The market
According to Forbes magazine, the income of companies dealing with the production and sale of drinking water have today exceeded the bar of the Billion de Dollars (thousand billion). It is more important than the pharmaceutical sector and represents 40 % of the income generated by oil companies. Already 5 % of global water resources are managed by private capital. However, this very profitable and stable activity is controlled by 10 companies. The three most important are French (Véolia Environnement, Suez and Dégremont), followed by the German group RWE (Thames Water) and the American conglomerate Bechtel (United Utilities). Véolia and Suez each serve 200 million customers in more than 100 countries. More than 100 billion liters of bottled water are sold worldwide, including 90 % in non -reusable plastic containers. Coca-Cola provides that the growth of tap water treated-which is sold more expensive than gasoline-will exceed the income of its carbonated drinks within a decade. In 2009, global sales of drinking water retail increased by 25 % in volume and by 27 % in value. At least a quarter of the bottled water is tap water and most expensive plastic packaging do not offer more healthy water than that of the tap. The water sector in Russia has gone from nothing to a billion dollars. The Russians expect two -digit growth in the next decade since consumption per capita is only 15 liters per year, while this figure is already 40 liters in Poland and 50 in the Czech Republic. A one liter bottle in Brazil costs € 0.50, to the United Arab Emirates € 1.00 and in French Polynesia € 1.30. Despite the millennium objectives promoted by the United Nations, it is expected that by 2050, 4 billion people suffer from serious water shortages due to massive urbanization, against 400 million currently. Even Europe today has 23 million citizens who face water crises each year. The lack of quality drinking water is 3.4 million deadly victims per year. In order to reverse these trends, governments plan to build water pipes similar to those that transport oil. Canada has planned to go from Manitoba to Texas and British Columbia to California, at a cost of $ 20 million per kilometer, providing 5 billion cubic meters of water per year across each pipeline, and this, and this, as the water flow progresses. These $ 50 billion investments would be even less expensive than providing the same amount of water by desalination by reverse osmosis (OI). Such megaprojets are not a technological or financial challenge, but rather a question of political decisions that could transform countries like Canada, Chile, Norway, Turkey and the United States (Alaska) in OPEC of water .
Innovation
Water demand - prerequisite for life - stimulates major ideas and strategic decisions. Water distribution companies buy large wild expanses and complete hydrological systems for the future development of Latin America. Others invest in a new business of tanker trucks for the transport of water worldwide, thus obtaining long-term contracts. Another strategy applied by investments in the water sector is to buy water rights from farmers to access the wells or to conclude contracts with cities to extract local water. General Electric (GE) has installed its global water research center in Singapore, a city-state that could not survive long without the supply of Malaysia water and the recycling of wastewater from the island. GE fixes the target energy cost for a cubic meter of water at 2.4 kWh produced per OI. In order to deal with competition from the above -mentioned megaprojets, the cost of energy for the OI should drop within a kWh. This is not at hand without the mixture of multiple innovations such as vortex (see case 1). However, all the solutions envisaged are strongly based on abundant and available energy, which will not fail to come to an end. Unfortunately, large -scale OIs installations are not only expensive, but they reject two liters of drinking water, a liter of brine, a salty mud, which has been classified among pollutants creating dead areas in the sea. Marc Parent worked in a lobster farm in the French Antilles as an air conditioning maintenance technician. The acute shortage of drinking water and the lack of reliability of government services pushed him to try to capture condensation water for air conditioning systems. At the same time, he had to find a solution to the continuous interruptions of energy supply. His knowledge in the application of fundamental physics led to the design of a wind turbine that produces electricity to suck the air, cool it inside and condense water. He imagined an all-in-one device. He decided to go home to the French Alps, convinced that if he works with dry air at high altitude, he will work everywhere. He then created Eole Water (France) in 2008, obtained local funding in 2010 and proved his ability to produce a cubic meter of water per day. Its next 50 -meter high water mill will be able to extract 5,000 liters of water per day. Marc obtained two patents and moved to develop his new business.
The first cash flow
The first water Dessalinizer system (WMS) which produces water and electricity was sold in 2011 to the government of the United Arab Emirates. The wind produces 30 kW and the cost of water should drop to € 0.05 per liter. The investment should go from 500,000 to 300,000 euros in the first years. This system requires higher initial investment for lower daily production. However, it eliminates the need for electricity and any related infrastructure. It is completely self -sufficient. The WMS 1000 only has minor maintenance needs compared to any other water production installation. He does not make any greenhouse gases for 15 to 30 years. The entire system is made with 100 %recyclable components. An important part of design engineering is that WMS works with energy produced without regulator, allowing direct electricity consumption to produce water and supply the local network. As an innovator, Marc Parent, today in his forties, decides not to take any risks with his suppliers and gets in components for his systems with the best in the field, ranging from Siemens for electronics, Leroy Somer for power supply systems and Arcelor Mittal for all stainless steel metal parts. He has become an integrator of systems putting the parts at the service of the function.
The opportunity
A wind turbine that produces water and electricity designed to operate in isolated areas with a minimum of maintenance requires a series of design options such as self -cleaning systems, a remote control and strict anticorrosion required in zones coastal. All the equipment, including the tower, the turbine, the water generator and the power supply, is in two 40 -foot containers, which allows local installation in just a few days. Thus, commercial potential is not limited to islands and deserts, it can be quickly deployed in the event of natural disasters. The main advantage is not only its independence, its multifunctionality offers multiple advantages that meet local needs with what is available locally. This is one of the fundamental characteristics of the blue economy. While WMS does not pretend to impose itself quickly, it has shown that the combination of know-how and the ability to meet basic needs simultaneously offers a competitive commercial proposal. This opens the way to other entrepreneurs, either as a licensees for marketing and manufacturing, either to exploit these WMS as individual profit centers since the cost of a liter of water is much lower than the price of Sale of all bottled water. This implies that we can guarantee water free from contaminants, add taste or minerals and sell locally competitively. This is an important characteristic when pharmaceutical residues in our watering system are upwards and even the OO cannot eliminate them completely. The technology that Marc Parent has launched will be part of a portfolio of basic innovations that will change the rules of the game on the market.
