A Feasibility Study - Aaltodoc - Aalto-yliopisto

Each person requires approximately 3 l of fresh water each day just to survive. One
AaltoRO unit could therefore produce sufficient water for over 1,2 million people. But
it is not enough just to survive. We use much more than the minimum amount of water,
e.g. to produce food, clothes and other items. When compared with the average daily
usage of water in different countries, the situation changes somewhat. One AaltoRO
unit could produce water for 7500 Australians (daily usage of 495 l/day), 21 150
Peruvians (daily usage of 175 l/day) or 750 000 Mozambiques (daily usage of 5 l/day)
(UNDP 2006). Thus, AaltoRO could produce water for a significant amount of people,
especially in the developing countries.
The global capacity of desalination (66,4 million m³/day) comprises of numerous
individual facilities, with capacities ranging from a few m³/day to massive plants with
production capacities over several 100 000 m³/day (IDA 2011). For instance, in West
Australia in Perth there is a large SWRO plant with a total capacity of 400 000 m³/day
(Water Corporation 2011). The Perth plant seems much larger than AaltoRO, and that it
is, but on the other hand it would require only 108 AaltoRO units to produce equal
amounts of fresh water. Since the WECs will most likely be placed in farms, like wind
turbines, producing over 400 000 m³/day with wave power is not a farfetched idea.
Figure 54 has a demonstrational picture of a wave farm.
Figure 54. Wave farm. (AW-Energy 2012)
Agriculture accounts globally for roughly 70 % of the fresh water usage. What makes
the situation even more concerning is the ever increasing population on Earth. In
numbers the food production must increase by 50 % by 2030 and double by 2050. This
means that more food must be produced with less water, unless more water can be
acquired, e.g. from desalination (OECD 2010).
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