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Where did you learn about this idea? I've been trying to get up to speed on climate change solutions and I thought I heard just about everything but this is the

by tinco 5y ago

Where did you learn about this idea? I've been trying to get up to speed on climate change solutions and I thought I heard just about everything but this is the first I've heard this solution and it sounds like it might make total sense. Are there companies developing these pump mills?

tinco 5y ago
Also, wouldn't it be even nicer to pump up the cold water? That way you decrease the acidity of the surface water more strongly, increasing the acidic uptake of the surface water, and you also cool it down more. If we did that for example in the East Australian Current north of Vanuatu, we might help out the Great Barrier Reef a little, moderating both the temperature and the acidity. It's like 3 birds with one stone. I guess pumping up has the additional complexity of having the intake all the way down at 2KM, which is also where you'd need to do the maintenance. But maybe you could float up the entire pipe for maintenance. Seems a similar idea has been proposed, but from a depth of a mere 40m: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/07/plan-cold-water-barrier-reef-stop-bleaching https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/07/plan-col....
- ncmncm 5y ago
  Yes, there is lots of room for development, and connected ideas. Where waves are available, the wind turbine might not be needed. Waves tend to happen mostly where water is shallow. Anyway, idea is that you have a big, floating, anchored fabric tube with rim held above mean surface level, that waves slop into. Once water is in, the only exit is way down deep. So more water slops in all the time, and moves down under the weight of what comes in after it. Then, you need no wind turbine, no pumps, no moving parts at all; just anchors, floats, a surface frame, and a few thousand square yards of very tough fabric. The tube doesn't need to go straight down. It could collect water in (relative) shallows and exhaust it some distance off, at cost of just more fabric.
ncmncm 5y ago
A proposal showed up here on HN, maybe a month ago. I will try to find it. It seems like a good place to invest.

by tinco 5y ago

tinco 5y ago

Also, wouldn't it be even nicer to pump up the cold water? That way you decrease the acidity of the surface water more strongly, increasing the acidic uptake of the surface water, and you also cool it down more. If we did that for example in the East Australian Current north of Vanuatu, we might help out the Great Barrier Reef a little, moderating both the temperature and the acidity. It's like 3 birds with one stone. I guess pumping up has the additional complexity of having the intake all the way down at 2KM, which is also where you'd need to do the maintenance. But maybe you could float up the entire pipe for maintenance. Seems a similar idea has been proposed, but from a depth of a mere 40m: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/07/plan-cold-water-barrier-reef-stop-bleaching https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/07/plan-col....

ncmncm 5y ago
Yes, there is lots of room for development, and connected ideas. Where waves are available, the wind turbine might not be needed. Waves tend to happen mostly where water is shallow. Anyway, idea is that you have a big, floating, anchored fabric tube with rim held above mean surface level, that waves slop into. Once water is in, the only exit is way down deep. So more water slops in all the time, and moves down under the weight of what comes in after it. Then, you need no wind turbine, no pumps, no moving parts at all; just anchors, floats, a surface frame, and a few thousand square yards of very tough fabric. The tube doesn't need to go straight down. It could collect water in (relative) shallows and exhaust it some distance off, at cost of just more fabric.

ncmncm 5y ago

A proposal showed up here on HN, maybe a month ago. I will try to find it. It seems like a good place to invest.