Earth Equity News

Desalination Equipment Maker Sees Rapid Growth. Reuters, November 6, 2009. "Energy Recovery Inc, which makes equipment for desalination plants, sees the industry that converts sea water to fresh water growing as much as 25% annually and is looking to expand its operations through the acquisition of new technologies... Energy Recovery produces equipment for desalination plants that cuts energy use by 60%. Desalination needs pressure about 40 times higher than from a tap at home, which requires a lot of energy to create. The Energy Recovery product transfers pressure from the waste stream of brine to the incoming seawater. The primary method of desalting water is reverse osmosis, which pushes water under high pressure through fine membranes that separate out the salt... Energy costs account for about 40%t to 50% of the cost of desalination, which has given it a reputation for being expensive as well as bad for the environment in a world focused on carbon emissions from energy... Energy costs account for about 40% to 50% of the cost of desalination, which has given it a reputation for being expensive as well as bad for the environment in a world focused on carbon emissions from energy. But energy costs for producing desalinated water in southern California are comparable with costs for transporting water to the region from major sources in the north of the state and the Colorado River, said G.G. Pique, president of Energy Recovery... Most of the world's high-capacity desalination projects are in the Middle East, though a handful of relatively small desalination plants operate in California now."