A wool-milk-sow ?

von Dr. Antonio Mascolo, Obernkirchen

The world population is still further growing, the climate seems to change, more or less also influenced through the human caused emissions. The glaciers, the ice cover at the northern polar regions shall may be disappear, the marine shelf benthic and the pelagic ecosystem are menaced to extinguish because of the fishery, like the sandy shores, the mangrove forests, the salt marshes and the salt lakes.

The freshwater scarcity will grow, particularly there, where population grows. Hotter climate and development efforts will demand more freshwater for irrigation, sanitation, stock breeding, industrial productions and just for fun. We can take some measures in order to alleviate this scarcity: We can clean and reuse wastewater, we can forcing the field drainage as saving against salinity growth. We can pump up fossil groundwater, we can desalinate brackish and seawater using fossil and/or nuclear fuels.
We can import freshwater from countries, where it is still abundant, also because of the there damed rivers.
These are, respectively could be solutions for the next 20-30 years. And thereafter ? We cannot stop the likely through human influences speeded climate changes.
We cannot stop by force the population growth. We can reuse a certain quantity of treated wastewater, but likely not as drink-, bath- or wash water. Groundwater and fossil/nuclear fuels are not endless. One day we have also to substitute these. A complete substitution will last at least 40-50 years. It will be a very long and costly way (may be we are already too late).
But also the longest way begins with the first step, as a Chinese would say.

Now, who will be able to cut these Gordian knots and how ?

The MENA region is one of the places, where the question water scarcity is, yet today, particularly serious. Therefore we will take it as example and begin (MENA means Middle East North Africa).
A solution could be here to purchase freshwater coming from the Turkish Mediterranean coasts. This solution involves many problems:
-Purchasing water from a foreign country, here from the remnant of their former sovereign, the Ottoman Empire, means not only to spend a lot of money, but to become, in the long run, also politically again dependent, and vulnerable, specially if the water transport would be made through pipelines through Syria, Lebanon, Israel until Saudi Arabia ("Peace Water Pipeline").
-The Mediterranean Sea becomes every year warmer and saltier, not only because of the warmer getting climate, but also because most of the in the Mediterranean basin flowing rivers are been (or will further be) damed, like the Turkish ones.
-The Mediterranean outflow in the Atlantic Sea influences the thermohaline exchange of the Gulf Stream. Nobody knows, if and when this warmer and saltier getting outflow will disrupt its actual balance. The consequences could be a breakdown of this current, with a new Ice Age at least for West-,Central- and North-Europe (This is the reason why, some years ago, the American scientist Johnson proposed to built a dam across the Gibraltar Strait, in order to stop at least 80% of the Mediterranean outflow).
Another big, perhaps not soluble problem is the water sharing on the Nile River. There are 10 River Riparian States. Six of them furnish 14% of the water really reaching the north (White Nile), two 86% (Blue Nile, Atbara, Sobat, almost Ethiopia, very few Eritrea) and Egypt and Sudan, practically none. And these two use (and waste) the whole water, specially Egypt, which adduces its "historical rights", only for its needs. For the other riparian is in the end forbidden, if necessary by menace of force as ultima ratio, to use their Nile water for irrigation. Some of them have, every often, millions of deaths through drought and famine, as Ethiopia, where, I can just repeat it, 85% of the Nile water are coming from. But also today needs Egypt more water than the only with Sudan concluded agreement concerning the shared quotes would allow, because of every new
irrigation projects (just 10% of the high polluted Nile water reaches the Mediterranean Sea).
Water gifts for the other riparian are simply impossible. Mors tua, vita mea. A similar problem hosts the Jordan Basin. Libya has the great man made river, the Arabian Peninsula huge desalting
plants, as long as groundwater and fossil fuels will allow this.

Who want to conserve his independence and water security, has to produce is own freshwater.
Who will get freshwater also in the future, has to find solutions without fossil fuel and with the renewable fossil groundwater (if not saline or polluted!) just as emergency reserve. Who will not risk to die at the Mediterranean coasts, because of the Gibraltar dam or because of a war with the through the presumed Gulf Stream breakdown menaced Western Powers, has to at least partially reopen the most of the Mediterranean rivers. And the biggest damed one is the Nile. What the matter, by these lots and lots of problems ? Do we have solutions ? The only possible way, and not only in my opinion, is to develop solar/wind driven desalination plants, big, middle and little ones, as facilities, circumstances permitting and if feasible, combining together already developed, but until now not constructed technologies, e.g. as the Energy Tower with the solar chimney power plant, with vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT) and so on.
The soil under these facilities could be used as farmland for the cultivation of salt tolerant plants (halophytes), for stock breeding, breeding/hatchery chains beginning with algae/shrimps/fishes (e.g. halibut) and others more.

