After a couple of troublesome, exciting and adventurous days in Shanghai, the long road from there to Beijing awaits us. On it, a new record wants to be celebrated: 30 000 solar powered road kilometers! We already got the fireworks ready, when suddenly something interferes
with our plans...Watch the video to find out what went wrong and how Louis Palmer got some confucian wisdom

Water is precious, water is vital and it’s becoming more and more scarce. In Third World countries, expensive wastewater treatment plants are supposed to guarantee water supply – but in rural regions of Africa or India, some spend hours each day just to reach water and the social and economic costs are enormous. The BMW Designer Stephan Augustin has invented a mobile solution that could be a part of the answer: A solar powered water de-salinator called the “Watercone”! For this, Augustine will receive the EnergyGlobe Award at the European Parliament in Brussels next week, but before this, he answered our questions. Check out the Watercone Video, too!
Mr. Stephan Augustin, congratulations for the big success of your Watercone. Would you imagine celebrating your EnergyGlobe Award with a glass of desalinated water?Oh, yes! Of course. In the western world we are used to consuming all kinds of food and beverages every day without a thought. But in being aware of the situation where pure water is a luxury for one billion people in the world every day, a glass of fresh desalinated water would be just the right symbol to celebrate this success.How does the water from the Watercone taste?

Well, the taste is not like premium mineral water, to be honest it tastes boring. But it is clean and safe to drink and this was the main goal of the project.How did you get the idea for the Watercone?

Sitting on the beach on a vacation in Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, I had the idea to think up the impossible: What if one could actually and easily convert the abundant sea water from the oceans of the world into a daily ration of drinking water. This idea, toghether with my professional background as an industrial designer, was a challenge to me.

As we can see in the Watercone video, the principle of the Watercone is as brilliant as it is simple. How does it work exactly?

Pour salty or brackish water into pan. Then float the Watercone on top. The black pan absorbs the sunlight and heats up the water to support evaporation. The evaporated water condenses in the form of droplets on the inner wall of the cone. These droplets trickle down the inner wall into a circular trough at the inner base of the cone. By unscrewing the cap at the tip of the cone and turning the cone upside down, one can empty the potable water gathered in the trough directly into a drinking device.How much solar power do you need to run the Watercone?As described before, the Watercone is a solar powered desalinator. The condensation runs only with sunlight. The longer and hotter, the better.

In which regions in the world could the Watercone help to solve the problem of water shortage?For millions of people who are living in oceanic and coastal regions throughout Africa, Asia and South America, there would be what one can mildly describe as a shift in paradigms: The sea, an unlimited yet untouchable enemy of thirst, would become a friend, a helper, a thirst quencher to common man. For the first time in human history.Watercone Designer Stephan Augustin

With a Watercone, you can produce 6 or 7 glasses of fresh water a day. How could you create an area-wide solution out of the Watercone-idea?The design of the Watercone is based on the minimum individual supply for one child or two Watercones for an adult person. The philosophy of this innovation is, that many small units will ensure a better supply of freshwater than one single big generator. If the big one fails, there is no water for the village. If a small one fails, the other ones still work.Who is interested in utilizing the Watercone so far?

I have collected more than 1000 requests from individuals to worldwide operating organizations and companiess who are interested to sell and distribute the Watercone. With my new production partner we will have a good starting position.

Could the Watercone be used for other purposes, for example at camping sites?

No! This product is designed for people in need and not the ones who want to relax.Where can you buy a Watercone? How expensive is it?

A new production tool and distributor is set up at the moment and I hope to start production at the end of this year. This is the reason why I cannot say anything about the final price but it will definitely be much cheaper than before.The Watercone is shown on display, where exactly can you see it?The Watercone will be exhibited to the public at the EXPO in Zaragossa and at the Achitecture Biennale in Venice Italy this year in September. Mr. Augustin, thank you very much for the interview!

