Solar powered desalination barges to reduce area temperatures and create high-quality bottled water.

Multiple problems are being caused from climate change.  Recently, it has been noticed that the globe is very close to or exceeding the 1.5 degrees Celsius benchmark set during the Paris Agreement with 195 international countries.  Adverse weather caused from climate change is increasing rapidly, one example is the $70 Billion USD in damages when Hurricane Sandy plummeted the Northeastern coast of the United States. Increases in sea levels and beach erosion are being caused from iceberg melts in the Artic and Antarctic regions. Local areas in Florida and elsewhere have noticed that Coral reefs and their dependent sea creatures are dying rapidly.  Research published in Nature communications indicates the Gulf Stream could collapse in 2025.

Create barge style structures that are designed to desalinate higher than expected temperature sea water and the surrounding air with various solar-powered technologies including solar stills and reverse solar stills.  The clean water collected will be sent to land, bottled, and sold in the local markets.  These barge style structures will be located in areas that are currently experiencing higher than expected ocean temperature like the Gulf of Mexico and the Northeast Atlantic Ocean.  

The design would include the ability to change the orientation of the barges (North, South, East, West) based on the current direction of the wind.  Also, the barges can be moved to other locations if the temperatures change, or adverse weather is expected soon.  

By changing the orientation of the barge, the section with solar stills would always be upstream, and the section with reverse solar stills would always be downstream of the wind.  Any increase in temperature caused from the solar still section would be sent toward the reverse solar still section.  Then, the reverse solar stills would reduce the air temperature in that area and the downstream wind.

The seawater would be removed from the top of the hottest areas of the ocean or gulf and placed into the solar still section.  At that point, the seawater would be desalinated using the solar powered technology. After the optimum amount of clean water is collected, the excess saltwater mixture would be dropped back into the ocean or sent to land for further refinement.  

After the clean water is collected on the barges from the solar stills and reverse solar stills, it would be consolidated into insulated barrels into an insulated location.   A different insulated vessel would come to transport it to the land operations.  When the water arrives on land, healthy minerals would be added to improve the taste and health benefits. Next, the mineral water would be individually bottled and sold to the drinkers at local stores. The bottles of water created and sold should eventually make enough revenue to support the operations and make a profit.  Bottles of water are mentioned in this solution, however other safer containers such as composite cardboard or paper materials could be used instead of plastic.

After a significant amount of time, the ocean and air temperatures in these areas could be reduced leading to less negative affects from climate change, and less adverse weather.  Eventually, the operations on a global scale could possibly reduce sea levels and beach erosion eliminating the need for many people to move away from the ocean shores.

Recently in the state of Maine, many homeowners resorted to building an artificial beach to try and save their properties from erosion since the local government would not do anything to help solve their problem.  The cost for approximately 18 properties was over $500k USD and the artificial beach was destroyed within a few weeks by only one storm.  If the solution provided was able to reduce the impact of the storm, the artificial beach would not have been destroyed and the property owners' investment for over $500k USD would still be intact.  This is only one small financial example of how the bad weather and increased sea levels from climate change could affect highly valued properties in the United States.  This specific example could be multiplied many millions of times to determine the approximate financial value for the positive impact of the operations.  

Moreover, the increased quality of life would be not limited to the local areas in which the operations are located.  The operations could positively affect every inch of the world, from the hottest locations on earth, to the coldest.  Recently, it has been determined that the earth's average temperate has increased to or above the significance point of 1.5 degrees Celsius over preindustrial times. The impact of the operations could lower the rate of increase, and possibly reduce the world's average temperature over the course of many years.  As more time elapses, other positive impacts from the operations could be noticed, possibly including a reduction in sea levels.  

Other positive affects could be noticed from the reduction in air and water temperatures, especially the living creatures on land and in water that depend on specific temperatures to survive.  A main area of current concern is with the coral reefs that are dying rapidly from the increased ocean temperatures.  By reducing ocean temperatures in those areas, the coral reefs could be saved along with the many fish and other creatures that depend on them. 

Florida is a state that is highly dependent on tourism.  By saving their coral reefs and reducing inclement weather, tourism would be another small example of an improvement from the operations.

This concept was designed by the leader of the team, Canon A. Maggi.  Aside from his academic and professional credentials, he grew up in the Southeastern region of the United States, one of the hottest areas of the country.  During a trip to Northeast region of the USA, he personally witnessed the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy in Atlantic City, not to mention the many hurricanes that have become more powerful and consistent in the Southeast region.  After seeing and feeling the affects from climate change, he decided he wanted to make a difference and improve the situations for the local regions, and the entire globe. When considering the problem, and noticing some desert areas like Texas, and other drought-stricken areas like California, often need more access to affordable bottled water, he wanted to design a solution for all of these communities.

The category of concept was selected because a prototype has not been built yet.  Some of the specific recommendations for the prototype could include dimensions of 0.5 - 1 inch depth for the partitioned solar stills.  It's also been noticed from previously completed research that vertical solar stills can achieve greater efficiency than horizontal.  Additional Subject Matter Experts in the field would be invited to help with many technical specifications for the prototype and pilot to achieve success.  

Solve can help in many ways:

-Subject Matter Experts to assist with technical specifications for the prototype

-Regulatory issues and approvals

-Access to capital to fund the project

-Access to distribution channels for the bottled water