French engineer suggests harvesting icebergs as solution to drought

French engineer suggests harvesting icebergs as solution to drought

A French engineer has come up with an unusual solution for drought: Towing icebergs down from polar regions to solve chronic water shortages in the Horn of Africa, where more than 12 million people are currently living without clean water.

George Mougin, 86, first proposed the idea as an engineering graduate in the early 1970s. Together with Saudi prince Muhammad al-Faisal and polar explorer Paul-Emile Victor, Mougin formed the company Iceberg Transportation International and undertook research into whether it was possible to unlock the fresh water contained in icebergs. He was repeatedly told, however, that the project was too difficult and expensive.

“They are floating reservoirs,” said Mougin.

But in 2009, someone took him seriously: French software company Dassault Systems approached Mougin with a proposal to test out his theory using computer simulation technology. The initial simulation showed a 7 million-tonne iceberg being tugged from Newfoundland to the Canary Islands. In the simulation, the iceberg is lassoed and geothermal material used to cover the submerged part of the iceberg to prevent it from melting. Then, a tug boat drags the iceberg at the speed of one knot, arriving at its destination after 141 days.

http://www.periscopepost.com/2011/08/french-engineer-suggests-harvesting-icebergs-as-solution-to-drought/

Wonder Woman lassos an iceberg and flies it to a desolate area and drops it in. It melts and the people have fresh water.

Mougin must have seen the same episode.

Why not use one of these?

just make it a little bigger....

...





LOL...looks like my link was stripped...

Picture is from Brewster's Millions when he invested in just such an adventure...

It is MUCH easier to tow an iceberg somewhere and use all the water...

...than it is to even ATTEMPT to predict what kind of ecological effects this will have if adopted as a commercial practice instead of a one-time experiment.

Yes, I'm sure their number one concern is the dubious ecological conceits of well-hydrated 1st world Sierra Club Members.

are miles long and a thousand feet thick.

and build some solid desalination facilities along the coast.

Granted, solar would make a lot of sense, in that regard.

Still, if the icebergs are going to melt anyway, why not get them to some people who can drink them, first?

than towing a massive iceberg and building the facilities to turn it into potable water. :shrug:

Desalination requires a TREMENDOUS amount of power. If it didn't, it would be done all the time. Why do you suppose Los Angeles isn't doing it?

'cause they can get water from the rest of the state.

as well as specialized, expensive infrastructure, making it very costly compared to the use of fresh water from rivers or groundwater.<3>"


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desalination

http://lightbucket.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/large-scale-desalination-is-there-enough-energy-to-do-it/

http://www.desware.net/desa4.aspx

of iceberg water.

they did that in the first episode.

"See, you can just lasso that dude and simply pull it to your country. Presto! Fresh, cold water."

Act now and get a set of Ginzu® knives!