The Future of Energy and Water Technology

The biennial public art contest held by the Land Art Generator Initiative asked the designers to make artistic solutions for clean water, sustainable energy or both. 

Santa Monica, a beach town west of Los Angeles, is the setting for this year’s competition. The theme is clean water, to acknowledge California’s fifth year of serious drought. The winners will be announced on 6 October. 

Cash prizes are $15,000 for first place and $4,000 for second place. While winning doesn’t guarantee that the concept will be brought to life, Lagi works with city governments and local businesses to try and turn the more feasible projects into reality. 

The Clear Orb is a proposed glass desalination dome 40 meters in diameter, lined with solar cells to generate power to pump seawater. Inside the orb, the sun’s heat would distill the saltwater through evaporation and condensation. The project could generate 3,820 megawatt hours of electricity and 2.2m liters of fresh water a year. The underbelly of the orb is covered in fins that can turn wave action into electricity. Artists: Jaesik Lim, Ahyoung Lee, Jaeyeol Kim, Taegu Lim from Seoul, South Korea. 

The Pipe is a proposed marine spa and water filter. Inside, visitors could enjoy hot and cold thermal saltwater baths. Above it, solar panels would produce the energy to pump seawater through an electromagnetic filtration system below the pool deck to create fresh water. The system is designed to produce 4.5bn liters of drinkable water annually. Artists: Abdolaziz Khalili, Puya Kalili, Laleh Javaheri, Iman Khalili, Kathy Kiany (Khalili Engineers) from Vancouver, Canada. 

The Cetacea is a proposed series of arched structures between 13-30 meters that could capture wind, solar and wave energy to produce 4,300 megawatt hours of electricity. The arches would include a filtering system to process stormwater and create potable water. “Repetition and subtle variation of the arches create ethereal forms in constant interaction with the play of sea, light and cloud across the horizon,” write the designers. Artists: Keegan Oneal, Sean Link, Caitlin Vanhauer, Colin Poranski from Eugene, Oregon. 

Cnidaria Halitus resembles a row of giant jellyfish, skimming the ocean’s surface with its tendrils. A pipe system powered by tidal energy would bring the seawater to a boiler inside each jellyfish structure, where a lens concentrates sunlight to heat the water. This process would create freshwater vapor that condenses along the walls for collection. The design could produce 600,000 liters of drinkable water every day. Artists: John Eric Chung, Pablo La Roche, Danxi Zou, Jingyan Zhang, Tianyi Deng from Los Angeles, California. 

2000 Lighthouses Over the Sea would harness wave action to generate 4,000 megawatt hours of electricity each year. The project would install 2,000 columns along a pier that are attached to wave energy generators. The tip of each column would change color depending on the intensity of the waves, making the entire project appear as a “forest of light”. Artists: Louis Joanne, Anaelle Toquet Etesse, Elba Adriana Bravo, Maria Rojas Alcazar, Ronan Audebert from Guadalajara, Mexico. 

This is Paper Boats , a series of proposed boat-like solar energy generators that would produce 2,400 megawatt hours of electricity per year. The outer shell of each “boat” would be made of a powerful lens that concentrates and directs sunlight to a second layer of solar cells that produce electricity. A portion of the electricity would be used to stimulate the growth of the coral below in a process called accretion. Artists: Christopher Makrinos, Stephen Makrinos, Alexander Bishop from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

Big Beach Balloon proposes tethering a giant helium balloon to a pier, allowing roughly 30 passengers to view Santa Monica from 150 meters above. Lined with ultra-thin films of solar cells, the balloon would be able to generate electricity and send energy to the grid through a cable connected to its landing platform. The balloon would be 23 metres in diameter and capable of producing 300 megawatt hours of electricity per year. Artist: Matt Kuser from Carmel, USA. 

RegattaH2O is a proposed sculpture that mimics the appearance of a boat race. The mesh sails would be lined with troughs to collect moisture from fog and deliver the vapor to the masts, from which the desalinated water would be piped to shore. When air moisture levels drop, the sails retract to reveal the horizon line. Moving belts suspended between electromagnets would be attached to the masts to catch wind, generating 70 megawatt hours of electricity per year. Artists: Christopher Sjoberg, Ryo Saito from Tokyo, Japan. 

Flowerpops is a sprawling proposed “artificial garden” adjacent to a pier that uses five different technologies to produce 13,000 megawatts of electricity annually. Buoys resembling water lilies would float along the ocean’s surface and harness wave power with solar panels built into the shape of sunflowers. At night, stored energy would power 2,000 LED lights, “reflecting the effect of the starry sky onto the ocean”. Artists: Augusto Audissoni, Silvia Cama, Elisabetta Lo Grasso, Elisa Tozzi, Nicolò Mossink from Genoa, Italy. 

This is Ring Garden , a proposed rotating circular structure just off the pier that would use saltwater, carbon dioxide and sunlight to produce food, animal feed and drinkable water. The ring would contain a vegetable garden and a desalination plant to filter water for planting. The leftover salt solution would be used to grow spirulina, an algae. The algae, when dried, would be used to make animal feed. Artists: Alexandru Predonu from Bucharest, Romania. 

Horizon Lines materializes as a series of proposed giant solar panels with coatings that turn them transparent. They would be anchored in the ocean and mimic the crest and break of a wave. Each panel would come with an LED light that shines in varying brightness to reflect the amount of energy produced. The design is a nod to a sewage pipe that used to run below the pier, emptying waste into the ocean. It would produce 625 megawatt hours of electricity each year. Artists: Rebecca Borowiecki from Boulder, Colorado. 

Source: The Guardian

Media

Taxonomy

• Agriculture
• Eco-art
• Energy
• Solar Energy
• Desalination
• Thermal Desalination
• Solar Desalination
• water treatment
• Art
• Art as idea
• Food & Beverage
• Renewable Energy
• Desalination
• Agriculture
• Solar Cells