Zeno Swijtink
07-28-2010, 03:20 PM
I saw this demonstrated at a tour of CAFF today and I am very enthusiastic. - Zeno
Groasis, let's green the world! (https://www.groasis.com/page/uk/index.php)
The AquaPro WaterBoxx
https://www.waterlink-international.com/wosimages/185_296.jpg
In the WaterBoxx the condensation and rain is collected. By means of adequate storage the evaporation of this water is prevented. The exactly right angle and the low frictional coefficient of the collecting piece guarantee that the water keeps falling into the reservoir. The WaterBoxx distributes exactly the right quantity to the roots of the young tree.
How can the roots penetrate the hard soil?
The young tree is placed in the middle of the AquaPro WaterBoxx – almost – on top of the hard soil. The minimum quantity of water moisturizes the soil under the reservoir without the danger of evaporation. The water restores the natural capillarity of the soil. In the minute canals which are created in this way the root finds its way without any problem, even around stones and rocks. Trees have been doing this for millions of years. This phenomenon of restored capillarity is also found when you turn a tile, even if it has been lying in the sun for quite some time. Under it you will find moist soil...
Using the WaterBoxx
The WaterBoxx can be used to plant trees (or for example corn). The instrument is an ‘aid’ at the beginning of this process. In many places on earth there is sufficient water in the ground and there even is sufficient water in rocks: many mountains are covered with forests. In most cases the problem a tree encounters has nothing to do with the lack of capillary water when it has roots, but with the lack of water during the post-planting period.
When you have a dry spot or dig a hole to plant a tree during a dry spell and afterwards no rain fails to fall, the ground turns into dust – because the capillary does not yet work, no water is transported upwards – and the recently planted tree dies because the root-hairs do not find any water. When the soil has turned into dust, there is a big chance it either blows or washes away.
With the aid of the WaterBoxx we plant the tree ON the soil and so we do not dig a planting hole. The WaterBoxx daily distributes a very small quantity of water to the roots of the tree that are ON the ground – so where the capillary has stayed intact – so that the tree does not die after planting. Now the tree has sufficient strength to look for water itself and the roots slowly penetrate the soil. As the capillary has not been destroyed because no planting hole has been dug, the young tree already finds sufficient water after 1 to 2 years to be able to survive independently.
When the tree is strong enough to survive, the WaterBoxx can simply be removed by lifting it in order to be used for the planting of the next tree. In this way you can plant trees with a WaterBoxx time and again. So it is also a very easy way to plant your garden if you live in a dry area or a good solution if you cannot water your garden during your holidays.
Go to Groasis, let's green the world! (https://www.groasis.com/page/uk/index.php) for more details
***
Experiment in Napa could change world of agriculture | abc7news.com (https://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/north_bay&id=7514418)
North Bay News
Napa experiment could change world of agriculture
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
NAPA VALLEY, CA (KGO) -- With growing concern about climate change, scientists have growing concerns about water supplies.
Whether there will there be enough water in rivers and dams to go around to houses and farmers is anyone's guess, but one researcher has found another source of water.
In a field filled with old, hand-planted Sauvignon Blanc grapes at Mondavi vineyards in Napa, there is an experiment underway that could change agriculture as we know it.
"The theory is, we have to make water from air without using energy and plant our plants with that," Pieter Hoff says.
Hoff used to grow tulips in Holland, but sees this as a greater calling. Since 1994, he has been developing "water boxes" as he calls them. They cool at night, pull moisture from the air, and use it to irrigate young plants and trees of all kinds.
It is the same process seen when cold liquid in a glass condenses water from the outside air.
"There's a lot of water in the atmosphere. Actually, what people forget, is that all the water that you see in rivers traveled through the air," Hoff says.
There is actually a scientific name for the process, "bio-mimicry." It basically means "building a device that imitates nature." In this case, the "water boxes" imitate the surface of lotus leaves.
Matt Ashby says he was skeptical at first.
"At first I was, but after thinking of it for five minutes, I was pretty intrigued," he says.
Ashby manages the vineyards at Mondavi. Each device collects about 200 CCs of water a day, but added up, he estimates the process could save 175,000 gallons of water a year and partly, because it encourages heartier plants with deeper roots.
If grapes and other plants struggle when young, they dig deeper roots and might not need irrigation at all.
"What you actually do is, you give enough water to let it survive, but not enough to let it grow," Hoff says.
Hoff has experimented with the water box in eight countries by now and says it even works in the Sahara Desert. His goals are to reforest the planet, save water and consume global warming carbon dioxide the natural way, all at $25 a copy.
"I am not crazy. I am inspired," he says.
(Copyright ©2010 KGO-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
***
Developing a ‘Water Battery’ for Trees - Green Blog - NYTimes.com (https://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/developing-a-water-battery-for-trees/)
April 9, 2010, 1:18 PM
Developing a ‘Water Battery’ for Trees
By JIM WITKIN
AquaPro
According to the World Health Organization, 1.2 billion people – or almost 1 out of 5 people in the world – are without access to safe drinking water. And even in areas with access, 70 percent of water withdrawn from fresh groundwater sources is used for agriculture.
