First assignment of group n° 105
Resources used by the team[modifier | modifier le wikicode]
First description of our project[modifier | modifier le wikicode]
First description of our project's idea
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AGRICOTON (c)
1. What Problem do you want to solve ?
Is the XXI century going to be the one of the water war? Water is one of the most important resources in the world since it is necessary to the survival of all human beings. But it is increasing scarcity make it a redundant issue over time. To continue, water especially essential in the field of agriculture. Moreover in the dry land, where the lack of access to clean water is a recurrent issue, an alternative way to collect water could be very useful and could be used in different ways. Last but not least, more generally, this system could be useful in all the countries worldwide for instance during the heat wave in Switzerland during summer 2003, agriculture has undergone losses amounting to more of 500 million dollars. To summarize, in agriculture, the use of water can be very expensive in particular because of low rainfall, so it is the first problem to get there.
2. Why does this problem exist?
Water is essential for every life form that exists on Earth. In fact, our planet is mainly constituted of water (72%). But drinkable water is still rare (barely 2.8% of the whole water). And it is getting worse. Nowadays, it has become one of the major problems of our era. By 35 years from now on, Africa will face a water shortage. And it is not the only continent concerned: California is already stricken by this scourge. In some remote places, it is still difficult to access water despite all the technical progress made. Yet, we all need water to survive and grow our food. As we already struggle to find water to drink, we also need water to cultivate our lands (for example, a tomato culture needs between 100 to 110 m^3/ha/day). Producing food needs a lot of work, time, and more specifically a large amount of water.
As the Earth’s health is declining, we cannot allow ourselves to spoil more resources, especially the only one that we need more than anything. Diverting rivers and lakes to irrigate farmlands tap into destroying the ecosystem in some areas, which is a major ecological issue. All these problems will eventually lead to our end and our planet’s collapse in a hundred of years.
Our product is designated to revolutionize the agriculture world as it is simple to access, simple to use, and incorporates a new innovative material that will provide all the necessary water needed to grow any kind of food without destroying our soils and resources. From the amateur who wants to grow his own food in his yard to every independent farmer worldwide, every agricultural company, to each and every one of us who feels concerned about the Earth’s future, our autonomous eco-friendly product will be the new reference.
Ladies and gentlemen please welcome AGRICOTON ©.
3. What breakthrough are you commited to creating?
To tackle the water misuse problem in the agriculture field, we want to revolutionize the irrigation system in the drylands by using a new material which can create its own clean water from the humidity in the air and release it when the temperature reaches 34° C.
We want this system to be cheap as it will only need wood and our new technology which captures water in the air. We also want it to be simply implemented in basic or less basic plantations, regardless the size or the type of growing food of them. It won’t necessitate any maintenance or technical skills to use it because it will regulate itself following the temperature. In the context of sustainable and ecological development, our product could be used over a very long period as the process will repeat itself as many times as needed.
