Tools
for Sustainability
Lets us thrive
in our neighborhoods and bioregions by managing our own
lives, households and communities
with freedom and respect. - Jan Lundberg
Please suggest articles and links, or send
your own articles with graphics to info@culturechange.org
Malcolm
Wells' architecture is below ground, saving energy and space for life.
If you like
kickstands...
Manage your bike with a flipstand by Jim Doherty
"People
can organize and invest in their neighborhoods and regions."
Restructuring
Our Economic System(s)
by Mike Morin
Human
liquid waste for food production
-
- - - - - - -
PROCESS-INTENSIVE
AIR WELL
by
R. Forrester
ABSTRACT:
The PROCESS-INTENSIVE AIR WELL (PAW) is a
low-tech, easily improvised instance of a downhill gas-liquid
countercurrent heat exchanger which
can be used to harvest atmospheric moisture using primarily the
cold provided by ground-chilled, non-potable
well-water. The PAW
provides additional services as a
low-energy air chiller, air dehumidifier, air filter and source
of negatively ionized air.
PAW DESCRIPTION:
The PAW consists of commonly available items.
The exterior
of the PAW is a vertical stack of 3' ID concrete sewer pipes
some 8' tall. The
exterior resembles a short chimney which
is open at the top and closed at the bottom.
Inside of the
concrete tube is a parallel vertical bundle of thin walled
copper tubing with an ID of perhaps 0.200".
The individual
tubes are not contiguous but almost so.
The tubes are
uniformly distributed with a max clearance of perhaps .10"
separating the tubes.
A water pump causes cool well water to flow upward through
the copper conduits. At
the same time, an air blower causes
outside air to flow in the opposite (downward) direction through
the air passages separating the tubes.
Countercurrent heat
exchange warms the upward flowing water and chills the downward
flowing air. An electrically
powered water chiller ensures
that the well water entering the bottom of the concrete chimney
is at least 5 degrees Fahrenheit below the dew-point of the
outside air entering the open top of the chimney.
The downward drag of the air accelerates the migration rate of the
condensate drops accumulating on the outside of the copper tubes
to the water collecting cistern at the closed bottom of the concrete
chimney.
The cooled, dehumidified air exhausted by the system is ducted
into the interior of an adjoining house to provide air conditioning.
Since the PAW provides two distinct services
- the electric cost
of harvesting freshwater from warm, moist air is thus cross
amortized.
The warmed well water is permitted to flow back into the well to be
re-chilled by the cool earth underground.
PAW MULTIFUNCTIONALITY:
The PAW not only generates freshwater but also cools,
dehumidifies and decontaminates air flowing through the
PAW. Soot and
hygroscopic molecules such as SOX & NOX
function as condensation nuclei.
Micron size soot ingested
in a liquid is harmless but inhaled as an aerosol it is a major
threat. Conventional air
conditioners generate positive ions
which irritate the lungs. Condensation
droplet formation
creates negatively ionized air which is rain-fresh.
Notice that well over 90% of the cooling is provided by cool
undeground water -
not the auxiliary water chiller.
Hence
this is not energy-intensive air cooling.
PAW EMISSIONS SUPPRESSION TECHNOLOGY.
Arguably, a modified PAW could be used to clean up coal
fired power-plant emissions. Electrostatic
precipitators
cannot capture micro-soot. And
crushed limestone is an
expensive way of de-acidifying emissions.
Reflect: coal-fired
power-plant emissions are rich in valuable
fullerenes (a family of molecules with industrial potential). Moreover
nitric and sulphuric acid are the most
important industrial acids. The
absolute humidity of coal
flue gases tends to be high, facilitating
condensation. The
sour, sooty and fullerene-rich condensate would not be waste
but feedstock for the chemical, activated carbon filter and
materials industry. Recall
that gasoline was once discarded
as a waste product of petroleum distillation.
Given PAW
scrubbers -
down-and-dirty coal burners fueled with cheap
high sulphur coal would be environmentally compatible
-
besides being much cheaper to operate.
The PAW emissions
suppression technology might even be self-supporting.
