Human 2.0: Surviving On 1 Oz of Water a Day

This article was previously published on Al Fin Potpourri blog

How could you re-design your body so that instead of requiring over 2 litres per day of water, you suddenly need only about 30 ml to survive in good health?

Such a radical reduction in daily water requirements suddenly opens up large areas of the planet for human habitation -- from the deserts to the poles to the open ocean and more.

Reducing human water requirements also makes it easier for humans to live in outer space habitats and on long-distance spaceships. The video below describes one approach to the problem.

Video via Takram (h/t Popsci)

The video describes the Shenu Hydrolemic System, which works to limit water losses through perspiration, urination, and feces through multiple body implants and prostheses.

We were given a vision of cathartic future. A world in which humanity experiences a cataclysmic sequence of events that will bring us to the brink of annihilation. Afflicted by manmade causes, the rising sea level, radioactive emissions and release of hazardous materials into the environment, art and culture cease to exist. This provides an opportunity, not lament, to re-evaluate what constitutes art, design, culture and the quality of life itself when all prejudices and preconceptions vanish.

With this premise, takram was tasked to design a water bottle.After a period of thorough research and analysis, takram reached an uncanny solution. Our conclusion was that it would make more sense, in fact, to regulate how much water the human body can retain and recycle in this dire environment. This revelation resulted in the Hydrolemic system, a set of artificial organs. _Takram

Watch the short video, and follow the link above for more information.

The human body is in for some radical re-design, as humans attempt to expand their activities into more and more extreme environments. From the polar regions to the deep seas, to high altitude atmospheric regions, to the many environments available off-planet -- humans are looking to extend their reach and expand their practical vision.

We were not evolved for most of those environments, however. We can compensate for some of these evolutionary deficiencies by creating artificial environments around us. Submarines allow us to live and work at depth undersea. Spaceships can protect us from vacuum and temperature extremes in space, with partial protection from radiation hazard. Pressurised capsules could allow us to live at high altitudes either on mountaintops or in large high altitude lighter than air habitats.

But we are the naked ape, and we would rather be able to face these exotic environments with a minimum of artifact between us and the environment -- if we could do so safely.

That is why reducing the daily water requirement is just the beginning for the grand project of re-designing humans for the challenges ahead of us.

Much more on this topic in future postings.

Clean Water for Haiti and the Third World

HydroWell Water Purification System

With over fifteen years of research, scientists have developed the world’s first commercially viable forward osmosis membrane for emergency desalination and water filtration. This membrane is used by NASA, the US Department of Defense, the United States Coast Guard and is now available to the public for use in emergency desalination situations.

...Forward osmosis products out-perform the competition in these situations, because unlike other filter or purification technologies, they are virtually unaffected by the presence of mud or other suspended solids in the contaminated source water. Using an advanced membrane filter, our systems offer the highest purity available from any personal water filter. Yet because they operate passively without pressure, they do not clog, allowing virtually any water source to be used to provide clean, safe drink. _ImpactLab_via_SeaPack

Dean Kamen's Water Purifier

It is designed to supply a village with 1,000 liters/day of clean water.

You can use any water source — ocean, puddle, chemical waste site, hexavalent chrome, arsenic, poison, 50 gallon drum of urine.

The Slingshot (as its called) can use half the waste heat (450 watts) from a sterling engine electrical generator (prototype also being designed by Kamen’s company) to boil its water.

The heat put into the water is recovered with a "counter-flow heat exchanger" and recycled to heat the next batch of water (that is part of the novel bit).
Slingshot will be less then 60 lbs. The prototype slingshot was hand-built for $100K. The goal is to get production units down to $1,000 to $2,000. The sterling engine, used as an electrical generator, can produce about 200 watts of power (it will never be more then 20 percent efficient) and 800 watts of waste heat (the waste heat that slingshot uses).

Later sources say the sterling engine can generate 1 kilowatt or enough power for 70 high-efficiency light bulbs. (CNN)
The sterling engine can run on anything that burns, propane or even cow dung. (CNN)
The slingshot is a David and Goliath reference aimed at putting water and power back in the hands of the individuals. (AP) _Wired

Perhaps 5 children out of a hundred from the third world have the potential learn to live in a modern high-tech world. But the rest will need good, reliable ways to produce clean drinking water -- both in emergencies and during the long stretches of ordinary life in between.

We have heard that Haiti is "unlucky." That is true in a trivial sense. Haiti is unlucky in the same way that Zimbabwe is unlucky, Darfur is unlucky, or that Detroit is unlucky. Haiti is unlucky enough to be populated by people who are unable to change the ordinary, mundane circumstances of their lives.

