NETHERLANDS: Sculptor plans to create ice out of thin air in the heat of the desert

Record ID: 805324

  • Title: NETHERLANDS: Sculptor plans to create ice out of thin air in the heat of the desert
  • Date: 23rd March 2011
  • Summary: THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS (MARCH 21, 2011) (REUTERS) AP VERHEGGEN, THE ARTIST, ADJUSTING THE SCALE MODEL OF THE SCULPTURE
  • Embargoed: 7th April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Netherlands, Netherlands
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Topics: Science / Technology,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA4H4CDQVATQUCJ4A4M2HLWUQAZ
  • Story Text: A Dutch artist is preparing to create a sustainable artificial glacier in the middle of a desert to challenge popular ideas about climate change. The project will see a solar-powered refrigeration unit forming an ice sculpture somewhere in the east African desert.
    A Dutch artist has revealed plans to create a glacier in the heart of the desert to challenge common perceptions of climate change.
    Ap Verheggen's idea is to create a solar-powered refrigeration unit that extracts water from the air and freezes it - all in a sustainable way. The artist says he wants people to realise that different cultures have always adapted to changes in climate and that we can see climate change as an opportunity if we want to.
    His design is inspired by the shape of a water molecule - two small hydrogen atoms linked to a larger oxygen atom - to form solar 'trees' which he says, will produce the electricity the installation needs.
    The refrigeration unit will cool the sculpture enough to condense water vapour from the air on its cold surfaces, freezing it and forming a block of ice called 'SunGlacier.'
    "The solar cells, they generate electricity that will be transmitted to the trees, the trees are ice machines, and they are cooled in such a way that they will transform moisture in the air to ice," Verheggen said.
    The project is supported by Cofely Refrigeration, a technology and energy specialist, who are now considering how to make the concept work in heat of the desert. The company's Process and Technology Manager, Erik Hoogendorn, showed Reuters a large scale refrigeration unit that he designed and built in the Netherlands. He says it will be hard to produce a surface temperature of below zero degrees Celsius in the desert but it's not impossible if they have enough energy.
    "Right now we are looking at how much photovoltaic panels we need, or is there another way to make energy from the sun. The water we will extract from the air, so by creating the cold surface, water vapour will go to the cold surface and will turn into ice," said Hoogendorn.
    Harvesting water vapour in the desert is not a new concept but keeping it frozen is a challenge because of the higher ambient daytime temperatures and bigger temperature differences between day and night.
    There is also no space for batteries in the sculpture so keeping the ice frozen when the solar panels are not producing power will not be easy, according to Hoogendorn.
    "If you talk about buffering energy, it's a scientific challenge," he said.
    Recognising the artist's unique take on climate and resources, UNESCO-IHE, the UN's Institute for Water Education in Delft have nominated Verheggen a Cultural Ambassador.
    "The message here is with this sharp contrast of having an ice sculpture in the middle of the desert which is hot and arid zone and unless we take care, that water will melt away and will disappear. Water crisis that is coming is not basically the crisis of the water, meaning that we will be running out of water, but rather how the water is being governed," said rector of the Institute, Andras Szollosi-Nagy.
    The sculpture will consist of more than 300 square meters of solar cells, while the tree tops will be 15 meter high. Construction is planned to start by the end of this year at a location in either Eritrea or Ethiopia.
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