Water shortages plague a fifth of southern Europe. And with temperatures in the region forecast to rise several degrees this century — reducing rainfall another 30% — things will only get worse. Several thousand miles to the northwest, however, global warming is increasing the number of icebergs calving off Greenland; they now number about 15,000 a year. "An iceberg is a floating reservoir. And water from icebergs is the purest water ... It was formed some 10,000 years ago," explains French engineer and eco-entrepreneur Georges Mougin. All those bergs eventually dissolve in the ocean's brine. Such a waste, he says. Why not capture and haul some of them to Europe's arid south?
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It’s a common mistake to confuse ice fields, which are composed of frozen seawater and populated with polar bears, with icebergs, our floating mountains composed of frozen drinking water.
And did you know that, each year, the equivalent of the world’s supply in drinking water melts away into the ocean?
Why should just sit by and let this happen? Why not use icebergs as an alternative source for drinking water?
This is French Arts & Métiers Engineer Georges Mougin’s dream since 40 years!
At first this idea may seem too outlandish, but perhaps Mougin is a visionary? Today while the most pessimist prospectors predict a worldwide conflict based on ‘blue gold’ in 2050, Dassault Systèmes has decided to help Mougin reexamine his project with the help of 21st Century technology.
And what if 3D scientific simulation and virtual worlds can give life to an idea that died down last century? Perhaps this was due to technology-linked obstacles and limited knowledge of our oceans and weather. Perhaps Mougin was ahead of his times . . .
A documentary under the direction of Jean-Michel Corillion is being made to tell this story. It’s called Ice Dream and in a few months will be broadcast in various countries.
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