Such parts of the third world will always need the help of those who are capable of generating change, innovation, and improved circumstances. Clean water is a good place to start.

Lifesaver Water Bottle via Brian Wang

Light Rays, Electric Shock, Cold Plasma Fire

Light rays and electric shock combine to purify an unlimited quantity of fresh water, inexpensively.

A new water-treatment technique that combines two expensive methods could prove a cheaper and more efficient way to remove hard-to-clean contaminants. The technology combines photocatalysis, which uses light to break down pollutants, and electrochemical oxidation, which uses an electrical current to do the same.

Aicheng Chen, an associate professor and Canada Research Chair of material and environmental chemistry at Lakehead University, in Ontario, has filed for a patent on the process and says that it could be commercialized within two years. Chen combined the two water-treatment methods by creating a dual-purpose electrode. On one side, the electrode is coated with a photocatalyst, and on the other with an electrocatalyst. Chen tested the electrode's ability to remove two different nitrophenols--chemicals that are frequently used to manufacture drugs, pesticides, fungicides, and dyes and are commonly found in industrial wastewater. The dual-function electrode removed between 85 and 90 percent of the notoriously hard-to-remove pollutants over three hours, compared with only 30 and 60 percent for either technique alone. Chen's results were published last month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology. _TechnologyReview

Cold plasma fire is a new technology destined to revolutionise dentistry and perhaps medicine.

Though it looks like a tiny purple blowtorch, a pencil-sized plume of plasma on the tip of a small probe remains at room temperature as it swiftly dismantles tough bacterial colonies deep inside a human tooth. But it's not another futuristic product of George Lucas' imagination. It's the exciting work of USC School of Dentistry and Viterbi School of Engineering researchers looking for new ways to safely fight tenacious biofilm infections in patients – and it could revolutionize many facets of medicine. _SD

Sometimes groundbreaking new technologies grow out a simple hunch. The creative process occurs almost entirely subconsciously, on a massively parallel basis -- whereas the conscious mind is almost completely serial in nature. Unknown to the conscious mind, multiple strands of reasoning compete in an evolutionary "survival of the fittest" contest. Sometimes -- when we are very luck like Archimedes -- we experience a Eureka! moment, and perceive the world in a new, more powerful way.

If we are to move past the current quagmire of bad government, bad media, and corrupt education and science, into the next level of unlimited possibilities -- we will need abundant clean water. We will need teeth that last a very long lifetime. We will need abundant clean energy, transportation to take us as far as we wish, medical technologies that keep our bodies and minds vital for centuries. We will depend upon our subconscious minds for many breakthroughs, but we need to stop fooling ourselves into falling for grifters and con artists.

Dry-Clean at Home Clothes Washer Uses Just 1 Cup of Water per Load

That's right. To clean a washer load of dirty, sweaty, grimy clothes will use only one cup of water.

Billions of gallons of clean water could be conserved every year simply by adopting this dry cleaning technology. Less water also means less drying, which can add energy savings to those with energy-hungry clothes dryers.

The process uses plastic granules, which tumble with your laundry and a little water and detergent. The plastic absorbs the dirt or grit and can be reused for up to six months. __CleanTechnica

More information and links at the source above.

With environmental emphasis moving from "global warming" to the need for clean water and water-saving technologies, you can imagine the demand for this type of machine--particularly in water-parched third world countries such as California. (pronounced: Caw-lee-forn-ya.)

Solving the World's Water Problems I: Desalination

Image Source

One of the most serious environmental problems for humans of Earth is the shortage of clean water for drinking and other human uses. Perhaps 1 billion people lack access to clean freshwater. But since 97% of the water on Earth is salty water, one promising method to create clean water is desalination. Desalination is expensive due to high energy costs, but some progress is being made on that front.

The specific (per unit of produced potable water) energy of desalination has been reduced from over 10 kW h m-3 in the 1980s to below 4 kW h m-3 (refs 78, 83)....For zero per cent recovery, that is, the removal of a relatively small amount of water from a very large amount of sea water, the calculated theoretical minimum energy for desalination is 0.70 kW h m-3 of fresh water produced. This theoretical minimum increases to 0.81, 0.97 and 1.29 kW h m-3 for recoveries of 25, 50 and 75%, respectively, suggesting that further improvements in the energy efficiency of RO desalination are still possible.

