While the ECCS Project is currently an EPICS project, the ECCS concept was conceived and designed by Environmental Futurist Mr. Dana R. Chappell back in 2018, soon after the former Presidential administration announced their plans to construct significant enhancements to the existing border fence along the U.S. /Mexico border.

Mr. Chappell believed the enhancements to the border separation structure did not fully address the fundamental emigration issues involved, the lack of basic human needs. This piece of public security infrastructure could be dramatically improved if the design incorporated Environmental and Sustainable Energy aspects and principles. 

The ECCS, or Energy Capture & Conversion System, is intended to rectify this problem by incorporating  "transformative and sustainable environmental convergence system" directly onto the existing structure "without" detrimentally affecting the barrier's primary function of border security.

The goal of our research is to scientifically prove the validity of our humanitarian vison.  When it comes to the convergence of environmental, chemical, bioengineering, and their related transport systems there are a myriad of viable and immediately lucrative economic and humanitarian opportunities awaiting both the government of Mexico and the the United States, as well as public and private sectors of industry within both countries.  The primary goal of our proposed research is to prove this to both the general public, and the governments of both countries.

Without detrimentally affecting the recently improved border security structure in any way, nor inhibit it from performing its intended function of providing border security, we believe we can "transform" this public infrastructure project into a linear Energy Conversion and Transportation System, or (ECCS), capable of delivering upon the following:

A.    Sustainably and economically generate electrical power, hydrogen, ammonia, or all three

B. Economically transform non-potable water into purified potable drinking water in order to increase to local Food Production,

B. Increase both distant and localized employment opportunities through on site training,

C. Mitigate the effects of localized Atmospheric Pollution via adoption of a clean and renewable energy source,

D. Create a new paradigm for combining Border Security and Public Infrastructure.

A transformational project is defined as one that supports deep, systemic, and sustainable change with the potential for large-scale impact within an area of a major development challenge1. The ECCS is undoubtedly a transformational development project that will have long term impacts of our two countries, as explained below.

To begin with, our research project invites scientific collaboration, not just from academia, but from both the U.S and Mexican government, along with each country’s private business sector. This collaborative approach ensures a broadened perspective and participation from people with varying technical backgrounds and innovative mindsets who are willing to not only provide their technical input, but perhaps additional financial aid to our research project.  Our ASU ECCS team has put forth its best engineering solutions to create a positive and transformational research project having a major impact on the society, but we invite direct participation in this opportunity from other academic institutions and disciplines. Transformational impact changes are not limited to what you do, but how you do things2. All ECO-CBET projects face transformational impacts and challenges, ours being no exception, so how we propose to do what we intend to do is of prime importance. What we intend to do is listed below, how we intend to do it, is covered in other research papers:

a) We intend to Provide more Clean Water, for both human and animal consumption.: One of the 14 grand challenges for engineering in the 21st century, as recognized by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE)3, is increasing the production of potable water The ECCS aims to provide more clean water through consistent solar thermal evaporative purification or desalination of either brackish ground water or sea water drawn-in from both the Pacific oceans and the gulf coast bordering Mexico., thereby, solving a myriad of problems arising from water scarcity. According to the NAE, “The Lack of clean water is responsible for more deaths in the world than war. About 1 out of every 6 people living today do not have adequate access to potable water, and more than double that number lack basic sanitation, for which water is needed” 4. A recent U.N report emphasized that, “Recognizing, measuring, and expressing water’s worth, and incorporating this into decision-making, are fundamental to achieving the sustainable and equitable water resources management and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”5.

b) We intend to Generate Economical Electric Power using only Natural Resources.: Once fully operational, the ECTS is expected to produce a massive amount of electrical power using steam generated from water distilled through evaporation using solar thermal energy and to help mitigate both global warming and our energy crisis. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) warns, “Global energy use is projected to nearly double by 2050”6. The ECCS addresses this key issue directly by generating low-cost electric power which can also be transported to distant places. 

