spain used a solar distiller to break down sea water into drinking water, and the thought came to me:
“Can Solar Energy Clean Up the Gulf Oil Spill?”
There’s a section in the article “Purifying Water, with the Sun” (feel free to read the article here), that talks about how pesticides and other contaminants are made contaminant free after a reaction initiated by UV, and pinch of titanium dioxide.
Then the water is shipped off to a desalination plant that extracts the sea salt from the water, helping Spain assure it’s thirsty population has plenty of water.
Basically, the water condenses and is collected, leaving behind the salt…
What if we put together distiller barges that did something very similar, except leaving the oil behind (on those barges)?
What do you think?
- Dan
PS – If you’d like to learn about how my company, Fafco Solar, can help you tap the power of the sun, be sure to visit our Web Site at: www.FafcoSolar.com.
Sunetric Says:
Even if the cleaning of the water itself isn’t possible, we can at least use solar power to help break our addiction to fossil fuels to prevent spill such as this. Solutions which are affordable, safe, and genuinely viable alternatives to this continued reliance on a fuel source that kills, poisons, and now threatens to end a whole way of life on America’s Gulf Coast. The alternative is solar. Clean, green, renewable, solar. With photovoltaic cells made in the United States, it is possible for this country to not only become energy independent, but to become a world-wide leader in renewable energy.
Posted on May 16th, 2010 at 5:55 pm