...Recent work by the Affordable Desalination Coalition78, 84 has demonstrated a remarkably low specific energy of seawater desalination, at 1.58 kW h m-3, under ideal conditions (that is, new membranes, no fouling, and low water flux) at 42% recovery. This value is relatively close to the theoretical minimum energy for seawater desalination at that recovery, suggesting that next-generation fouling-resistant RO membranes will be able to desalinate sea water with lower energy consumption. __Nature__via__SoftMachines

A large part of Earth's human population lives close enough to salt water seas and oceans for desalination to play a much larger role in clean water access, as the energy issue is managed by more efficient technologies, and more plentiful energy supplies.

Advances in nanotechnology promise significant improvements in clean water efforts. Here is a PDF download discussing nanotech approaches to providing clean water from Foresight.org. More on nanotech solutions to clean water problems.

Eventually, plants will be gene-engineered to take up saltwater in their roots, purify to freshwater, and collect the freshwater in an interior cavity that can be tapped for a freshwater supply. I expect such plants to be developed in 5 to 10 years time.

Update: OTEC--ocean thermal energy conversion--offers other routes to clean water. Low pressure distillation of warm seawater and atmospheric moisture condensation by cold seawater. Here are two websites that try to monitor progress in OTEC:
OTEC News
Hawaii Energy Options

And a bonus 2 visionary looks at potential uses of the ocean from:

John Craven
S Ramachandran

Laundry-Loo: Saving Water

If you do not mind doing your laundry in the loo, this device will save water and space at the same time. In fact, while you are at it, why not put the dishwasher and clothes dryer in the same general space? And be sure to pump the drainwater from the shower into the system.

H/T GadgetDNA

Worldchanging: Plentiful Freshwater from Hybrid Bio-synthetic Membranes

The need for plentiful freshwater is one of this planets greatest environmental needs. While the ocean covers more of Earth's surface than the continents, ocean water is undrinkable and unusable for crop irrigation. Until now, it has been prohibitively expensive to desalinate salt water for human use. Until now:

The experimental membranes, currently in the form of vesicles, show significantly higher water transport than existing reverse-osmosis membranes used in water purification and desalination. The researchers describe their membranes in a paper accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper is to be published in PNAS Online Early Edition this week. ... To make their protein-polymer membranes, the researchers begin with a polymer that self-assembles into hollow spheres called vesicles. While the polymer is assembling, the researchers add Aquaporin Z – a protein found in Escherichia coli bacteria.

...“By varying the amount of Aquaporin Z, we can vary the membrane’s permeability,” Kumar said, “which could be very useful for drug-delivery applications.”

With their high permeability and high selectivity, the biomimetic membranes also are ideal for water treatment by desalination, which is becoming increasingly important for water purification in semiarid coastal regions.

When tested, the productivity of the Aquaporin Z-incorporated polymer membranes was more than 10 times greater than other salt-rejecting polymeric membranes.

Physorg

E. Coli bacteria can be modified to mass-produce large numbers of the aquaporin protein efficiently and economically, in the same way that E. Coli is used to mass produce various pharmaceuticals. A hybrid biological-synthetic membrane of this type is a crude example of the "grobyC" concept--inserting biological materials into mechanical or synthetic substrates and devices.
These bio-synthetic membranes can also be used to purify other types of tainted water besides saltwater and brine water. Studying the use of this type of membrane in waste treatment/water purification should be a top priority of persons who consider themselves environmentalists.

Using the Ocean for Global Cooling: Sea Spray, OTEC, and Gaia's Poppa

The ocean is intimately involved in the Earth's climate balance. Between the ENSO, the North Atlantic Oscillation, the thermohaline circulation, ocean evaporation and cloud formation, thermal convection, absorption and release of greenhouse gases, and other lesser known mechanisms, the oceans closely collaborate with the sun in controlling the climate of Earth.

Many influential (but typically unscientific) persons are concerned to the point of hysteria about the possibility of Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming (CAGW). To placate some of their concerns, several proposals for geoengineering projects have been put forward to mitigate "global warming." Giant space mirrors, flooding the atmosphere with particulate to block the sun, seed the ocean with iron to promote algae growth etc etc.

Two large scale projects involving the ocean might actually prove of benefit to particular regions of the planet:

• Injecting "sea spray" into the low atmosphere to create clouds.
• OTEC energy generation that utilises ocean temperature differentials to generate substantial renewable energy, and provide freshwater irrigation for crops and other beneficial side effects.

