While many of us have daydreamed about living on our own private island or starting a community with friends, family, or off grid/homestead-minded individuals, there would likely be one hurdle that can get overlooked in those daydreams: ensuring a reliable supply of clean, fresh water for drinking.
While islands are, by definition, surrounded by water, they do not always have access to fresh water for drinking or cooking and most standard methods of desalination rely on fossil fuels or have other downsides that make them impractical or expensive to maintain. An American startup, SAROS, is working on changing that with their floating kinetic energy-based desalination plants.
SAROS Desalination
SAROS (Swell Actuated Reverse Osmosis System) uses energy generated by ocean waves to power the desalination process and then pumps the water back to shore. It has the potential to provide up to 3k gallons of fresh water per day and the company says that its system could possibly be configured to also provide electricity or assist in oil spill cleanup operations by helping move and filter contaminated water.
They are onto their second prototype and have found some corporate sponsorship moving forward, which is a good sign that they are poised to keep advancing their concept into a viable product. They are also currently raising funds on Indiegogo to help finance further prototypes and refine their technology.