5 ms·

I have had two structures in mind for some time. One would be a solar powered water elevator that pumped water from the Pacific into the various endorheic basi

I have had two structures in mind for some time. One would be a solar powered water elevator that pumped water from the Pacific into the various endorheic basins in Nevada. These could then be drained during cloudy times or peak hours to supplement solar power. The other is a causeway along the Antilles islands from Miami to Trinidad that would act as an eastern connection point between north and south America.

rtkwe 6y ago
That's so far why not use two closer bodies of water and just cycle it endlessly like the smaller scale pumped storage already being build?
victop 6y ago
There is (was?) a project to do your first structure in the Atacama Desert in Chile: > Espejo de Tarapacá (EdT) – one of the most innovative infrastructure projects in the world – is comprised of a 300 MW pumped hydro storage plant that operates with seawater, located approximately 100 kilometers south of Iquique. This project is essentially a large electricity storage system which will eliminate, at a low cost, the intermittency of non-conventional renewable energy – such as solar energy. http://valhalla.cl/espejo-de-tarapaca/ http://valhalla.cl/espejo-de-tarapaca/
- m4rtink 6y ago
  I wonder if salinity and salt accumulation could become a problem in the upper body of water due to evaporation. But I guess you could get around it by monitoring and clever mixing.
  - lxmorj 6y ago
    Don't forget you get 2.7% more mass per volume from the salt!
- mjklin 6y ago
  There’s one in the mountains of Virginia too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_County_Pumped_Storage_Station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_County_Pumped_Storage_Sta...
elihu 6y ago
Xkcd what-if did an article about what would happen if you flooded death valley: https://what-if.xkcd.com/152/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/152/
RileyJames 6y ago
> One would be a solar powered water elevator that pumped water from the Pacific into the various endorheic basins in Nevada. These could then be drained during cloudy times or peak hours to supplement solar power. Interesting. I've thought similarly, but for a slightly different purpose. Inland Australia is a massive desert, but there are theories that it was once (at least significantly more of it) a large grassland. Apparently it was mostly destroyed with the introduction of hoofed animals, which pull the roots of grass out as they eat it, as opposed to kangaroo's and other native animals which eat grass without removing the root. I haven't explored the hard science behind this, but the theory is discussed in the book 'Dark Emu'. Regardless, it gives hope that the desert could be cultivated in order to support more plants & animals (I'm thinking native rather than for farming purposes). To realistically kick this off tho it would require huge amounts of fresh water, which Australia sorely lacks. But we could produce plenty of electricity from solar power, wind power and nuclear power (Australia has enormous uranium reserves and plenty of sun). With cheap power, we could pump and desalinate water into the center of Australia. Unlike death valley, it's not down hill tho, so it would require long distance pumping. Interesting to find this project mentioned here which bares some similarities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sea%E2%80%93Dead_Sea_Water_Conveyance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sea%E2%80%93Dead_Sea_Water...
- pontifier 6y ago
  I was thinking about how to do some climate engineering of Australia or Africa, and came up with a megastructure to do it. I was thinking of putting several hundred square miles of something dark (black felt or something similar maybe) in the ocean just upwind of a region. The goal is to concentrate solar energy near the surface. Increased evaporation would increase air humidity, and rain downwind would increase a lot. Seemed like the lowest tech, lowest cost way to convert solar into rain/fresh water on a massive scale.

rtkwe 6y ago

That's so far why not use two closer bodies of water and just cycle it endlessly like the smaller scale pumped storage already being build?

victop 6y ago

There is (was?) a project to do your first structure in the Atacama Desert in Chile: > Espejo de Tarapacá (EdT) – one of the most innovative infrastructure projects in the world – is comprised of a 300 MW pumped hydro storage plant that operates with seawater, located approximately 100 kilometers south of Iquique. This project is essentially a large electricity storage system which will eliminate, at a low cost, the intermittency of non-conventional renewable energy – such as solar energy. http://valhalla.cl/espejo-de-tarapaca/ http://valhalla.cl/espejo-de-tarapaca/

m4rtink 6y ago
I wonder if salinity and salt accumulation could become a problem in the upper body of water due to evaporation. But I guess you could get around it by monitoring and clever mixing.
- lxmorj 6y ago
  Don't forget you get 2.7% more mass per volume from the salt!
mjklin 6y ago
There’s one in the mountains of Virginia too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_County_Pumped_Storage_Station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_County_Pumped_Storage_Sta...

elihu 6y ago

Xkcd what-if did an article about what would happen if you flooded death valley: https://what-if.xkcd.com/152/ https://what-if.xkcd.com/152/

RileyJames 6y ago

> One would be a solar powered water elevator that pumped water from the Pacific into the various endorheic basins in Nevada. These could then be drained during cloudy times or peak hours to supplement solar power. Interesting. I've thought similarly, but for a slightly different purpose. Inland Australia is a massive desert, but there are theories that it was once (at least significantly more of it) a large grassland. Apparently it was mostly destroyed with the introduction of hoofed animals, which pull the roots of grass out as they eat it, as opposed to kangaroo's and other native animals which eat grass without removing the root. I haven't explored the hard science behind this, but the theory is discussed in the book 'Dark Emu'. Regardless, it gives hope that the desert could be cultivated in order to support more plants & animals (I'm thinking native rather than for farming purposes). To realistically kick this off tho it would require huge amounts of fresh water, which Australia sorely lacks. But we could produce plenty of electricity from solar power, wind power and nuclear power (Australia has enormous uranium reserves and plenty of sun). With cheap power, we could pump and desalinate water into the center of Australia. Unlike death valley, it's not down hill tho, so it would require long distance pumping. Interesting to find this project mentioned here which bares some similarities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sea%E2%80%93Dead_Sea_Water_Conveyance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sea%E2%80%93Dead_Sea_Water...

pontifier 6y ago
I was thinking about how to do some climate engineering of Australia or Africa, and came up with a megastructure to do it. I was thinking of putting several hundred square miles of something dark (black felt or something similar maybe) in the ocean just upwind of a region. The goal is to concentrate solar energy near the surface. Increased evaporation would increase air humidity, and rain downwind would increase a lot. Seemed like the lowest tech, lowest cost way to convert solar into rain/fresh water on a massive scale.