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The technology sounds fantastic. The synergy with heat power plants is particularly cool (heh). The same goes for desalination: waste heat can be reduced by rec

The technology sounds fantastic. The synergy with heat power plants is particularly cool (heh). The same goes for desalination: waste heat can be reduced by recycling heat between the processes, increasing the overall efficiency of the system. Now for the rant: reputable news organizations need to stop enabling "creates x jobs" propaganda through repetition. It doesn't create 200 jobs, it briefly employs 200 to build the thing. Maybe 5-10 full-time jobs will be "created" to maintain a giant mechanical battery. This lie is particularly popular around pipeline projects. "You don't think we should spend billions of dollars on this pipeline? Do you want tens of thousands of imaginary people to lose their imaginary jobs?" End rant.

newyankee 6y ago
I wonder in an era where clean energy costs fall more than 10x whether it is possible to channel surplus energy into desalination and pumping water into deserts near the coasts. Like a slow geo engineering project. Combined with future developments in vertical farming, it may make sustainable cities possible in places like Middle east, parts of South Asia and Africa
- Consultant32452 6y ago
  I recall reading about a proposed solution to global warming that included digging a channel from the Atlantic into the Sahara. Big sections are below sea level. So we'd create a new ocean/sea effectively, cool the local climate, and significantly reduce hurricanes on the East coat of America.
  - adwn 6y ago
    The Amazon rainforest relies on annual global sandstorms transporting nutrient-rich (phosphorus) sand from the Sahara to South America. If you flood significant parts of this desert, you'll disrupt this process. A source: https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-satellite-reveals-how-much-saharan-dust-feeds-amazon-s-plants https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-satellite-reveals-...
ryanwaggoner 6y ago
I think the "creates 200 jobs" usage is completely fair here. The thing is due to be operational in 2022, so that's two years of work for 200 people, and the ongoing operation jobs will be "a few dozen", not 5-10. The article makes all this clear. More broadly, infrastructure jobs are still jobs, even if they only last a few years instead of indefinitely. The average tenure of a software engineer at a big tech company is less than that; is it fair to say they don't have jobs? It's not like we're ever going to run out of projects to improve the world, so these 200 workers will hopefully finish this job and move onto the next "job-creating project".
- take_a_breath 6y ago
  ==The average tenure of a software engineer at a big tech company is less than that; is it fair to say they don't have jobs?== I don’t follow, after a software engineer leaves the big tech firm, the job still exists. They hire someone else to do it. In this instance the job doesn’t exist after 2 years. It’s also probably not 2 full years for those jobs as they are typically brought in with teams to perform their function (dig, foundation, build, framing, electrical/water/gas, finishing) then move on.
  - rjsw 6y ago
    Software projects finish just like civil engineering ones do.
    - take_a_breath 6y ago
      Hiring a software engineer as a full-time employee for a temporary software project, then firing them, is a poor use of company resources. If you are talking about a contract software engineer, then you are correct that the worker rolls off. We typically don't see those considered "full-time jobs created" because they have a well-defined term and are never employees of the company.

newyankee 6y ago

I wonder in an era where clean energy costs fall more than 10x whether it is possible to channel surplus energy into desalination and pumping water into deserts near the coasts. Like a slow geo engineering project. Combined with future developments in vertical farming, it may make sustainable cities possible in places like Middle east, parts of South Asia and Africa

Consultant32452 6y ago
I recall reading about a proposed solution to global warming that included digging a channel from the Atlantic into the Sahara. Big sections are below sea level. So we'd create a new ocean/sea effectively, cool the local climate, and significantly reduce hurricanes on the East coat of America.
- adwn 6y ago
  The Amazon rainforest relies on annual global sandstorms transporting nutrient-rich (phosphorus) sand from the Sahara to South America. If you flood significant parts of this desert, you'll disrupt this process. A source: https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-satellite-reveals-how-much-saharan-dust-feeds-amazon-s-plants https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-satellite-reveals-...

ryanwaggoner 6y ago

I think the "creates 200 jobs" usage is completely fair here. The thing is due to be operational in 2022, so that's two years of work for 200 people, and the ongoing operation jobs will be "a few dozen", not 5-10. The article makes all this clear. More broadly, infrastructure jobs are still jobs, even if they only last a few years instead of indefinitely. The average tenure of a software engineer at a big tech company is less than that; is it fair to say they don't have jobs? It's not like we're ever going to run out of projects to improve the world, so these 200 workers will hopefully finish this job and move onto the next "job-creating project".

take_a_breath 6y ago
==The average tenure of a software engineer at a big tech company is less than that; is it fair to say they don't have jobs?== I don’t follow, after a software engineer leaves the big tech firm, the job still exists. They hire someone else to do it. In this instance the job doesn’t exist after 2 years. It’s also probably not 2 full years for those jobs as they are typically brought in with teams to perform their function (dig, foundation, build, framing, electrical/water/gas, finishing) then move on.
- rjsw 6y ago
  Software projects finish just like civil engineering ones do.
  - take_a_breath 6y ago
    Hiring a software engineer as a full-time employee for a temporary software project, then firing them, is a poor use of company resources. If you are talking about a contract software engineer, then you are correct that the worker rolls off. We typically don't see those considered "full-time jobs created" because they have a well-defined term and are never employees of the company.