#waterboxx

                                         WATERBOXX NAMED INNOVATION OF THE YEAR

                                             Could boxes of water help reforest the world?

My aim for this blog is to gain a broad understanding of 'innovation'. My previous post was looking at the innovation involved in redesigning public transport so this week I thought I would look at a specific product. Rather than choosing to research common products that are obviously innovative such as the iPod, I thought I would look at a product that aims to change the world in a different way. 

The two links below the images are to articles written about the Waterboxx which last year was voted 'Innovation of the year' by Popular Science. As the first article explains, it "protects plants in dry areas, harvesting water through condensation instead of relying on irrigation" (Danigelis, 2010). It is already in use around the world following successful experiments and as Popular Science (2010) has highlighted,

"88 percent of the trees planted in Waterboxxes in the Sahara not only survived but thrived, compared with about 10 percent of traditionally-planted trees in the same area". 

The second article (Khan, 2010) explains more about the inventor, Pieter Hoff, and reveals that he published a book in 2008 titled "CO2: A Gift From Heaven". The major message that it delivers is that policymakers should focus on planting trees rather than continuing the climate debate. He calculates, 

"Planting 5 billion acres of trees would be enough to offset annual emissions of 10 billion metric tons of CO2".

The benefits of this product are extraordinary. It could help reforest the world and as a result offset CO2 emissions. Hoff believes if they are produced closer to the location of sale they will be much more affordable. 

Greetings, Twofold Tribe!

Here's a heartwarming article about the invention of the Groasis, a water incubator that collects dew drops that makes reforestation in barren lands possible. What this means is that the growing plants will not need to take water from the limited supply available on the barren land, and instead attains it from the morning dew with the help of this device. 

Here's the article on Mother Nature Network, written by Karl Burkat: 

A solution to reverse Africa's Growing Desert

Fri, April 16 2010 at 4.33 AM EST

I've often said that the most sophisticated "green" technology on the planet is the humble tree. Trees sequester carbon, fix nitrogen into the soil, create organic compost, prevent erosion and encourage rain, while providing sustainable crops, shape, lumber and even fuel. The single most important activity on the planet (I believe) is planting trees, a fact backed up by the latest McKinsey study on abating the effects of global warming. But there is a problem. 

Reforestation efforts in denuded lands such as Africa, Mexico, India and China have never been taken seriously as a means to abate climate change because young saplings are very difficult to establish. They take a lot of water and require regular maintenance - two things that are in scarce supply in precisely the regions where they are needed most. 

But what if there was a device that eliminated those risks? A device that requires no power source, has no moving parts, and literally conjures water out of the air? It sounds like a miracle, but that miracle may be upon us with the advent of the Groasis Waterboxx. 

This simple passive water-harvesting device takes advantage of one attribute that most deserts have - a major temperature differential between night and day. 

Dew is created at night when the tiny amount of moisture in the air condenses on semi-permeable surfaces like leaves. As soon as the sun rises, the dew quickly burns off and returns back to the air. But the ingenious little Waterboxx channels the dew to a collection tank where it helps the young roots of a sapling get established. 

Eventually, the roots become strong enough to seek their own water deep underground. 

Pieter Hoff, the Dutch inventor of the Waterboxx, recently completed a study in a desert in Morocco. The results were astonishing. With next to no care whatsoever, 100 percent of the trees in a Groasis Waterboxx survived, and nearly 90 percent were thriving. Contrast that with a standaed tree-planting effort in which only 10 percent of the trees survived. 

Likened to a "water battery", the Waterboxx is a passive drip irrigation system, slowly wicking a trickle of the water it collects into the tree's fledgling root system. 

While there is no doubt that our #1 environmental priority is to prevent further deforestation - the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions - the Groasis provides a glimmer of hope on the horizon for preventing climate change (while restoring water supplies and building soil fertility) in regions that seem beyond hope. 

Note: The current Waterboxx is made out of polypropylene, but the company is working on a biodegradable version that decomposes as soon as the roots have been established. 

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