Crystal Lagoons Presents at Power-Gen Innovative Sustainable Cooling Technology

LAS VEGAS, Dec. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A new industrial application of Crystal Lagoons' technology, developed by the renowned Chilean innovator, Fernando Fischmann, CEO and founder of this company, is capturing world attention and will be presented at Power-Gen International 2011 in Las Vegas, the most important energy fair that provides comprehensive coverage of trends, technologies and issues of the generation sector.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111214/MX21113-a )

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20111214/MX21113-b )

This revolutionary technology for the sustainable cooling of industrial and thermal power plants, eliminates marine pollution from cooling-dependent industries, achieves significant energy savings and a drastic reduction in CO2 emissions, generating enormous environmental benefits for mining, energy and industrial companies.

Shortly after this unique industrial application was presented at APEC, Babson College, and in the biggest mining fair in Latin America, Exponor 2011, national and international business leaders from the energy sector are already interested in incorporating it. To date, Crystal Lagoons Corp has 19 projects in development in countries such as Peru, Finland, India, U.S. and Saudi Arabia, as well as in Chile.

"The enormous interest is explained by the great need to implement cooling systems which are both economically profitable and of high environmental impact. Today, our projects go beyond just power plants, since the cooling problem transcends to other industries such as thermo-solar plants, foundries and data centers", explained Joaquin Konow, Development Manager of Crystal Lagoons Corp.

Electricity Generation

It is worth noting that in U.S. and the world, the majority of thermal generation processes use huge volumes of seawater for cooling, captured from the ocean and later returned at a considerably higher temperature.

The system has created a major environmental problem due to the death of marine life in the water suction process and the severe disruption to the ecosystem when it returns countless volumes of hot water to the sea. The United States has now banned the system due to the enormous environmental damage it causes, and many other countries are following suit.

In addition, during the process valuable energy is dispersed into the environment, thus contributing to global warming, climate change and severely damaging the biosphere. Today, wasted energy in the world amounts to a full 80% of the electric energy actually consumed on the planet.

The sustainable cooling technology developed by Crystal Lagoons Corp solves this problem, allowing the creation of large crystalline lagoons which dissipate the heat through a closed cooling circuit for electricity generation plants. This new system takes crystalline water of the highest quality from the sustainable crystalline lagoon to cool the industrial process.  The water later returns to the lagoon that acts as a heat sink and in parallel as a reservoir of energy. In this way, cogeneration is allowed since the before-wasted energy is used for convenient purposes and it also makes possible to enter the Carbon Credits market.

This innovation enables thermoelectric plants to completely disconnect from the sea and other natural sources through a more efficient system than the traditional cooling towers, achieving lower installation costs and low consumption of make-up water and energy. This application also allows building or relocating thermoelectric power stations in locations further from the sea and close to demand centers, thereby increasing efficiency, lowering transmission costs and avoiding the enormous environmental damage produced by the use of other systems.

Of the total amount of energy used by a thermoelectric plant to produce electricity, approximately 65% is lost as it dissipates into the environment in the form of heat. Crystal Lagoons' technology optimizes the energy leverage because it enables a large portion of this heat to be captured and given an alternative use. "As this is a closed system with high quality water, the lagoon increases its temperature up to a steady state, creating a reserve of thermal energy which can then be used in a number of processes such as heating, residential and industrial hot water, thermal desalination, greenhouse heating, wood drying and industrial pre-heating, thus contributing to the economic development of the regions where power stations with this sustainable cooling system are established", emphasized Joaquin Konow, Development Manager of Crystal Lagoons.

This is a huge impact for North America, where around 5,500 power stations operate with this system, using more than 170 billion liters of water a day, more than the volume of water used for irrigation in the entire U.S. Moreover, the environmental impact of diverse industries could be reduced and energy production doubled without need of building more power stations.

In addition to the industrial use of hot water, the warm crystalline lagoons can be used for recreational purposes. In contrast with other systems currently in use, this technology allows the creation of a tourist attraction and improves the landscape through year-round-warm crystal-clear lagoons practically all over the world, adding great recreational and real estate value and bringing with it an unprecedented community benefit for the areas where the power stations and industries are installed.

About Crystal Lagoons

In less than four years since its creation, Crystal Lagoons Corp, whose technology and concept is patented around the globe, has experienced an exponential growth and now has a portfolio of 180 urban, recreational and public projects worldwide in various stages of development. Today the company is associated with the world's key real estate companies, with presence in 45 countries of the five continents, including France, Russia Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, United States, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Singapore, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Brazil, among others, with an associated investment of US$100 billion.

www.crystal-lagoons.com

SOURCE Crystal Lagoons Corp