The very first begin could be made with such and similar facilities at the pipeline, which shall connect the Red Sea with the Dead Sea, not only for refilling this dying salt lake until its former level, for producing electricity through the height difference between the two basins (hydropower),
but also for desalting huge quantities of brackish and seawater, in order to make blooming the Negev Desert - as supplementary home for the Israelis, as dreamed from their fathers - and the south of Jordan. This solution would also offer a real basis for the begin of a viable and durable peace between Israel and its Arab Neighbours, if all they want.

In a second step, would be create a 20.000 km² wide lake in the Qattara depression and its near lying little depressions, with inflow through a canal from the Mediterranean Sea, as basis for living and working for millions of Egyptians, WITH FEWER NILE. (The old projects to use this depression as one way discharge basin for an hydropower plant are gone, because of the then 12.000 km² large, every saltier getting lake, which would arise here, 60m under the sea level. A new, giant Dead Sea). This new lake would fill the Qattara until to the sea level, as basis for fishery, tourism, urbanisation, reclamation, salt-industries, breeding, solar/wind powered energy plants for desalination and then for the production of hydrogen and oxygen for the whole world, as substitutes for the one day ending, resp. may be just for burning forbidden/precious fossil fuels.

But this solution could be only viable if the salt content in the lake would remain in between certain figures. This matter presupposes also the erection of many, huge, middle and little desalting plants just for this purpose, like at the Red-Dead pipeline, beneficing from the there made experiences on this matter. (If it would be really necessary to equilibrate the thermohaline balance of the Gulf Stream because of lacking saltwater in the north and for avoiding that this stream sets its turning point further in the south, we could then use for this matter the salt coming from the Qattara desalination plants).

A third step could complete this proposal, in an extension as foreseen by Dr. Ahmed Idrissi in http://happy-arabia.com, with similar solutions and visions.

Now we will take a brief look at the meteorological conditions on the MENA region and the actual state-of-art. The warm air around the equator rises. On its rising, the air cools and sheds rain. This now dry air moves then north and south and descends again to the earth surface. On descending, the air compresses and warms up. The earth rotation diverts these flows (Coriolis effect), which were concentrated in two belts between 15° and 35° north and south of the equator, from where they flow back again (Trade winds). That explain, why here are positioned the desert belts. It is the hot and dry descending air that produces the desert and not the desert that warms up the air. This meteorological cycle was discovered 1735 by Hadley, therefore the denomination Hadley Cells for these two belts. This hot and dry air can be used as fuel. And within the northern Hadley Cell are lying the MENA countries. By transforming that heat to mechanical energy/electricity, a km² desert can deliver an average amount of 1.25-2.5 MW electricity. A so called "Convection Tower" uses the downdraft for producing wind. The hot and dry air were cooled by a fine spray of (salt-)water (evaporative cooling). The cooled air contracts and obtains a higher density thereby falling and creating a downdraft. If the tower is tall enough, the downward airflow reaches high speeds and
actuates turbines which generate electricity. The downdraft sucks in more and more dry and hot air from above, which is continually cooled by a spray of (salt-)water, continuing the process, night
and day.
The biggest and may be best (not yet built) implementation of this solution could be the Energy Tower (Arubot Sharav) by Prof.Dan Zaslavski/Technion Haifa.
But there are Pros and Cons. In desert areas there is no water. Foreseen is to use saltwater from a near Red Sea. Beside the idea to desalt in the tower seawater by reverse osmosis, the salty-humid air flows out the turbines and covers large soil surfaces. That salt enriched water respectively the precipitated salt have to be collected and brought back to the sea. A very expensive and dangerous task also for soil and groundwater, if the then large lined surfaces and canals leak, respectively when at 1200m height a strong wind is blowing. For working properly, a 1200m high and 400m wide Energy Tower requires a own 20 x 20 km area in order to collect enough descending hot air, producing 4000 GWh/year (but 43% of them are needed for pumping up the water). Another, very simply, dry working, but more expensive solution because of the collector, with a lower grade of efficiency, uses the updraft (Prof. Schlaich, Germany). The desert air flows here in a 7200m large, with glass covered, lightly inclined collector, warms further up from 20° in the middle to 60°C and grows to a central chimney. There are positioned turbines, which generate electricity.

