Engineers at MIT and in China are aiming to turn seawater into drinking water with a completely passive device that is inspired by the ocean, and powered by the sun.
In a paper appearing today in the journal Joule, the team outlines the design for a new solar desalination system that takes in saltwater and heats it with natural sunlight.
The researchers estimate that if the system is scaled up to the size of a small suitcase, it could produce about 4 to 6 liters of drinking water per hour and last several years before requiring replacement parts. At this scale and performance, the system could produce drinking water at a rate and price that is cheaper than tap water.
I mean, you’re on lemmy, which is chock full of socialists, communists, and anarchists. So many people who’d send you an essay on why their system is the best without you even mentioning anything about politics and economics.
Even then, if we had to have a solution for every problem before talking about it, we’d still be living in caves. It’d stifle change and progress. If you’re truly curious about alternitives, there have been thousands of books, articles, and papers written about these subjects over hundreds of years. These are not new ideas.