Can This Giant Orb in the Pacific Provide California with Drinkable Water?

Santa Monica, California, is the 2016 site for the Land Art Generator Initiative, a global sustainable design event now in its fourth year. Because of the state’s ongoing drought, the current competition required that proposals include a plan for drinking water production. The winners won’t be announced until next month, but one of the standout entries is from a South Korean team who designed a 131-foot-diameter glass sphere that would sit out in the Pacific, beyond the iconic Santa Monica Pier. From the beach it appears to be floating on water, but a nearly 1,000-foot enclosed path—a walled walkway that begins at the elevated pier, slopes down, eventually dipping below the water-line—would lead from the pier to the installation.

A view of the proposed orb from the beach in Santa Monica.

The upper portion of the sphere—called the Clear Orb—is translucent, while the bottom section reflects sunshine and sea. The design’s energy technologies include transparent luminescent solar concentrators (solar cells) and an oscillating water column, while its water-harvesting would be made possible via solar distillation. The solar cells provide the energy to circulate the ocean water into the orb, where evaporation and condensation desalinate it. The “wave power plant” runs the long length of the path, creating energy for the solar distillation pumps as well as for the beachside city’s electric.