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“The Line” is Saudi Arabia’s bold vision for the future of civilization: an ultramodern city designed to house 1 million people and be entirely pollutionfree. ↠Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/c/TerraMaterO...


But there’s one problem – it’s in the middle of the desert. And cities require a lot of water.

Enter the Solar Dome, a new desalination system built on existing technology. It’s supposed to be a lowcost, efficient, and carbonneutral way of turning saltwater into fresh water. With water scarcity already threatening the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is the world leader in desalination, but the process does pose problems. We take a closer look at the environmental costs of desalination, and how new innovation like the Solar Dome is trying to tackle these issues.

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Story by Philip Jaime Alcazar:    / philipalcazar  

VoiceOver: Julian Nightingall
Motion Graphics: Joerg Eisenprobst
Producer & Editor: PhilipJaime Alcazar
Script Editor: Eleanor Updegraff
Sound Design: Hubert Weninger

A Terra Mater Factual Studios GmbH Production
Contact: social (at) terramater.at
#terramatters

Sources:

1 Steve Jobs introduces the iPhone in 2007
   • Steve Jobs introduces iPhone in 2007  

2 Svetlana V Boriskina et al.: Nanomaterials for the waterenergy nexus. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MiT), 2019.

3 WIRED: "What’s inside this giant ‘solar dome’ coming to Saudi Arabia" July 2017

4 Aondohemba Aende et al.: Seawater Desalination: A Review of Forward Osmosis Technique, Its Challenges, and Future Prospects. University of Leeds, 2020.

5 Edward R Jones et al.: The state of desalination and brine production: A global outlook. Utrecht University, 2019.

6 Ashraf Sadik Hassan et al.: PV and CSP solar technologies & desalination: economic analysis. Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, 2015.

7 NEOM official website: https://www.neom.com/

8 WIRED: "What’s inside this giant ‘solar dome’ coming to Saudi Arabia"
July 2017.

9 Construction Week: NEOM inks deal to construct first 'solar dome' tech desalination plant. February 2020.

10 Chris Sansom: Sun, Salt and Saudi Mega Cities. Featured News Article at Solar Water Plc. December 2020

11 Malcolm Aw (Founder, Executive Chairman & Chief Technology Officer of Solar Water Plc) Solarwater the Movie.    • solarwater the movie