4 ms·
My first thought was that an electricity cost at maybe 20% of what it is now would be result in a good economic uplift but not a seismic change. But the intere
by daviddumenil 10y ago
My first thought was that an electricity cost at maybe 20% of what it is now would be result in a good economic uplift but not a seismic change.
But the interesting cases are those where much cheaper electricity unlocks new opportunities. Imagine the coast of sub-Saharan Africa transformed by the agriculture enabled by cheap desalinated water.
- daveguy 10y agoIs it really just a 5x reduction in power cost that would allow "cheap" desalination? Would it require a 50x reduction in cost? I wonder if cheap desalination and cheap desalination are on the same order of magnitude. Do you know the current cost of desalination? Is there any sort of accurate estimate of how cheap power would be? (I guess not since everything is a prototype and nothing has been able to produce excess power from fuel).
- mattgrice 10y agoElectricity already makes up around half or less of the cost of desalination. Even free electricity would at best halve the cost.
- gizmo686 10y agoAssuming current designs. There may be less energy efficient designs that are, ignoring the cost of energy, cheaper to builder and operate.