c) We intend to create a new paradigm for Border Security and Public Infrastructure: Another significant long-term impact of the ECCS is that it brings forth changes in peoples’ perceptions and attitudes toward public security and public infrastructure, and specifically what the new border separation structure is capable of providing for bi-national security.  Our hope is that the new border separation structure will now be viewed as a beneficial thing, and not merely boundary or separation between our two countries, once the ECCS becomes a reality.  The ECCS focuses not only on utilizing the border separation structure, but improving upon it, therein by creating a duality of function.  Public infrastructure structure now called “divisive and unwanted” will be transformed into something needed, protected, and maintained for many years to come.

References:

1. Heider, C 2016, ‘Transformational development projects - what makes them different?’, IEG, 12 April, accessed 23 September 2021, <https://ieg.worldbankgroup.org/blog/transformational-development-projects-what-makes-them-different>

2. Just Be Nice Project 2018, Transactional Vs Transformational Impact, accessed 23 September 2021, <https://www.jbnproject.com/news/transactional-vs-transformational-impact>

3. National Academy of Engineering 2021, NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering, accessed 23 September 2021, <http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/challenges.aspx>

4. National Academy of Engineering 2021, NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering, accessed 23 September 2021, <http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/challenges/water.aspx>

5. United Nations 2021, UN World Water Development Report 2021, accessed 23 September 2021, <https://www.unwater.org/publications/un-world-water-development-report-2021/>

6. Shrestha, P 2020, ‘Global energy use projected to nearly double by 2050’, Energy Live News, 8 January, accessed 23 September 2021, <https://www.energylivenews.com/2020/01/08/global-energy-use-projected-to-nearly-double-by-2050/>

7. Atherley, A et al. 2017, ‘Trump’s Wall is an Infrastructure Issue – and it’s the Wrong One to Pursue’ , The Leadership Conference Education Fund , 16 May, accessed 23 September 2021, < https://civilrights.org/edfund/resource/trump-infrastructure-week/

The Energy Conversion & Conversion System or ECCS will provide many societal, environmental, and economic benefits.  Its main benefit is that it's a non-polluting, sustainable energy resource, effectively reducing our dependency upon fossil fuel energy resources.  Reducing our carbon footprint improves our air quality, tackles climate change, and benefits human health[1] . 

Of major importance, the ECCS benefits the local community, as it provides clean energy, additional food resources, fresh water, and enhances local employment and training opportunities.  Both horizontal and vertical farming techniques can be incorporated inside each Energy Conversion Station, or (ECS), along the entire ECCS providing much needed additional  fresh drinking water and food resources to the local population. Also, aquaponics will be in incorporated into one specific ECS in order to provide additional protein resources to the malnourished.   Neighboring communities also benefit from the low-cost, renewable energy also, as this energy in the form of electrical power, oy hydrogen so it can be easily generated or produced and transmitted offsite. 

Annually, the United States spends billions of dollars on border security and immigration enforcement [2] . Since 1993, the annual budget of the U.S. Border Patrol has increased more than ten-fold, from $363 million to nearly $4.9 billion[3].  According to the latest reports from U.S Customs and Border Protection, there were a total of 208,887 encounters along the southwest border in the month of August 2021[4] . What's remarkable about the ECTCS is that it may also reduce these current immigration issues.  Providing ready access to clean drinking water, food to eat, increased employment and training opportunities, and a congenial climate across the border helps to alleviate the "need" for human emigration from Mexico into the United States.  Thus, it's hoped that this may result in a decline in rising U.S. emigration trends, subsequently reducing border conflicts, fostering peace, and maintaining civil order along our southern border. 

Another significant advantage of the project is that it may increase bi-national trade and political cooperation, perhaps even ending the political impasse between the U.S. and Mexico over emigration.  Boosting local employment opportunities for both nations, may over time, even diminish the need for a physical barrier between our two countries entirely.  Moreover, increased employment opportunities are vital in this era of an increased population, since world population is expected to reach 9.9 billion by 2050 [5] . 

