Seawater

Greenhouse: A
restorative approach to agriculture
Charlie Paton
Managing Director of Seawater Greenhouse Ltd., United Kingdom
Discussion Paper 1220

May 2012

This article provides an overview of two
seemingly
intractable
problems

freshwater shortages and brine discharge
from desalination. The author describes an
innovative new technology which attempts
to resolve these problems and provide a
solution for crop cultivation, reforestation
and realising the value chain of salt,
minerals and nutrients from seawater

resources has led to increasing use of

desalination plants to produce water.
However,

all

conventional

desalination

techniques reject concentrated brine back into

the sea at roughly double the salinity of the
intake. As a consequence, the salinity in these
semi-enclosed seas rises. Increased salinity

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has an adverse effect on all marine life and

there are very few plants or fish that can
survive a doubling of salinity from 3.4% to 6%.
In 2008 about 18.4 million m3/day was
discharged into the Arabian Gulf, 9.8 million
m3/day into the Mediterranean Sea, and 6.8
million m3/day into the Red Sea. That is a

Keywords: Seawater Greenhouse, desalination, brine

discharge, reforestation, water shortage, agriculture.

total of 35 million tons/day and the volume is

expected to grow1. This effect is made worse
by reduced inflow from rivers such as the

In arid and semi-arid areas such as around the

Euphrates and Tigris, and high rates of

Arabian

evaporation2.

Gulf,

the

Red

Sea,

and

the

Mediterranean Sea, the scarcity of freshwater

Suggested Citation: Paton, C. 2012, Seawater Greenhouse: A restorative approach to agriculture, GWF Discussion Paper 1220, Global

Seawater Greenhouse: A restorative approach to agriculture

almost none. This is because yields that are
achieved in greenhouses can be 10 to 100
times greater than yields achieved outside.
They also enable high value crops to be grown
out of season.
The Seawater Greenhouse enables year-round
crop production in some of the worlds hottest
Figure 1. Salinity in Arabian Gulf. Source:

and driest regions. It does this using seawater

and sunlight. The technology imitates natural

Allsop & Yao (2010).

processes, helping to restore the environment

reasons,

while significantly reducing the operating

conventional desalination techniques have to

costs of greenhouse horticulture. In addition

discharge

their

to not having to discharge concentrated brine,

processes cannot function with high salinity.

it also benefits from the fact that high salinity

However, at Seawater Greenhouse, we have

water has a powerful biocidal or sterilising

developed a technology that can. The idea of

effect on the air that passes through it. This

the Seawater Greenhouse is to convert these

reduces or eliminates airborne pests.

For

number

of

technical

concentrated

brine

as

two seemingly intractable problems a

shortage of fresh water and brine discharge
from desalination into an elegant solution
for

crop

cultivation,

reforestation

and

realising the value chain of salt, minerals and

The most important benefit of the Seawater

Greenhouse is that it cools and humidifies
large volumes of air at very low cost, and to do
this, it must evaporate large volumes of
seawater, thereby dealing with the discharge

nutrients from seawater.

from desalination. One hectare of Seawater

Greenhouse near the coast will typically

Seawater Greenhouse

evaporate 50 tons of water/day, but this will

Just as with desalination, the last few decades

increase 2-3 fold in regions of low humidity.

have seen tremendous growth in conventional

The effect is illustrated in Figure 2.

greenhouses around the world. There are now

some

200,000

hectares

of

greenhouses

around the Mediterranean, and over 1 million

in China, where 30 years ago, there were

Seawater Greenhouse: A restorative approach to agriculture

The most significant benefit of the process is
that the combination of lower temperature
and

higher

humidity

reduces

plant

transpiration up to 10-fold and enables

delicate crops such as lettuce and French
beans to grow in a hot, arid location.

Figure 2. Evaporative cooling properties of

air at 30C.

