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Summary
Flush a toilet with water that could be used for drinking? With water shortages on the rise, coastal cities may have a better option: seawater. Ocean water also can be used to cool buildings. This second idea could help cities reduce their carbon footprint and slow climate change.
So conclude the authors of a March 9 study in Environmental Science and Technology.
Hong Kong sits on the coast of China. For more than 50 years, seawater has flowed through the city’s toilets. And in 2013, Hong Kong built a system that used seawater to cool part of the city. The system pumps cold seawater into a plant with heat exchangers. The seawater absorbs heat to chill pipes full of circulating water. That chilled water then flows into buildings to cool their rooms. The slightly warmed seawater is pumped back into the ocean. Known as district cooling, this type of system tends to use far less energy than typical air conditioners.
Zhang wondered: How much water and energy had this tactic saved Hong Kong? And why weren’t other coastal cities doing this? Zhang and her team at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology set out for answers.
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