Worldwide population growth accelerates the depletion of our existing natural resources by increasing our demand for potable water, food, and energy.  The rate of increase in water and energy use has risen faster than population growth for the past 50 years [6]. The ECCS provides a “convergence of both economic and environmental opportunities related to both bio-engineering and energy transportation”, thus directly addressing these looming shortages, while simultaneously mitigating the effects of global climate change.  In summary, this transformative research effort may shift the paradigm of what border security and public infrastructure may become in the future; cooperative as opposed to adversarial. 

References:

 [1] Asmelash, L 2019, ‘What you need to know about carbon footprints’, CNN, 8 September, accessed 17 September 2021, <https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/08/us/carbon-footprint-facts-trnd/index.html> 

[2] Caldwell, L A 2016, ‘The U.S. Already Spends Billions on Border Security’, NBC News, 31 August, accessed 17 September 2021, <https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-s-wall-would-add-billions-u-s-spends-border-n640251> 

[3] American Immigration Council 2021, The Cost of Immigration Enforcement and Border Security, accessed 17 September 2021, <https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/the-cost-of-immigration-enforcement-and-border-security>

 [4] Diaz, J 2021, ‘In Texas, Officials Are Reporting A Surge Of Migrants At The Southern Border This Week’, NPR , 17 September, accessed 17 September 2021, <https://www.npr.org/2021/09/17/1038157965/in-texas-officials-are-reporting-a-surge-in-migrants-at-the-southern-border-this> 

[5] International Institute of Sustainable Development 2020, World Population to Reach 9.9 Billion by 2050, accessed 17 September 2021, <https://sdg.iisd.org/news/world-population-to-reach-9-9-billion-by-2050/>

[6] Fitzpatrick, T 2008, ‘Population growth drives depletion of natural resources’, The Source, Washington University in St. Louis, 22 October, accessed 17 September 2021, <https://source.wustl.edu/2008/10/population-growth-drives-depletion-of-natural-resources/>; 

Richardson, R B 2019, ‘Resource depletion is a serious problem, but 'footprint’ estimates don’t tell us much about it’, The Conversation, 24 July, accessed 17 September 2021, <https://theconversation.com/resource-depletion-is-a-serious-problem-but-footprint-estimates-dont-tell-us-much-about-it-120065>.

As mentioned previously, this research project is intended to be immensely collaborative. Being a federally funded organization, we anticipate that if federal funding entity approves funding for our research, they will also provide all other agency contact information in order to coordinate with the other federal agencies involved in providing approval and assistance.  Of course since the dept. of Homeland Security is in charge of border security, they will have to be convinced of the merits of our proposed research in order for us to have access to, and utilized a four mile section of the new constructed border separation structure to be used as our test bed.  Moreover, additional research needs to be performed to determine if our chosen initial place of performance within Yuma County, Arizona is in fact the best location to establish our initial test bed.  Our initial test bed requires some specific siting criteria as follows: (a.) it must allow full access to both sides of the recently improved border fence, (b.) it must be located within proximity of a water source, (c.) it should be in relative close proximity to  a metropolitan area. 

While our the exact location of our on-site place of performance has yet to be finalized, our off-site academic research facilities will be located and conducted within ASU's research parameters utilizing ASU's lab resources and equipment.  It's expected that a full scale, 91.4 M long mockup section of the new border fence will be constructed in order pre-engineer the specific attachments and systems needed to transform the actual structure into a linear thermal absorber. Also an typical Energy Conversion Station, or ECS will also need to be constructed, and placed towards the end of this mockup section of the new border fence where the thermodynamic air flow from the linear thermal absorber can be converted into power and analyzed.  Located adjacent to this research facility will be various non-potable water sources from which various type of water will be draw into the system and purified.  Water research will also be performed off-site in order to determine optimum flow rates, salinity, turbidity, pollution content, etc.