Eco Island

The Lady Elliot - Barrier Reef Eco Island

The Lady Elliot Barrier Reef Eco Island in 2008 depended entirely on an old reverse osmosis plant for drinking water. While the quality of the water was fine, the reverse osmosis plant required a lot of energy to run. In 2008 energy on this island was produced by generators, using around 500 litres (132 gallons) of diesel per day.

To reduce the power consumption the Management of the resortagreed with Danfoss to test the first prototypes of the WaterCube2. The earliest prototypes of the WaterCube also had energy recovery systems which made it possible to produce drinking water with a modest power consumption of only 3.5 kWh/m3 (13 kWh/1000 gallon). Under the project management and funding of Wide Bay Water Corporation, two units were installed on the island. The introduction of the WaterCubes to supplement the existing old RO plant reduced power consumption significantly.

The Management constructed a large solar power system that is sufficient to cover most of the island's needs, including the power consumption of the two WaterCubes. And the old RO plant is only for standby purposes. As such, the island has reduced its diesel generated power consumption by 70%. The introduction of the WaterCubes has contributed to this achievement.