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Converting hydrocarbon power into fresh water seems like a really great idea if you can completely externalize the cost of pumping massive amounts of CO2 into t
by aphextron 8y ago
Converting hydrocarbon power into fresh water seems like a really great idea if you can completely externalize the cost of pumping massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. Israeli reverse osmosis plants are almost entirely powered by oil and natural gas. Clean energy desalination may be the goal, but reality is far from there yet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Israel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Israel
- discordance 8y agoI recognise that Israel burns oil/gas to clean water, but I do not understand why it's not possible to use solar/wind instead. Solar/wind is now comparable in price per kWh to the hydrocarbon cycle.
- maxerickson 8y agoOver longer time periods it should be possible. Constructing gas power plants costs a lot less upfront (~½) and uses almost 0 land by comparison. The site time for the construction should also be quite a lot less. So if you want X amount of power available in a certain place next year, new gas generation is a lot more straightforward.
- pfdietz 8y agoIt should be quite possible. In addition, there's the idea of using pressurized underground aquifers as an energy store (basically, using bending and lifting of the overlying rocks to store the energy when pressurized water is pumped underground). The pressure can be transfered to a clean seawater stream by a device called a pressure exchanger, which can then be fed into a reverse osmosis plant.