A British inventor, architect and services engineer have devised a system that could produce food, fresh water and energy solely through the use of solar power.

The system, by inventor Charlie Paton of Seawater Greenhouse, Michael Pawlyn of Exploration Architecture and Bill Watts of Max Fordham & Partners, combines seawater desalination and concentrated solar power. It generates electricity by focusing rings of solar reflectors on a central mast, while the desalination system evaporates seawater within greenhouses to produce ideal humid growing conditions.

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