Both of those proposals have considerable merit, and will probably be implemented on a larger scale within the next 10-15 years. John Latham's sea spray idea, as implemented by Stephen Salter, has significant potential to bring needed rain to very dry coastal areas of the world, where arable farm land is scarce. OTEC's long list of benefits is likewise impossible to ignore.

Now, James Lovelock--father of "Gaia", professor of Green College, Oxford--is proposing placing 10,000 10-metre diameter pipes in the Gulf of Mexico to pump cool water to the surface from 100 to 200 metres in depth. He suggests that this will "fertilise algae in the surface waters and encourage them to bloom, absorbing carbon dioxide greenhouse gas while also releasing a chemical called dimethyl sulphide that is know to seed sunlight reflecting clouds." (via Fatknowledge)

Lovelock no doubt means well, and his idea is certainly consistent with the CAGW hypothesis that is so prominent in the media and less informed political circles. But it is not likely to accomplish anything of worth--particularly in comparison to the other approaches listed above.

In another, less enlightened age, people like Lovelock would probably be spending their time walking along a seashore, mumbling to themselves, doing no harm. In our more enlightened age, Lovelock is still doing no particular harm, which is a good thing. Even if tens of hundreds of millions of dollars are wasted investigating his proposal, at least he is not selling crack to school children, or strapping suicide bombs onto the torsos of religiously intense youths.

It is clear that on the merits, generating rainfall over arid deserts, and providing plentiful renewable energy while creating freshwater for drinking and irrigation, are both more important than growing large numbers of algae--whatever the putative benefits of removing CO2 from the atmosphere that are claimed.

Lovelock is an academic who, like so many academics, is cast loose from any meaningful ties with real-world needs. Coddled, tenured, assured of his "specialness", he has no incentive to generate any relevant solutions or ideas. So he does not. Pity.

Water From Air

Everyone needs clean water for drinking and cooking.

The brainchild of Technion Architecture and Building Planning grad students Joseph Cory and Eyal Malka, “WatAir,” is an inverted pyramid array of panels that collects dew from the air and turns it into fresh water in almost any climate.

Inspired by the dew-collecting properties of leaves, one 315 sq ft unit can extract a minimum of 48 liters of fresh water from the air each day. Depending on the number of collectors used, an unlimited daily supply of water could be produced even in remote and polluted places.

According to Cory, WatAir can be easily incorporated into both rural and urban landscapes because it has a relatively small base. Its vertical and diagonal design utilizes gravity to increase the collection areas. The panels are flexible and easy to collapse when not in use, and provide shelter from rain and heat and play areas for children.

Source
The most common way of producing fresh water in dry coastal areas is desalination by pressure driven membrane separation. But that method is very energy intensive and expensive--suitable for Dubai and other oil-rich emirates, but not available to the world's poor.

One key to condensing water from the atmosphere, is to be able to cool your condensing surface below the dew point of the air. Another important point is the nature of the condensing surface--to encourage droplet formation and discourage re-evaporation. Thirdly, the condenser must move the droplets together into a collectible quantity of water. WatAir appears to have addressed these concerns, according to the reports.

Doing Something About the Weather At Last, Sam

Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. But now engineer and inventor Stephen Salter is suggesting that maybe it wouldn't be so hard to do something about the weather at all.

In his scheme, seawater will be sucked up from the ocean into pipes within the blades. Nozzles at the ends of these pipes will turn the water into an aerosol and spray fine droplets from the trailing edges of the blades 5 to 20 metres above the sea surface into the turbulent wake of the rotor.

This, Salter points out, will hugely increase the surface area of water that can be turned into water vapour. The turbine will also overcome one of the main brakes on evaporation from the ocean, he argues. The problem is a wafer-thin layer of stagnant, humid air that clings to the surface of the sea and prevents water molecules from escaping.

Salter calculates that with a wind speed of 8 metres per second, each "spray turbine" could lift more than half a cubic metre of water a second to a height of 10 metres. Hundreds or even thousands of the machines in hot areas of the world could make enough rain to prevent droughts, he estimates. "The successful large-scale deployment of spray turbines could reduce the number of people who are short of water by several billion."

Source

Read more at Fatknowledge Blog, a very fine blog indeed.

While Salter's "ocean mist" scheme may be tagged as a way to combat global warming, in reality it is a way to stir up the weather considerably, and hopefully to reduce drought and bring fresh water to many people who are presently without it. The lack of clean fresh water is a far greater environmental problem than the more fashionable CAGW. We should never forget that water vapour is the most meaningful greenhouse gas, but that water in the atmosphere performs a very complex function that is not amenable to current climate models.