미국 GE ecomagination 과 사우디 Aramco Entrepreneurship가 해수 담수화의 에너지 효율 향상 해법의 개발을 가속화하기 세계기술대회를 개최했다. 대회의 4명의 수상자는 각각 5천 달러를 받고 제출한 최고의 아이디어를 상업화하는데 더 많은 투자를 받는다.

대회 개최는 담수화 전체 비용의 절감하고 청정 에너지원의 결합을 통한 배출, 진보된 물질과 더 효율적인 공정에 관한 새로운 해법 확인을 목적으로 한다. 해법은 혁신적이고 영향력이있고, 실현 가능하며 전세계로 확장이 가능해야 한다.

최근 담수화 기술은 담수화 비용의 70%를 에너지 소비로 사용할 정도로 에너지 집약적이다.  전세계적으로 담수 생산은 매년 약 75.2 테라와트시의 전기를 사용한다. 이 사용량은 700만 가정이 충분히 사용할 수 있는 양이다.

대회의 목적은 기술 진보와 공정의 향상뿐만 아니라 전세계적으로 담수화 비용을 절감하는 참신한 방법을 찾는데 있다.

GE ecomagination and Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship launched an open global technology challenge to accelerate the development of solutions focused on improving the energy efficiency of seawater desalination. The $200,000 endeavor will award four winners with a prize of $50,000 each and acknowledge further investments towards commercialization of the best ideas among all submissions.

The open innovation challenge aims to identify new solutions to lower total desalination costs and emissions through incorporating cleaner energy sources, advanced materials and more efficient processes. Solutions must be innovative, impactful, feasible, and scalable across the globe.

Current desalination techniques are typically very energy-intensive, where energy consumption can account for up to 70 percent of desalination costs. Further, the global production of desalinated water uses approximately 75.2 terawatt-hours of electricity per year, enough to power nearly 7 million homes. The goal of this challenge is to identify novel ways to lower these costs around the world, either through technology advances, process improvements or both.

"With current techniques, this increased reliance could contribute dramatically to increased energy use," said Nabil Al-Khowaiter, Aramco's director of special projects. "Aramco Entrepreneurship is partnering with GE not only to identify new solutions to lowering desalination costs but also to invest in and attract new technologies and industries to Saudi Arabia."

Deb Frodl, GE's global executive director, ecomagination, added, "GE ecomagination is investing to speed up the development of more sustainable solutions for water desalination. Through this challenge, we hope to inspire scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and innovators around the world to bring their talents to this effort and help drive greater outcomes for customers."

Entries are being immediately accepted at www.ninesights.com/community/ecomagination. The deadline to submit entries is July 16, 2014, and winners will be announced in November 2014. The challenge is the fifth ecomagination open innovation challenge since ecomagination launched in 2005. GE has a successful history with open innovation challenges.

[출처 = WaterWorld/ 2014년 4월 16일]