PAW WATER YIELD:
Assuming an average water harvesting rate of 5 ml of water
per cubic meter of air and an airflow of 3 cubic meters of air
per second -
a given PAW might generate 1295 liters of freshwater in 24 hours.
If 100 liters of freshwater defines the minimum of freshwater per
person per day compatible with a
minimal acceptable standard of living
- one PAW might provide
for the water needs of perhaps a dozen individuals.
PAW DEPLOYMENT AREAS:
Places with toxic, brackish or contaminated well water.
The arsenic-contaminated tube-wells of Bangladesh & India &
central Asia
come to mind. Also the
uranium tailing runoff polluted wells of
the 4-corners region. Not
to mention hyper-mineralized CAP water
challenged Tucson. Obviously, the Middle East and the freshwater
starved tourist islands of the Mediterranean come to mind as well.
Notice that well water is recirculated and not consumed.
This is
important in the context of PAW deployment in dry regions such
as the 4-corners area. Not
to mention subsidence-threatened
Tucson sitting on top of its fossil water aquifer.
PAW DIAGRAMS:
I will send sketches of the construct to anyone who asks
for them provided the request is accompanied by a stamped,
self-addressed envelope. I
intend to put the construct
in the public domain. I
am not interested in patenting the
concept or profiting from it.
My
address is: R.
Forrester
402 Adams Drive
Mt. Shasta City
California, 96067
Human
liquid waste for food production
Workshops
on a range of systems (urine-div, site-built, eco-resort, microflush,
graywater) will take place in Baja California Sur and Port Townsend, Wash.
in November, 2004. Contact via email info@liquidgoldbook.com
to inquire or register for future programs
---------------------
Liquid Gold: How to Use Urine to Grow Plants (Safely!)
A talk, mini-workshop and book release were given on July 10, 2004 in
Berkeley, Calif.
Proceeds of entrance fee helped fund City Slicker Farm's urban farming demo
programs.
The urine-resource presentations were led by Carol Steinfeld and Nik
Bertulis
Every day, we urinate nutrients that can fertilize plants that could be used
for beautiful landscapes, food, fuel, and fiber. Instead, these nutrients
are flushed away, either to be treated at high cost or discharged to waters
where they overfertilize and choke off aquatic life. [The workshop was
a] lighthearted but practical talk about how urineówhich contains most of
the nutrients in domestic wastewater and usually carries no disease
riskócan be utilized as a resource. [discussed were] three ways to grow
away urineócomposting, urine-graywater system, and urine
fertilizingósafely and without odors. [Participants made] a small urine-graywater
planter and look at ways to make easy, inexpensive urine-diverting
composting toilets.
Discounts [were made] available on urine diverters, dry urinals, and copies
of Liquid Gold, as well as related books and plans. Our setting
[was] Green Fairy Farm, a micro-eden in Berkeley. Due to limited space,
registration [was] limited.
The book, Liquid Gold (www.liquidgoldbook.com), shows how urine is used
worldwide to grow food and landscapes, while protecting the environment,
saving its users the cost of fertilizer, and reconnecting people to the land
and the nutrient cycles that sustain them. Thatís real flower power!
Liquid Gold features three ways to use urine hygienically and productively
for plant growth, with studies that show the science behind this practice.
Several advocates of urine diversion and their gardens are profiled,
demonstrating that using urine for fertilizer is a feasible, safe, and
cost-saving way to prevent pollution and save on fertilizer costs.
Presenters: Liquid Gold author Carol Steinfeld is projects director for
Ecowater Projects, a nonprofit project that informs the public about
ecological wastewater management solutions. She is the co-author of The
Composting Toilet System Book and Reusing the Resource: Adventures in
Ecological Wastewater Recycling. Her articles have appeared in Natural
Home Magazine, Mother Earth News, and Biocycle, among others.
Nik Bertulis is a world-roaming carpenter, inventor, activist, and
ecological solutions advocate, who also assists at City Slicker Farm and
Green Fairy Farm. Register: info@liquidgoldbook.com
-- Liquid Gold The Lore and Logic of Using Urine to
Grow Plants a book www.liquidgoldbook.com