Further, the beneficial effect of the humid

exhaust air creates a zone of locally higher
humidity which encourages vegetation. The

With reduced humidity, lower temperatures

photographs in Figure 4 were taken two years

(the wet bulb temperature) are achieved and

apart in Oman.

larger volumes of water are evaporated. For

example, if we pass air at a temperature of
30C and a relative humidity of 70% into a
nominal 500m2 Seawater Greenhouse, the air
will be cooled down to 26C and two tonnes of
water will be evaporated in 24 hours. If the
incoming air has a relative humidity of 20%,
the air will be cooled down to 17C and nearly
three times as much water is evaporated.

Figure 4. Seawater Greenhouse, Oman.

Relative humidity almost invariably falls with
increasing distance from the coast. Lower
humidity means that lower temperatures are
achieved and more water is evaporated. The
map

below

illustrates

typical

daytime

humidity across the UAE, with relative

humidity at the coast above 70% yet falling to
15% further inland.

Figure 3. Seawater Greenhouse, Tenerife.

Seawater Greenhouse: A restorative approach to agriculture

by increasing the humidity of air that blows up
a mountain.

Figure 6. Locating at the base of mountains

increases the humidity of air blowing up
thereby encouraging rain.

Figure 5. UAE relative humidity chart.

Evaporating large volumes of water in the
GCC region could have many environmental
benefits and the Seawater Greenhouse has a
similar effect on the local environment to an
area of forest in terms of the amount of water
vapour it produces and the consequent cooling
achieved.

For

example,

one

hectare

of

greenhouse will evaporate ~ 100 tons of

water/day, consuming 60MWh of heat in the
process.

Effectively,

it

reduces

the

temperature of air from the dry bulb to the

wet bulb temperature.
If implemented on a large scale, it makes
sense to evaporate the water some distance
from the coast. It may also be beneficial to
evaporate it at the base of a mountain, as air
cools with increasing height, typically by 1C
for every 100m of elevation, so there is a
greater chance of contributing to rain or dew

Just add water

Drought,

desertification,

food

shortages,

famine, energy security, land use conflict,

mass

migration

and

economic

collapse,

climate change and CO2 sequestration are all

issues that can be overcome by increasing the
supply of water. Present methods of supply in
arid regions include; over-abstraction from
groundwater reserves, diverting water from
other

regions,

and

energy-intensive

desalination. None of these are sustainable in

the long term and inequitable distribution can
lead to conflict.
The

growth

in

demand

for water and

increasing shortages are two of the most

predictable scenarios of the 21st century.
Agriculture is the primary pressure point3 (see
The state of the worlds land and water
resources). A shortage of water will also affect
the carbon cycle as shrinking forests reduce

Seawater Greenhouse: A restorative approach to agriculture

the rate of carbon capture, and will disrupt the

and too salty. Converting seawater to fresh

regulating influence that trees and vegetation

water and water vapour in the right places

have on our climate. Fortunately, the world is

offers the potential to help solve all these

not short of water, it is just in the wrong place

problems.

References
1. Al Barwani, H.H. and Purnama, A. (2008), Evaluating the Effect of Producing Desalinated Seawater on
Hypersaline Arabian Gulf, European Journal of Scientific Research, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 279-285.
2. Bashitialshaaer, R., Persson, K.M. and Aljaradin, M. (2011), Estimated Future Salinity in the Arabian Gulf,
the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea Consequences of Brine Discharge from Desalination, International
Journal of Academic Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 133-140.
3. FAO (2011), The State of the Worlds Land and Water Resources, United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organisation, Rome.
4. Allsop, N.K. and Yao. F (2010), Experiences of hybrid Ocean modelling of the Persian Gulf on the Blue
Gene/P, Available at
http://www.hpc.kaust.edu.sa/events/Supercomputing__44___November_2010/posters/KAUST_NKA_SC10
.pdf.

About the author(s)

Charlie Paton studied at the Central School of Art and Design in London. Working his way through
College as an electrician starting his career with ITN as a studio assistant on the Apollo 11 moon
landing (1969), he went on to become a lighting designer and maker of special effects. Charlies
fascination with light and plant growth led to the concept for the Seawater Greenhouse. Starting with
an experimental pilot in Tenerife, he has designed and built further Seawater Greenhouses in Abu Dhabi,
Oman and Australia. For more information see the Seawater Greenhouse website.

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Seawater Greenhouse: A restorative approach to agriculture

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