{"id":9916,"date":"2016-11-03T23:06:55","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T03:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/dow-chemical-climate-changes-coastal-nights-watch-desalinization-is-coming-word-count-648\/"},"modified":"2016-11-03T23:06:55","modified_gmt":"2016-11-04T03:06:55","slug":"dow-chemical-the-next-nights-watch-desalinization-is-coming","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/dow-chemical-the-next-nights-watch-desalinization-is-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"DOW Chemical: The Next Night\u2019s Watch? Desalinization is Coming\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Exhibit\u00a01<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How Earth Would Look If All The Ice Melted | Science Insider\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VbiRNT_gWUQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s well documented that climate change will have significant adverse impacts on agriculture, energy usage, ecosystems, transportation, human health and forests. However, water is the crux of the long term adverse consequences of climate change. If we can mitigate the effects of rising temperatures on water, we have the best chance at weathering the global warming storm. Humanity and the world\u2019s ecosystems are dependent on dependable, clean drinking water and enough water to maintain production, transportation, agriculture, and energy. Players in these fields, to include farmers, energy producers, utilities, and manufacturers will need to compete for a finite amount of fresh water in a world with a population expanding by 1.13% per year. A major water issue will be a sea level rise, reducing the quality of fresh water in coastal areas and destructing the infrastructure we use to deliver water to the rest of the world. This will coincide with an increase in runoff and brackish water due to the major changes in natural water cycle that global warming triggers (see exhibit 2). With more mouths to feed and more production to match, we require a method of converting salt water into fresh water.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/water_cycle-1.jpg\">Exhibit 2<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-9884 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/water_cycle-1.jpg\" alt=\"water_cycle\" width=\"708\" height=\"477\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/water_cycle-1.jpg 1038w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/water_cycle-1-300x202.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/water_cycle-1-768x518.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/water_cycle-1-1024x691.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2016\/11\/water_cycle-1-600x405.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 708px) 100vw, 708px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Currently, the primary way to convert salt water into fresh water is through a process called desalinization. Unfortunately, desalinization is an extremely pricey fix due to intensive capital and production costs: it costs $2000 per acre foot at a desalinization plant compared to $1000 per acre foot at a fresh water treatment facility. As was the case with solar panels, the cost of desalinization must decrease for this option to be a viable solution for combating rising sea levels and increasing runoff in coastal regions.<\/p>\n<p>One company that has a huge opportunity to address the desalinization issue is DOW Chemical. DOW already is a huge player in the energy market for climate change. DOW offers POWERHOUSE\u2122 solar shingles as an innovative replacement for ordinary shingles. DOW \u00a0STYROFOAM\u2122 is a worldwide leading insulator for\u00a0 buildings, reducing the costs of heating a home by 20%. Finally, TERAFORCE\u2122 Resin Coated Sand Technology has improved performance and sustainability in oil fracking operations by \u201cutilizing short production cycles and low temperatures so that large volumes can be produced at a single production site\u201d (DOW).<\/p>\n<p>Although DOW has made headway in producing widgets in the energy sector, I believe the company\u2019s innovation is required to further expand into the water desalinization industry as a bigger contributor to create a low-cost scalable product that can allow desalinization plants operate more efficiently on our coasts. DOW offers multiple products that provide reverse osmosis desalination, the process widely considered the only viable option for scalable water desalinization. DOWs product line FILMTEC\u2122 currently offers many products to filter everything from seawater to brackish water. In California, a $1 billion desalinization plant which utilizes the same reverse osmosis technology is under construction in Carlsbad to provide roughly 7% of the drinking water in San Diego. Also, California is vetting 16 additional desalinization projects. These current projects still offer water to consumers at a price nearly double of what they are currently paying for fresh water, and FILMTEC technology cannot help lower this cost currently. How can DOW tap into this market? Are there any advances that can be made to lower the cost?