Apologies for the link that didn't work... I've pasted the LA Times article (abridged by me) below for all of your thirsty minds. (Do you think the gnomes are in favor?)
Using Ocean Waves to Power Desalination
Energetech is pairing with another Australian company to use surf- generated energy in reverse osmosis systems.
By Rory McGuire, Financial Times
Two Australian companies are claiming they can turn ocean waves into drinking water at very little cost, thanks to a combination of their technologies.Energetech Australia's initial aim was to generate cheap electricity using wave power, but it realized that in teaming up with desalination specialist H2AU it could use the same power to produce potable water at a low cost.
(In arid regions salinization of water is a hudge problem. Currently there is a million-dollar desalinization plant in Arizona that is SITTING EMPTY due to cost! Using a renewable resource (such as waves or the sun) is the ideal solution for affording this important technology.. I expect that someday most of our water will have come from desalinization plants, not wells and rivers.)
Ocean waves, so abundant and consistent, are a source of energy — and energy is the main expense of any desalination process. Most desalination installations use electricity to create the pressure needed to drive a reverse osmosis system, but the two Sydney-based, privately owned companies' combined technologies use wave pressure directly to power a reverse osmosis desalination plant. This unusual project avoids the multiple energy losses in converting wave energy to electricity before using the electricity to drive pressure pumps. The entire operation can be run off the coastline, where the residual concentrated brine is released harmlessly back into the ocean and the only land connection is a pipe carrying potable water ashore. The process involves no fossil fuels, greenhouse gases or waste, the companies say....
(It gets more technical after this... but gosh, isn't this awesome?)
