5 ms·

Unfortunately, the opposite is true for basic resources such as clean water and air: look up "Earth overshoot day" [1] [1] https://phys.org/news/2017-08-earth-

• adventured 9y ago
  Near limitless clean water is a technological problem that we have already solved via reuse and desalination. The challenge now is to make it far less expensive, which we'll also do in the coming half century or so. Vast progress in real-world use of desalination is why Israel can exist at all for example. [1] Large cities in California will likely become supplied mostly by desalination in the near future. San Diego is getting 1/3 of its water from one plant. It can fulfill the water needs of its entire population for about the cost of three, one billion dollar desalination plants. I consider that an extreme bargain. Such plants will get cheaper and more efficient with time. Indoor agriculture and altering crops to need less water, adjusting them to indoor efficient growing via CRISPR, will also significantly lessen our water demands over time. That'll take decades to bring to meaningful impact, however there's no scenario where we don't do that. [1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/israel-proves-the-desalination-era-is-here/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/israel-proves-the...
  • rocqua 9y ago
    The main problem with desalination is energy use. I don't see desalination on a massive scale happening unless we get a lot more (and thus cheaper) energy being produced. Basically, fingers crossed for fusion.