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Dozen uses found for cold seawater |
PHOTO Caption: John Craven heads Common Heritage Corp., which will sell technology that pumps cold ocean water to plants, mimicking the growth effects of spring in a colder climate.
A Hawaii company has developed a technology to use cold water from the depths of the ocean to grow a lush garden in the sun-baked Keahole lava fields, producing crops in record times in a veritable desert.
The same technology can be used to cool buildings and generate drinking water. Common Heritage Corp., headed by maritime engineer and futurist John Craven, is now ready to take the process to a global market.
Deep ocean water is already used to cool the buildings at the Big Island's Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii at Keahole at a savings of $4,000 a month in air conditioning costs.
But for may people, the agricultural potential is the most impressive part of what Craven calls the Blue-Green Revolution.
One part of the package is an agricultural system that has put four different crops of pears on a tree at once, produces full-grown corn 10 days faster than normal and can maintain the burst of spring growth all year long. Pineapples, normally a two-year crop, produce ripe fruit in 10 months.
Benefits of cold water ocean technology, as forseen by engineer John Craven:
Rich Bailey, and aquaculture extension agent with the University of Hawaii Sea Grant program, calls it "cutting edge, new ag technology."
The key is cold ocean water.
Seawater from 2,000 feet down is pumped through underground plastic irrigation pipes. It's so cold -- just a few degrees above freezing -- that condensation forms on the outside of the pipes. The soil around the pipes is thus moist and cold, and it turns out that combination -- cold soil and hot sunny weather -- produces stunning growth in plants.
"If you have cold roots and hot fruits, the plant pumps nutrients three times faster than normal," Craven said. It's the same concept that produces record-size fruits and vegetables in Alaska in Springtime, when the air is warm but the soil is still very cold.
"We mimic spring 365 day a year," Craven said.
Kona organic farmer John Biloon, a volunteer at the Natural Energy Lab near the Kona airport, has worked with dozens of crops on a quarter-acre experimental garden. He has grown fruits, flowers, vegetables, medicinal plants and more.
One plant he grows is the tulip. Investors in Curacao, a Dutch colony in the Caribbean, are considering installing one of the CHC systems to grow tulips for the Holland market during the European winter, he said.
The Natural Energy Lab was originally established for Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, or OTEC, an experimental project for producing electricity from the temperature difference between deep ocean water and warm surface water off Keahole. OTEC works, Craven said, but has not proven economically feasible.
Researchers have developed dozens of other, economically efficient uses for the cold, nutrient-rich water. Among them: air conditioning and industrial cooling, aquaculture and the production of drinking water through condensation.
Bailey explained that cold seawater can be mixed with surface water to create water matching the needs of coldwater fish like trout and salmon, as well as lobster, shrimp, oysters, abalone, and other marine creatures.
Commercial uses of cold water at Keahole are already using all the cold water available there, Craven said. Any expansion will require further deep water intakes.
Among the technology's supporters are Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris, who said Craven's project "has great potential for Oahu."
The technology is particularly appropriate for Hawaii, where the high cost of air conditioning creates a unique opportunity, Craven said. "Out at Barber's Point is the best place," he said. "I feel confident that we'll get a system for Oahu in a very short period of time."
The company is already marketing the technology around the world, offering a $5 million plant that would provide any coastal desert area with new life.
The package includes a deep water intake that would supply a 100-acre farm, 15 acres of marine tanks for aquaculture, 1,000 gallons of fresh water per minute and the equivalent of 10 megawatts of air conditioning or industrial cooling.
Craven said the system makes perfect economic sense, but it's hard to convince people until the first one is in and they can see it working.
"People will listen to you, but they will not believe you," he said. "We have a system which the only way you're going to believe it is to see it."
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