<\/p>\n<p>Researchers at MIT are currently trying to improve the membranes used in separating salt from water in reverse osmosis by using nanomaterials, or materials 100,000 x smaller than human hair. These smaller materials require less pressure to trap salt and allow water to pass through (picture an extremely thin straw blocking salt during the desalinization process).<\/p>\n<p>DOW is in the middle of a merger with Dupont, and I believe DOWDupont will have the scale and resources to find the solution to our coastal water\u2019s biggest question: can desalinization make economic sense to preserve the world\u2019s drinking water in our coastal regions?<\/p>\n<p>References<br \/>\n[1] USGCRP (2014). Georgakakos, A., P. Fleming, M. Dettinger, C. Peters-Lidard, Terese (T.C.) Richmond, K. Reckhow, K. White, and D. Yates. Ch. 3: Water Resources. Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment, J. M. Melillo, Terese (T.C.) Richmond, and G. W. Yohe, Eds., U.S. Global Change Research Program, 69-112.<br \/>\n[2] CCSP (2008). The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity in the United States. A Report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research. Backlund, P., A. Janetos, D. Schimel, J. Hatfield, K. Boote, P. Fay, L. Hahn, C. Izaurralde, B.A. Kimball, T. Mader, J. Morgan, D. Ort, W. Polley, A. Thomson, D. Wolfe, M. Ryan, S. Archer, R. Birdsey, C. Dahm, L. Heath, J. Hicke, D. Hollinger, T. Huxman, G. Okin, R. Oren, J. Randerson, W. Schlesinger, D. Lettenmaier, D. Major, L. Poff, S. Running, L. Hansen, D. Inouye, B.P. Kelly, L Meyerson, B. Peterson, and R. Shaw. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, USA.<br \/>\n[3] USGCRP (2014). Walsh, J., D. Wuebbles, K. Hayhoe, J. Kossin, K. Kunkel, G. Stephens, P. Thorne, R. Vose, M. Wehner, J. Willis, D. Anderson, S. Doney, R. Feely, P. Hennon, V. Kharin, T. Knutson, F. Landerer, T. Lenton, J. Kennedy, and R. Somerville. Ch. 2: Our Changing Climate. Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment, J. M. Melillo, Terese (T.C.) Richmond, and G. W. Yohe, Eds., U.S. Global Change Research Program, 19-67.<br \/>\n[4] IPCC (2014). Jimenez, B.E., T. Oki, N.W. Arnell, G. Benito, J.G. Conley, P. D\u00f6ll, T Jiang, and S.S. Mwakalila. Freshwater resources. In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Field, C.B., V.R. Barros, D.J. Dokken, K.J. Mach, M.D. Mastrandrea, T.E. Bilir, M. Chatterjee, K.L. Ebi, Y.O. Estrada, R.C. Genova, B. Girma, E.S. Kissel, A.N. Levy, S. MacCracken, P.R. Mastrandrea, and L.L.White (eds.) Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.<br \/>\n[5] CCSP (2009). Coastal Sensitivity to Sea-Level Rise: A Focus on the Mid-Atlantic Region. A Report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research. Titus, J.G. (Coordinating Lead Author), Anderson, K.E., Cahoon, D.R., Gesch, D.B., Gill, S.K., Gutierrez, B.T., Thieler, E.R., Williams, S.J. (Lead Authors). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, USA.<br \/>\n[6] NRC (2008). Ecological Impacts of Climate Change. National Research Council. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, USA.<br \/>\n[7] CCSP (2008). Preliminary Review of Adaptation Options for Climate-Sensitive Ecosystems and Resources. A Report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research. Julius, S.H., J.M. West (eds.), J.S. Baron, B. Griffith, L.A. Joyce, P. Kareiva, B.D. Keller, M.A. Palmer, C.H. Peterson, and J.M. Scott (authors). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, USA.<\/p>\n<p>[8] &#8220;Climate Impacts on Water Resources.&#8221; EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2016<br \/>\n[9] &#8220;Desalination Is an Expensive Energy Hog, but Improvements Are on the Way.&#8221; Public Radio International. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How can DOW help address rising sea levels and less drinking water? (Word Count 648)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2627,"featured_media":9917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","categories":[1469],"class_list":["post-9916","hck-submission","type-hck-submission","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-dow-chemical-company"],"connected_submission_link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/assignment\/climate-change-challenge-2016\/","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>DOW Chemical: The Next Night\u2019s Watch? 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