Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Androwski, James
• Springer, Abraham
• Acker, Thomas
• Manone, Mark

Titel

Wind-Powered Desalination: An Estimate of Saline Groundwater in the United States

Ist Teil von

• Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 2011-02, Vol.47 (1), p.93-102

Ort / Verlag

Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2011

Quelle

PAIS Index

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Increasing scarcity of freshwater resources in many regions of the world is leading water resource managers to consider desalination as a potential alternative to traditional freshwater supplies. Desalination technologies are energy intensive and expensive to implement making desalination using renewable energy resources a potentially attractive option. Unfortunately, saline groundwater resources are not well characterized for many regions hindering consideration of such technologies. In this assessment, we estimate the saline groundwater resources of the principal aquifers of the United States using a geographic information system and correlate these resources to wind resources potentially sufficient to supply the energy demand of desalination equipment. We estimate that 3.1 x 10^14 m^3 saline groundwater, total volume, are contained in 28 of the country's principal aquifers known to contain saline groundwater. Of this volume, 1.4 x 10^14 m^3 saline groundwater are co-located with wind resources sufficient for electrical generation to desalinate groundwater. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]