This function can be extended, if beneath the collector roof are positioned black pipes containing water, which collects heat during the day and give it back, during the night, to the turbines (Implementation: First nearly 1:1 facility to be built now in Australia).
The hot air escapes here from the chimney with 50°C, WITHOUT FURTHER USE.
-Both facilities need a tall, 1000-1200m high chimney, that were not used for further purposes. Why do not combine both chimneys in a synergetic one ?
-In the desert regions blows a quite strong and constant wind (Trade winds - as consequence of the global meteorological cycle, see above).
We can also use the anyway built tower as vertical axis for a very huge wind rotor. The electricity generation occurs here through ring generators.

These are the reasons, why I would like to propose a threefold combined
facility, which have to be verified, using:

- At least eight single updraft chimneys around the downdraft tower, also for strengthen it, together with the generator rings also as a further reinforcement.
-The from the updraft chimneys coming hot air as supplementary feed for the downdraft tower (a third more hot air inflow, reducing so the needed area for the Energy Tower).
-The below, sealed part of the anyway existent hot air updraft collector-sections as escaping way for the 22°C warm and nearly saturate salty-humid air from the Energy Tower, with others, connected functions, e.g. for feeding halophyte trees, stock breeding, salt tolerant crops, also hosting breeding chains and so on. Through the large daily thermal amplitudes cools the from the downdraft tower coming humid air during the night and sheds water for the irrigation. A drainage take care for washing the soils. The brine flows then in the Dead Sea, resp. in salt ponds, producing so further processing heat.
-The combined and reinforced tower as vertical axis for a huge wind rotor, which works on ring generators (HAWTs reach now the limits of their economical and structural feasibility).
These three facilities work independently each from another.

The here produced electricity could be used for desalting brackish and/or seawater, resp. for every other production which needs electrical power. Other, more little solutions are conceivable.

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A SHORT DIGEST FROM THE WEB BIBLIOGRAPHY (only english)

POPULATION GROWT:
Population Reference Bureau-World Population data sheets(www.prb.org/pubs);

DOWNDRAFT POWER PLANT:
- Solar Energy without a collector. The 3rd Sabin Conference(www.weizmann.ac.il) (18 Sections), by Dan Zaslavski
- Scientific Activity on Subject of "Super Power Enery Tower" (http://luna.tau.ac.il)
- As climate change talks continue renevable energy finds its place in Arava Desert, by Shoshana Bekermann (www.earthtimes.org/nov/climatechange.asclimatenov/20)
- Energy Towers: Pros and cons of the Arubot Sharav Alternative Energy Proposal, by Michael J.Zwirn (www2.arinet/zwirn/arubot)

UPDRAFT POWER PLANT:
- The Solar Chimney (www.sbp.de) (Schlaich-Bergemann)
- Environline-Issue No.78-6 January 2002 High, wide and hotted-up tower of pure energy (www.export.gov.il) or: (www.enviroemission.com.au)

TURKISH WATER:
- Water-related Cooperation between Turkey and Israel (tsi.idc.ac.il)
- Turkey's plan for Mid-east peace (www.csmonitor.com)

JORDAN BASIN:
- Sommer 2001: a new water shortage in the Jordan River Basin (allserv.rug.ac.be)
- Freshwater conflicts in the Jordan River Basin (www4.gve.ch/gci/water)
- ICE Case Studies-case no.6 JORDAN (www.american.edu/projects)

NILE BASIN:
- Chapter nine (by Julie M.Smith): Nine Nations, one Nile(www.personal.umich.edu)
- Egypt and the Hydro-Politics of the Blue Nile River, by Daniel Kendite, Northeast African Studies (wysiwyg://16/)

GULF STREAM:
- The Great Climate Flip-flop (The ATLANTIC MOUNTHLY,by William H.Calvin), also in the ATLANTIConline
- Draft Fact-sheet Thermohaline Circulation (www.climate.unbe.ch)
- Signatures of the Mediterranean Outflow from a North Atlantic Climatology, Part II, Diagnostic Velocity Fields (www.agu.org/pubs/abs)
- Influence of Mediterranean Outflow on climate (www.pik-potsdam.de)
- CGRC Search Results. Johnson,R.G. (cgrc.geog.uvic.ca/abstracts)
- A new European ice age ? (www.naturalscience.com)
- A modest proposal (wysiwyg://47/http://geology./about.com)
- Gibraltar Strait Super Dam (2100.org/text_Gibraltar)
- Climate Control Requires a Dam at the Strait of Gibraltar, by R.G. Johnson (www.agu.org/sci)
- Egypt: Coastal Zone development and Climate Change(cesimo.ing.ula.ve/GAIA/CASE/EGY)
- MEDATLAS Climatology.

