That's a big improvement from the 1970s, when Sidney Loeb at the University of California, Los Angeles, was working on a process to desalinate water and came up with the idea of using osmosis to generate power.

FORBES: Getting Power From Salty Water

She says she's in the process of selling her water business and drawing up a business plan for Checkerboard.

FORBES: Magazine Article

While ice reflects around 80 percent of the sun's heat, having a cooling effect, blue sea water can absorb up to 95 percent of solar radiation, warming up the sea and accelerating the melting process further.

CNN: Arctic melt worse than predictions