By Lizpiano
So much sea water but nothing to drink?
As part of our Post-Hurricanes Irma and Maria CoolestCarib.com series, Sustainable Solutions, we introduce a solar still with an open source design (see below article links about the design.)
It is called Eliodomestico and it is a solar-powered water filter, can be made from simple and easily accessible materials, and can purify 5 liters of (sea) water per day (according to India Times.)
Pic from gabrielediamanti.com
Created by Italian designer Gabriele Diamanti, this “solar still” delivers clean and pure drinking water by boiling water and separating it from other elements. Eliodomestico is made from materials like terracotta, anodized zinc, and recycled plastic, operates without filters or electricity, and requires minimal maintenance.
The open source design was named as one of 12 finalists in the Prix Émile Hermès 2011 competition.
There are actually a lot of new products like this, specifically geared towards aiding residents of developing – and now disaster-struck – areas with no clean drinking water. Monash University graduate, Jonathan Liow’s, Solarball is a glass ball that purifies water using the sun.
Diamanti’s solar powered water filter works, in short, like this:
- Water is poured into the terracotta section of the filter in the morning.
- Steam is formed as the day develops because the still heats up and later begins to boil the water.
- The steam that was formed into the nozzle at the top condenses against the lid then drips down into the catch basin below.
- Provided it was a warm enough day outside, voila! – in the evening there will be 5 liters of fresh drinking water available in the catch basin.
The Eliodomestico can work without fuel, electricity, filters, and needs no maintenance.
According to an article by Bridgette Meinhold of Inhabitat.com: “these devices can also be built anywhere from readily available materials – anyone who can throw a pot can handcraft the main elements necessary for the water filter… Eliodomestico could be made for $50 and produce 5 liters… The design is available as an open-source project for anyone who wants to make one and is licensed under a CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.”
Continue reading “Post-Hurricane Aid: Solar Filter Can Turn Sea Water into Potable Water”