DEAD SEA:
- Haa'retz 17 July 2002 (Pipeline Red-Dead)
- The Dead Sea: Past and Present (www.musc.com)
- The dying Dead Sea (www.msbc.com)
- The Dead Sea (ecopeace.net)
- TED Cases Studies: 429-DEAD SEA (american.edu)
- 4.4.3. Med-Dead or Red-Dead Canals as a cooperation inducing desalination project (www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu18ce/0d.))

QATTARA AND DESERT:
- Managing water for peace in the Middle East
2.11 Mediterranean-Qattara Solar-hydro and pumped storage development (www.unu.edu/unupress)
- Hydro-Solar Power (www.lib.ttu.edu) by Georg A. Whetstone
- Saharan halophytics(PA0905) (worldwildlife.org)
- Desertification-Climate Change and the Mediterranean Region(greenpeace.org)

SALINITY, CROPS AND BREEDING:
- University of California-Central Valley News Tips-Salinity and Drainage
(danr.ucop.edu/news/July-Dec1999/salinitytips)
- The role halophytes can have in saving commercial agriculture
(jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/Fieldcour)
- Desert Agriculture, Desert Sweets (www.jewishsightseeing.com/israel)(Negev)
- Salt-Tolerance gene trasferred (www.nalusda.gov)
- Jojoba, the tree Candidate for Toshki and Sinai (www.uk.sis.gov.eg)
- Plants that like salt (www.physics.uoguelph.ca)
- What are Halophytes ? (wysiwyg://rechts.137)
- Salinity Laboratory (United States Salinity laboratory Riverside California)
- Salinization of soil (wysiwyg://45)
- Irrigating Crops with Seawater (www.sciam.com)
- Seawater Farms Eritrea (wysiwyg://34/http) or: (www.seawaterfarms.com)
- Search for: "Brine Shrimps", "Sea Monkey", "Artemia salina", "Seafire"
- Search for: "Halibut", "Hippoglossus hippoglossus", "Spirulina"
- Sustainable Halophyte Utilisation in the Mediterranean and Subtropical Dry Regions (www.usf.uni-osnabrueck.de)
- The use of saline water for crop irrigation (fao.org)
- Effectiveness of Current Farming Systems in the Control of Dryland Salinity(CSIRO)

ALTERNATIVE FUELS:
- Prospects of Solar Power Resources (DLR.org)
- Assessment of solar electricity potential in North Africa based on satellite data and a geographic information system (DLR.org)
- Solar Thermal Power Project Development (DLR.org)
- Some papers: www.hydrogen.org
- Hydrogen Power-science fact or science fiction (www.borderlands.com)
- EREN-Hydrogen Energy
- Why Hydrogen ? (www.ttcorp.com)
- National Hydrogen Association. Near-Term Hydrogen Implementation Plan 1999-2005 (www.ttcorp.com).

FISHERY
- Study shows not plenty more fish in the sea (planetark.org/11.4.2002)
- EU unveils action plan to aid Mediterranean fishing(planetark.org/10.11.2002)
- The Aquaculture Information Center (aquatic.org), galliance.org, aquanet.com,
lookjapan.com, search for: Abalone. More: Fishbase (cgiar.org), Fishbase FAO.
- Search for: Tilapia, Fish farming, Aquaculture, iecorporate.com, oysters,
aquaculture in Egypt, Fish Farms Threaten World Fish Population (monitor net),
Lobster, Shrimp, Catfish/Algae Farming (foxnews.com), Israeli Arava Research
Center-Fish Breeding Project (dorsight.luckynet.co.il),Aquaculture in Israel,
Cephalopod Page/cephbase.dal.ca, Fish Farms(ana.gr), King Prawn, Green Alga.
Search also for: Cod, Patagonian Toothfish, The Tuna fish crisis(infomare.it),
Biological Oceanography(bio.sbcc.net), Guandong's Aquatic Products Industry
(investgd.com), black pearl farming, Fish food(newscientist.com), Aquaculture
May Be Fishing for Trouble(ens-news.com), Bycatch Solutions(mbayaq.org),
Tuna, Tuna Breeding, Tuna Hatchery, Aquaculture(dist.gov.au), Tuna cultiva-
tion, Tuna Ranching, Tuna Report (cnie.org), Tuna Research and Conservation
Center (tunaresearch.org), The Great Tuna Chase(nexus.edu.au), Bluefin Tuna
(american.edu), Atlantic Bluefin Tuna(cnie.org), Tuna Conference(swfsc.mmfs.
noaa.gov), Lab succefully breeds endangered tuna(ananova.com), Tuna Farming
(europacifictuna.com), Investigating the Environmental Effects of Sea Cage
Tuna Farming/ Part I and Part II.