The drought... 2 problems, one easy, the other not so much

[OverVolt]

Desalination takes way too much energy. Face it... you guys are screwed.

 

[Newbian]

Desalination takes way too much energy. Face it... you guys are screwed.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I have learned from my principals of technology class back in high school that it's like a universal rule that you can never put less work in and get more work out. It simply doesn't work that way.

Best low emission solution for power generation is natural gas.

Yeah but technically the energy is in the hydrogen, electrolysis is not really creating hydrogen it's just extracting it. But my guess is that the work required to extract it is still more than the work the hydrogen can do though, simply because hydrogen does not really generate that much energy per unit compared to other things like natural gas. Though I wonder if it's ever been tried. Guessing it has, I'm sure someone out there has thought of it before I did.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Desalination takes way too much energy. Face it... you guys are screwed.

Use the sun. It's free constant energy in those places. Hardly any moving parts either. Leave a bottle of water out in the sun and the inside starts to sweat. Same idea. That "sweat" is distilled water. Just need to do it big scale. Of course you can probably do it faster by using another source of energy to get the water at even higher temps.

In some 3rd world countries they also use giant dehumidifiers. Not sure exactly how they work but they're fairly passive. They grab the moisture right out of the air. It's a slow and steady rate of getting water.

Though it would be simpler if they just damed up rivers and such to try to get more water to stay behind. Heck, use those dams to generate electricity while you're at it.

The problem with this world is there's too much political BS that stops common sense things from being done and we are generally really wasteful as a species.

 

[Muse]

I have learned from my principals of technology class back in high school that it's like a universal rule that you can never put less work in and get more work out. It simply doesn't work that way.

Strike a match and light a fuse on a stick of dynamite and you'll get a lot more energy out than you put in. Nature has stored energy here, as we discovered when we started using oil, coal and natural gas. Also, the water cascading down from the mountains has a lot of potential energy, that's what drives the turbines in hydroelectric plants. Nuclear fission releases incredible amounts of energy with almost no work being done in a plant, submarine, etc. Nuclear fusion could be a huge source of energy some day, maybe all we'll need, at least in terms of electricity generation.

Here's the article I read in yesterday's paper about research going on right now that scientists hope will produce workable technology that in effect increases battery capacities by a factor of 5, with the cost being 1/5th!

Lawrence Berkeley Lab team helps lead charge to revolutionize energy storage

If this project is as successful as they anticipate (by 2017!), it would go a long way toward revolutionizing energy technology on the planet.

 

[Kaido]

It's okay, technology will save us!

http://www.islandsky.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=116&Itemid=3

All you need is money :awe:

 

[John Connor]

Yeah but technically the energy is in the hydrogen, electrolysis is not really creating hydrogen it's just extracting it. But my guess is that the work required to extract it is still more than the work the hydrogen can do though, simply because hydrogen does not really generate that much energy per unit compared to other things like natural gas. Though I wonder if it's ever been tried. Guessing it has, I'm sure someone out there has thought of it before I did.

Check this out. The only reason why it's feasible is because they have geo thermal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgGlE97rJl4

 

[Muse]

Check this out. The only reason why it's feasible is because they have geo thermal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgGlE97rJl4

That's cool stuff. Hey, there's a lot of geo thermal, I'd think inexhaustible. That may go places... er, beyond Iceland.

 

[Newbian]

In some 3rd world countries they also use giant dehumidifiers. Not sure exactly how they work but they're fairly passive. They grab the moisture right out of the air. It's a slow and steady rate of getting water.

Wouldn't a ton of those cause other issues?

 

[pete6032]

Desalination is neither clean, cheap, efficient, or environmentally friendly.

 

[Muse]

Desalination is neither clean, cheap, efficient, or environmentally friendly.

But if there's no other way of getting water, it's your only choice.