Many in the community believe that additional anthropogenic CO₂ in the atmosphere can push the Earth into a vicious cycle and down a path of no return. Consequently, solar energy must sit at the center of the water–energy–climate nexus as the world is shifting into a decarbonized and circular economy. Simultaneous production of electricity and fresh water by photovoltaic‐membrane distillation (PV‐MD), a newly developed technology, turns waste heat from solar PV panels into a power source to drive an efficient water distillation process. It produces fresh and clean potable‐quality water on‐site from various water sources with impaired quality, such as seawater, contaminated rivers, lakes, groundwater, and industrial wastewater. Due to the low barrier of entry, it is well suited to providing both electricity and fresh water in decentralized manner for point‐of‐consumption locations, especially off‐grid communities and communities with small‐ to medium‐sized populations even with challenging economic conditions. This essay highlights the potential of PV‐MD to supply decentralized water and electricity for regions suffering from both economic and physical water scarcity as well as its promise to contribute to agriculture in (semi)arid regions.

中文翻译：

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消费点的分布式淡水和电力联产

社区中的许多人认为，额外的人为CO ₂大气层中的空气会推动地球进入恶性循环，并沿着无法返回的路径前进。因此，随着世界向脱碳和循​​环经济转变，太阳能必须位于水，能源，气候关系的中心。新开发的光伏膜蒸馏技术（PV-MD）可同时生产电力和淡水，将太阳能光伏板的废热转化为动力，以推动高效的水蒸馏过程。它从质量受损的各种水源（例如海水，受污染的河流，湖泊，地下水和工业废水）现场生产新鲜，干净的饮用水。由于进入门槛低，它非常适合以分散方式为消费点提供电力和淡水，尤其是电网偏远的社区和人口众多的中小型社区，即使经济形势严峻。本文着重介绍了PV‐MD为遭受经济和自然水短缺的地区提供去中心化水和电的潜力，以及其为（半）干旱地区的农业做出贡献的承诺。