Sarmad Mughis Tahir

Midterm Paper: The 21st century is called the century of science and technology and the world has seen breakthroughs in the field of technology and scientific innovation. Science seems to be focused on understanding the hidden secrets of the world and finding the reality of the universe that can bring ease in lives of general humanity. In regards of new innovations in the field of science the manufacturing of wearable technological products is a very attractive and efficient area and is being worked on constantly. “Google glass” is one of the best examples in this regard but a huge number of companies are working in different forms of wearable products to ease the day to day functionalities of life. Life has become easier for a lot of people who live in big houses and travel around in their own jets and cars and boats. But at a lot of places on the globe people lack access to clean drinking water. The issues that result in many diseases and in many cases deaths. The fact that a big population of the earth have no access to clean water saddens me and I want to propose a system for water purification that should allow people from around the globe to reach the clean drinking water so, that they can live healthy and easy lives in this world full of scientific discovery and innovation that fails to encompass the whole humanity with its perks. Problem statement: The quality of life is measured in today’s world with many different ways and in all of the ways people who believe that they live good lives feel proud of their status. The life is considered a pursuit of happiness and in that quest a lot of people forget the problems others are facing because they are busy being happy about their own state. The technological advancements have done a lot in terms of making life easy for people but the accessibility to these gadgets for some classes of society is still very hard as some products that are useful for all are not in the price range of the people of lower incomes. When we talk about ease in life we talk for the whole global community and in that case we can see that the opportunities available for the people are not the same. A huge number of people especially from some eastern countries cannot even think about buying the gadgets that can ease the lives of all the people. There are many ways for purification of water to make it drinkable, but in many cases, people cannot afford the cost of the purification systems. Already existing water purification systems are cheap and accessible to a lot of people but the lack of awareness about the importance of clean water stops certain communities from using the systems. The products like this need to reach all and for that special initiatives and decision making is required. Summary of Innovation: The water purifying system that is being proposed here uses solar energy by using lenses that focus the light onto the mirrors that reflect it onto one particular small surface that is used to warm water that is inside a chamber made of reflective material. The sunlight warms the water in the tank and the water starts boiling after some time. The boiling water is then transferred into the underground chamber that uses this heat to warm the entire chamber that contains smaller tanks in its vicinity. The containers or the tanks are made with alloys that can bear high temperatures. The tanks start heating up and the water in the tubes starts boiling and turning into vapors. These water vapors are then transported to the room outside the underground chamber into a different chamber that has a big tank inside it and this tank is constantly thrown cool water on. The vapors inside the tank in this chamber get cold and turn back into the water. The water in this chamber is pure water because the impurities of the water stay inside the smaller tanks in the underground chamber. The smaller tanks in the underground chamber are to be cleaned periodically because the impurities of water stay in them and make a layer. The water from the last chamber can be added with the necessary minerals and salts. As we know distilled water is the purest form of water but nevertheless is not perfect for drinking as some important salts and minerals should be added into it that are very important for health. The water that has been added with the necessary ingredients can then be distributed among the households. The procedure is very feasible in Africa, Asia, Latin and Central America and Australia because of hot weathers and is a little improbable for the European and North American countries. But mostly the problem of clean water is found in African and certain Asian countries so, this system can help the inhabitants of these countries. The procedure seems to be very expensive but the use of constant fuel can be stopped by using this system. The installation of this system and its maintenance is subject to patronage of the governments. This system can be operated by the government employed people and can bring jobs for some people as well as a better future for all. A rough estimate diagram is given below to make understanding the system easily. The system is not very complex and is subject to some particular weather conditions, but the places that need this the most have the necessary environmental conditions. This innovative idea can cost a lot of money, but as mentioned earlier it has to be a government deployed system and will cost money to the governments but will bring ease in the lives of the inhabitants of these countries. Advantages of this system are very high because it has the capability to create temperatures up to 3000 Celsius (Duwez: 1956). But these temperatures can be utilized to boil water easily and because of sun as the fuel it is very safe for the environment. A plus factor is that this system can also generate electricity by using the vapors to rotate turbines. As this system is an environment friendly water purification system that also has the capability to generate electricity it has to be one of the best systems yet to solve the problems of greater humanity. The first modern Solar furnace was built in France in 1949 by Professor Félix Trombe (n.d.). Retrieved from www.promes.cnrs.fr. But the use of these furnaces has never been done for the water purification system. This use can bring betterment in the quality of life for those who are living in miserable conditions. The Material needed for this project is roughly can be estimated as: pipes, cement, big mirrors and lenses, and mortar etc. The cost of the whole setup is subject to change according to the size and prices of the material at the time of building the furnace/water purifier. The estimated cost can fluctuate because of aforementioned reasons but there is a chance that this system can be created with amounts from $20000 to $25000. The biggest perk of this project is that it is environment friendly and global community at the time is very skeptic about the energy sources that cause more trouble for already deteriorating environmental conditions (Ferroukhi et al, 2014). This system uses clean energy and brings in double perks as it has the capability to generate electricity and purify water at the same time. Positive Impact Statement: The clean water will have its impact on the health of the people and because of that the countries with these systems will flourish. In a lot of African and south Asian countries child death due to water borne diseases is quite high and this is a huge crisis situation for these countries. The clean water will ensure better life standard and reduce health problems in the said countries. Health issues have brought a lot of countries down to their knees and these issues are growing day by day. The epidemics that get their life’s blood from water borne diseases are not only bad for the countries that they start in but because of the globalization and constant movement of people between different countries and continents they get transported to newer places and become a reason for suffering for the whole world. The clean water can eradicate or at least minimize the risks of a lot of diseases that grow in one place and then spread all over becoming a reason of discomfort and in some cases fatality of a lot people. The ease that can be found with this system is not for any region but for the entire globe. It brings pure water for a lot but it brings low diseases rates around the globe for all and hence promises a better future for human kind. The Promises of this technology seem a bit farfetched as a lot of countries have very bad conditions in terms of infra structure and development of such a system cannot be very easy in such countries. The system proposed in this chapter is very good and powerful and has the capability to eradicate a lot of issues but for its safe deployment in all of the countries with lack of clean water there should be strong legislation on global level. This issues is one of the issues that is considered as humanitarian crisis and has to have some repercussions for the ones who do not follow this system. This system is not only cheap but is also very efficient because it can be used for generation of electricity that is a very huge global concern. This electricity can be used for the household use and industrial use as well. The useable clean energy is subject to the size of the installed system. Innovation statement: This technology is an innovation because it combines the idea of solar furnace and utilizes it for the purpose of cleaning water for the better bulk of global society that lacks access to clean water. This arrangement is not very complex in the sense that its parent system that is solar furnace is in use and according to some historical claims are there since the Greek period. The innovation however cannot be overlooked for the reason that it is the new way of looking at something that has been there for a long time but nobody ever thought about it this particular way. The fact that one of the global issues I.e. lack of access to clean drinking water can be solved if the International governmental institutions take this method in consideration and do the necessary legislation for the implementation of it. The global structure in the current era dictates the international community to work for the betterment and ease for all of the inhabitants of earth and in doing so give a lot of importance to institutions working for human rights across the globe. These institutions must take this system in to account and propagate its use because it has the capability to reduce the misery of the people living below the poverty line. The globalized world or Global village has to take actions for betterment of all its citizens and bring justice and equality in the system in terms of reach to resources. This system can be the first step in that direction.