But using groundwater to grow crops and trees doesn’t make sense to Pieter Hoff, a Dutch inventor. Not only are traditional irrigation techniques inefficient because most of the water is lost to evaporation, Mr. Hoff says, but water can be easily captured from the atmosphere to grow just about anything.
To prove his point, Mr. Hoff retired from the lily and tulip export business in 2003, established his company, AquaPro, and devoted himself to the development of the Groasis Waterboxx, which he says will grow food crops and trees even in the driest places on earth.
The Waterboxx is a round device made from polypropylene and about the size of car tire — 20 inches in diameter and 10 inches high. An opening at the center of the box provides a space for a plant or tree to germinate and grow.
The box is designed to capture both rainwater and condensation, which collects in the chamber underneath the cover, and prevents the water from evaporating. Mr. Hoff describes it as a “water battery.”
A wick inside taps into the ground beneath the box and drips a small amount of water to the plant’s root system each day. Once the plant or tree has taken root on its own, reaching a water source sometimes several meters below, the box can be removed and used again to start another plant or tree.
Mr. Hoff has recently concluded a three-year test of the Groasis Waterboxx in the Sahara desert in Morocco, an area that gets only a few inches of rainfall each year. Almost 90 percent of the trees planted using the Groasis Waterboxx survived after it was removed.
A test group of trees planted without the box, but watered once a week, produced the opposite result: only 10 percent survived.
This year, Mr. Hoff said he will be conducting more trials across eight countries and some 25 sites, including California wine country and Joshua Tree National Park.
Using a grant from the Dutch government, he has also developed a biopolymer version of the box that will decompose over time, releasing nutrients into the soil as it biodegrades. His long-term business model is to provide a nonexclusive, free license to anyone who wants to manufacture and distribute the Groasis Waterbox, while he plans to ask only for a small royalty per box.
A Dutch company has already signed on.
“My ideal is that the device is available to everybody, everywhere,” said Mr. Hoff, “and my focus is to create a business model that enables the world’s poor to buy the box.”
He is talking to a Dutch bank about setting up a micro-finance scheme to enable farmers in developing countries to buy the Waterboxx.
But beyond helping to solve the water crisis, Mr. Hoff said he believed his invention could promote reforestation on a large scale to address other global problems like hunger, erosion and climate change caused by global warming.
“If we were able to plant two billion hectares with trees we could solve many of the world’s problems,” he said. “We have cut down about two billion hectares of trees in the last 2000 years. So if it’s small enough to cut it, it’s small enough to replant it again if we want.”
Groasis, let's green the world! (https://www.groasis.com/page/uk/index.php)
The AquaPro WaterBoxx
https://www.waterlink-international.com/wosimages/185_296.jpg
In the WaterBoxx the condensation and rain is collected. By means of adequate storage the evaporation of this water is prevented. The exactly right angle and the low frictional coefficient of the collecting piece guarantee that the water keeps falling into the reservoir. The WaterBoxx distributes exactly the right quantity to the roots of the young tree.
How can the roots penetrate the hard soil?
The young tree is placed in the middle of the AquaPro WaterBoxx – almost – on top of the hard soil. The minimum quantity of water moisturizes the soil under the reservoir without the danger of evaporation. The water restores the natural capillarity of the soil. In the minute canals which are created in this way the root finds its way without any problem, even around stones and rocks. Trees have been doing this for millions of years. This phenomenon of restored capillarity is also found when you turn a tile, even if it has been lying in the sun for quite some time. Under it you will find moist soil...
Using the WaterBoxx
The WaterBoxx can be used to plant trees (or for example corn). The instrument is an ‘aid’ at the beginning of this process. In many places on earth there is sufficient water in the ground and there even is sufficient water in rocks: many mountains are covered with forests. In most cases the problem a tree encounters has nothing to do with the lack of capillary water when it has roots, but with the lack of water during the post-planting period.
When you have a dry spot or dig a hole to plant a tree during a dry spell and afterwards no rain fails to fall, the ground turns into dust – because the capillary does not yet work, no water is transported upwards – and the recently planted tree dies because the root-hairs do not find any water. When the soil has turned into dust, there is a big chance it either blows or washes away.
With the aid of the WaterBoxx we plant the tree ON the soil and so we do not dig a planting hole. The WaterBoxx daily distributes a very small quantity of water to the roots of the tree that are ON the ground – so where the capillary has stayed intact – so that the tree does not die after planting. Now the tree has sufficient strength to look for water itself and the roots slowly penetrate the soil. As the capillary has not been destroyed because no planting hole has been dug, the young tree already finds sufficient water after 1 to 2 years to be able to survive independently.
When the tree is strong enough to survive, the WaterBoxx can simply be removed by lifting it in order to be used for the planting of the next tree. In this way you can plant trees with a WaterBoxx time and again. So it is also a very easy way to plant your garden if you live in a dry area or a good solution if you cannot water your garden during your holidays.