A Parabolic Focus Many people on the planet do not have a good way to cook their meals. Having enough food may be one problem but finding fuel to cook it is often another major issue. In 1st world countries we turn a knob and a gas or electric cooker generates enough heat to cook our meals and we think about it no more. If we cook using wood or charcoal its for an outdoor BBQ to entertain friends and encourage some under the stars camaraderie. It would get old fast if we had to collect the wood often from miles away and carry it back on our shoulders every day and then cook over a poorly designed hearth which smoked into our eyes and nose.
Modified Coal Pots - An Improvement on WoodThis is how 2 billion+ people on the planet cook, often in poorly ventilated spaces where smoke inhalation becomes a public health issue. Inhaled particulate matter from woodsmoke is a killer that goes way back in time.The mummified remains of many ordinary people from pre-history show signs of having succumbed to soot in the lungs acquired from longterm exposure to cooking fires. Most of these were female since they did most of the stove work. This is still a public health issue in many parts of the world. Many people in the rain forest regions of South America use only wood, others charcoal made from wood. In Tanzania for example they have largely switched to more efficient stoves which use less wood and produce less smoke. But they still produce CO2 and worldwide 1.5 billion people still cook off wood burning stoves in the 21st century. Don't worry about the pollution caused by your backyard BBQ, whole forests are cut down daily to supply the cooking needs of the many. One notable example, Haiti has been virtually denuded of timber, its neighbor, the Dominican Republic's forested area survived thanks to the draconian policies of its Dictator Joaquin Balaguer who for 22 years made forest preservation and erosion control a priority not lightly transgressed.
Pompeiian Mark II updated - Still in ServiceOther more efficient means of cooking are being developed, some using stoves that use the same fuel more efficiently but my favorite, especially for tropical regions is a solar cooker. Catching the energy released by the sun, doesn't always have to be done by relatively expensive to manufacture solar cells. Focusing a ray of sunlight through a magnifying glass as a way to start a fire is a method we are all familiar with. Focusing sunlight using a parabolic mirror or reflector is a somewhat less familiar technique. But using inexpensive materials it is possible to construct a solar cooker, with a radius of upto 5 metres (15 ft) which can be used to supply solar cooking power, hot water heating and greywater filtration. It uses natural sunlight as the main source of energy and can heat food directly while also being used to heat water in a closed circuit boiler system.
A Small Exhibition ModelThe Dish is built from bicycle parts and plastic vanity mirrors to create the surface of the dish which concentrates the energy of the sun on a pot or stove in the kitchen or alternatively on a boiler or heat exchanger. Coupled with some solar cells or a wind generator whichever is appropriate it can supply the complete power needs for the kitchen. It was originally designed for use in communal facilities in squatter settlements in Mexico by the people at Basic Initiative. It is a system that could be widely deployed to take some of the load off people and the ecosystem in places with abundant sunlight. Basic Intiative Solar CookersDesign for the Other 90 Percent

 

The Route Animation:Dr Bertrand Piccard intends to be the first man to fly around the world in a solar powered aircraft. This undertaking called Solar Impulse is the name of a project to buid a long-range solar powered aircraft. This record breaking flight is planned for May 2011 and will follow the tropic of cancer around the planet. Construction of the prototype with a 61 meter wingspan begins next month with test flights to begin next year. This very large glider type aircraft will be piloted by Mr Piccard, an experienced aeronaut who has previously taken a balloon around the world. The biggest challenge is building an aircraft with batteries strong enough to store energy through the night. The wingspan will be about the same size as an Airbus A380 but the Solar Impulse will weigh in at only 2 tonnes. The wings will be covered in ultra thin solar cells and the plane will fly at upto 12,000 meters (36,000 ft) and will feature a pressurized cockpit with accomodations for one pilot. The project is currently in the design phase with a maiden prototype flight planned for May of 2008.

A Solar Implulse PrototypeDeutsche Bank will contribute $12 million of the projects $32.5 million estimated cost. Other sponsors include Swatch Groups Omega and Solvay SA of Belgium. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne is the official scientific advisor to the project.

The Cockpit

Tanking up in L.A.:

So when is a gas station not a gas station? When it is a Green Information Center in Beverly Hills. A new BP (British Petroleum) service station has opened just in time for the green conscious Oscars.Its looking for Staff on Craigslist. BP is in the position of being on some people's list as one of the world's top 10 polluters so is this green window dressing or greenwashing:

This is not a public relations stunt says BP’s public relations staff

Fair enough, it opened in time for this years green conscious oscars which are provided with green(er) transportation for the stars by Mikhail Gorbachev's Global Green Foundation. Beyond Petroleum is both a brilliant slogan and a worthwhile goal. I hope it is less about selling more gas and more about getting rid of petroleum based transport. The strategy does call to mind the classic Corporate Oxymoron:

Corporate Oxymoron™ (aka when a company sells a product while at the exact same time telling the world how bad that product is)

To be fair BP is the world's largest producer of solar panels and sponsor of Solar Neighbors. Anything that puts more solar cells on roofs is a good thing in my opinion AND we are not getting rid of gasoline fueled cars any time soon without some serious legislative action by a government with more of an energy backbone than the current administration. So in my opinion an effort by an Oil company is still a legitimate effort but one that should be watched carefully so allegations like those which plague Chevron concerning the electric car do not occur. Lets hope BP's next steps will be to pump hydrogen, charge electric vehicles and sell competitively priced Solar Cells over the counter. That would be a service to everyone. Because selling gasoline behind a 'Green Facade' isn't going to get us beyond anything, certainly not petroleum, it just encourages more of the same old habits of bad behavior. Perhaps someday soon there will be a BP carbon offset credit available at the pump to cover your gas. I would heartily endorse the sale of legally adjudicated CO2 credits to cover every gallon of gas sold the question is who would be willing to pay for them. That petroleum isn't going to last forever so it makes sense for BP to diversify and cover its assets with other alternatives to gasoline. Thank you for not smoking at the Pump!