Greenhouse scheme could see crops produced in the desert

By Aislinn Simpson
Last Updated: 6:01pm BST 03/09/2008

Vast swathes of the desert could become areas of lush vegetation and crop cultivation under an ambitious scheme hatched by a team of architects and engineers.

Seawater Greenhouse demonstration plant in Oman

The plan would see greenhouses and solar panels spread for miles along the sand and its developers claim the technology is not only sustainable but beneficial to the environment.
The panels would harness sunlight to make electricity, while the excess heat they produced would be used to evaporate seawater to pump through the greenhouses as damp, cool air before being collected as vapour to become clean, fresh water.

Those at the helm of the Sahara Forest Project - which include former Eden Project architects - claim it could provide a solution to the global water shortage that is threatened by population growth and climate change.

At present, agriculture uses around 70 per cent of the world's water, and much is generated from underground wells, which depletes the water table.

Charlie Paton, a member of Seawater Greenhouse, said demonstration plants in Tenerife, Oman and the United Arab Emirates are already producing lettuces, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes, and other countries are now expressing interest in them.

"The crops sitting in this slightly steamy, humid condition can grow fantastically well," he said.
The two technologies of the Seawater Greenhouse and the solar panels complement each other since the panels heat the water used in the greenhouses, a fresh version of which is then used to clean the solar panel mirrors and keep the electricity-generating turbines functioning.

The Sahara Forest Project team estimate that building 20 hectares (50 acres) of the technology would cost £65 million.

Mr Paton said the system produces more than five times the amount needed in the greenhouses which could be used to cultivate other crops outside.

"In places like Oman, they've effectively sterilised large areas of land by using groundwater that's become increasingly saline," he said. "The beauty of the Sahara Forest scheme is that you can reverse that process and turn barren land into biologically productive land."

Neil Crumpton, an energy specialist at Friends of the Earth, said the potential of the scheme was huge and called on governments to consider its benefits rather than focusing on "dangerous nuclear power".