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Cucumbers in the desert
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Nick1986 View Drop Down
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Cucumbers in the desert
    Posted: 11-Dec-2012 at 11:43
This is amazing: the Arabs have found a way to grow crops in the desert with a solar greenhouse cooled by seawater
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/hi-tech--solar-greenhouse--grows-first-cucumbers-in-sahara-161128309.html
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Posts: 17084 		  Quote medenaywe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-Dec-2012 at 11:52
Desert promises a lot Nick:Highest energy efficiency on earth+technology=Magic.Smile
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Posts: 7392 		  Quote Centrix Vigilis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-Dec-2012 at 01:51
Indeed. Excellent work.
Cucumbers can lead to many other crops with the right conditions-soils-natural fertilizers and water. Especially using solar green house tech.
 
From the link: ''The £3.3m 'greenhouses' which grew the cucumbers took just 10 months to build - and pump salt water up from beneath the ground to cool the facility, using a cooling principle said to be based on a camel's nostril.

No water is allowed to evaporate in the sun's heat - instead, it's recondensed, and used to water the plants.''

 

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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-Dec-2012 at 11:47
Perhaps a modified version of this greenhouse could be used to grow crops on the moon in the future so the human colonists are completely self-sufficient
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Posts: 89 		  Quote benzin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-Dec-2012 at 13:12
That wont be a cheap cucumber... 3.3 mil. pounds. and how much cucumber grows ? 10 tons a year ? thats great because this project will make profit in the late 2100s if there is nothing else to spend on it until that :)
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Posts: 7392 		  Quote Centrix Vigilis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-Dec-2012 at 19:35
LOLLOLLOL
Well I appreciate the concerns of profit margin from any good capitalist....this ntl, advances agro-science and real concerns of use, of normally non-arable ground, to produce food for the ever growing pop of the planet.
 
And yes, the id' of solar enclosed programs, such as this, on the moon and elsewhere in the ss and galaxy has been the basis for much great SF for generations now. And ya know the difference between SF and science? Often times only one inch and a matter of time.Wink
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-Dec-2012 at 08:53
Even if space colonisation is put on hold for a century, the desert greenhouse has potential as a tool to combat world hunger
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Posts: 89 		  Quote benzin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-Dec-2012 at 19:42
Dream on guys :)
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Posts: 869 		  Quote Baal Melqart Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-Dec-2012 at 21:25


Well, don't forget that they're not only growing cucumber. They're also producing solar energy on site. Aside from the initial capital cost, if this keeps running on the long run it's pretty cost effective. Been once to Qatar and I can tell you it's hot as hell
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Posts: 7940 		  Quote Nick1986 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-Dec-2012 at 11:14
For a desert nation, solar energy is a wise investment as the oil won't last forever
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Posts: 17084 		  Quote medenaywe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-Dec-2012 at 11:23
Cucumbers?No those are genetically modified batteries that grow under Sahara sun.Growing up they refuel
up to high power.Than export&import will exchange 1 tanker of Sahara cucumbers for 1million tankers of
real cucumbers.LOL
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