Go to Groasis, let's green the world! (https://www.groasis.com/page/uk/index.php) for more details
***
Experiment in Napa could change world of agriculture | abc7news.com (https://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/north_bay&id=7514418)
North Bay News
Napa experiment could change world of agriculture
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
NAPA VALLEY, CA (KGO) -- With growing concern about climate change, scientists have growing concerns about water supplies.
Whether there will there be enough water in rivers and dams to go around to houses and farmers is anyone's guess, but one researcher has found another source of water.
In a field filled with old, hand-planted Sauvignon Blanc grapes at Mondavi vineyards in Napa, there is an experiment underway that could change agriculture as we know it.
"The theory is, we have to make water from air without using energy and plant our plants with that," Pieter Hoff says.
Hoff used to grow tulips in Holland, but sees this as a greater calling. Since 1994, he has been developing "water boxes" as he calls them. They cool at night, pull moisture from the air, and use it to irrigate young plants and trees of all kinds.
It is the same process seen when cold liquid in a glass condenses water from the outside air.
"There's a lot of water in the atmosphere. Actually, what people forget, is that all the water that you see in rivers traveled through the air," Hoff says.
There is actually a scientific name for the process, "bio-mimicry." It basically means "building a device that imitates nature." In this case, the "water boxes" imitate the surface of lotus leaves.
Matt Ashby says he was skeptical at first.
"At first I was, but after thinking of it for five minutes, I was pretty intrigued," he says.
Ashby manages the vineyards at Mondavi. Each device collects about 200 CCs of water a day, but added up, he estimates the process could save 175,000 gallons of water a year and partly, because it encourages heartier plants with deeper roots.
If grapes and other plants struggle when young, they dig deeper roots and might not need irrigation at all.
"What you actually do is, you give enough water to let it survive, but not enough to let it grow," Hoff says.
Hoff has experimented with the water box in eight countries by now and says it even works in the Sahara Desert. His goals are to reforest the planet, save water and consume global warming carbon dioxide the natural way, all at $25 a copy.
"I am not crazy. I am inspired," he says.
(Copyright ©2010 KGO-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)
***
Developing a ‘Water Battery’ for Trees - Green Blog - NYTimes.com (https://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/developing-a-water-battery-for-trees/)
April 9, 2010, 1:18 PM
Developing a ‘Water Battery’ for Trees
By JIM WITKIN
AquaPro
According to the World Health Organization, 1.2 billion people – or almost 1 out of 5 people in the world – are without access to safe drinking water. And even in areas with access, 70 percent of water withdrawn from fresh groundwater sources is used for agriculture.
But using groundwater to grow crops and trees doesn’t make sense to Pieter Hoff, a Dutch inventor. Not only are traditional irrigation techniques inefficient because most of the water is lost to evaporation, Mr. Hoff says, but water can be easily captured from the atmosphere to grow just about anything.
To prove his point, Mr. Hoff retired from the lily and tulip export business in 2003, established his company, AquaPro, and devoted himself to the development of the Groasis Waterboxx, which he says will grow food crops and trees even in the driest places on earth.
The Waterboxx is a round device made from polypropylene and about the size of car tire — 20 inches in diameter and 10 inches high. An opening at the center of the box provides a space for a plant or tree to germinate and grow.
The box is designed to capture both rainwater and condensation, which collects in the chamber underneath the cover, and prevents the water from evaporating. Mr. Hoff describes it as a “water battery.”
A wick inside taps into the ground beneath the box and drips a small amount of water to the plant’s root system each day. Once the plant or tree has taken root on its own, reaching a water source sometimes several meters below, the box can be removed and used again to start another plant or tree.
Mr. Hoff has recently concluded a three-year test of the Groasis Waterboxx in the Sahara desert in Morocco, an area that gets only a few inches of rainfall each year. Almost 90 percent of the trees planted using the Groasis Waterboxx survived after it was removed.
A test group of trees planted without the box, but watered once a week, produced the opposite result: only 10 percent survived.
This year, Mr. Hoff said he will be conducting more trials across eight countries and some 25 sites, including California wine country and Joshua Tree National Park.
Using a grant from the Dutch government, he has also developed a biopolymer version of the box that will decompose over time, releasing nutrients into the soil as it biodegrades. His long-term business model is to provide a nonexclusive, free license to anyone who wants to manufacture and distribute the Groasis Waterbox, while he plans to ask only for a small royalty per box.
A Dutch company has already signed on.
“My ideal is that the device is available to everybody, everywhere,” said Mr. Hoff, “and my focus is to create a business model that enables the world’s poor to buy the box.”
He is talking to a Dutch bank about setting up a micro-finance scheme to enable farmers in developing countries to buy the Waterboxx.
But beyond helping to solve the water crisis, Mr. Hoff said he believed his invention could promote reforestation on a large scale to address other global problems like hunger, erosion and climate change caused by global warming.
“If we were able to plant two billion hectares with trees we could solve many of the world’s problems,” he said. “We have cut down about two billion hectares of trees in the last 2000 years. So if it’s small enough to cut it, it’s small enough to replant it again if we want.”