3 ms·

You may need to check the orders of magnitude we are talking about here and then re-evaluate your statement. This is not about a few stretches of CA coastline.

You may need to check the orders of magnitude we are talking about here and then re-evaluate your statement. This is not about a few stretches of CA coastline. This is about all of the continental US. A few desal plants won't cut it.

baybal2 4y ago
No desal water will be enough for agriculture. Only multigigawatt nuclear desal can privide so much fresh water economically.
yellowapple 4y ago
> A few desal plants won't cut it. Then we build more than "a few".
- ASalazarMX 4y ago
  Hope their byproducts are environmentally safe. Northern Mexico also has water scarcity, and it's been shocking to see the studies about how water is used in my state: - Residential: ~10% - Industrial: ~20% - Agriculture and farms: ~70% Residential water is being rationed, but it won't make a dent unless we address that 70%, which to make it worse, loses half of that to evaporation and inadequate distribution networks. Solve the most glaring wasters and you don't need massive desalination anymore.
  - yellowapple 4y ago
    > Hope their byproducts are environmentally safe. The byproducts are sea salt. You might pay less for it at the store. The environmental impacts come from having so much extra salt that there's nothing worth doing with it other than dumping it. Considering how tiny of a fraction Earth's freshwater (let alone that actually used by humans) represents of the total global water supply, the environmental concerns are arguably way overblown even in that worst-case scenario of "we literally can't find any better use of this salt other than dumping it back into the ocean whence it came".
    - wildmanx 4y ago
      > The byproducts are sea salt. You might pay less for it at the store. 1. It's not some food-grade "sea salt" that you get. It's brine, which, dumped into the ocean, wreaks havoc in the local ecosystem. It's heavier than sea water, sinks to the ground, etc. Not something you want in your backyard. 2. Energy is not free. No, nuclear isn't either. Want a uranium mine in your backyard? Or a coal mine? Wasting less water could be the easier solution here.
      - yellowapple 4y ago
        > It's brine, which, dumped into the ocean, wreaks havoc in the local ecosystem Only if dumped such that it's concentrated. Either don't dump it or do so in a more dispersed manner. > Energy is not free. No, nuclear isn't either. You don't need free energy for desal to be more than worthwhile. > Want a uranium mine in your backyard? If I had a backyard, then sure, why not?
        wildmanx 4y ago
        > > Energy is not free. No, nuclear isn't either. > You don't need free energy for desal to be more than worthwhile. It was a response to that the only byproduct of desalination is sea salt. It's not (or it's a bad-faith misleading statement). You need to account for the energy you put in which has its own byproducts. > > Want a uranium mine in your backyard? > If I had a backyard, then sure, why not? You may want to check out the health implications before you commit.
        yellowapple 4y ago
        > It was a response to that the only byproduct of desalination is sea salt. Because it is. Energy requirements are inputs, not products ("by" or otherwise). They may have their own byproducts, but those happen anyway (and in the case of nuclear, are so tiny in quantity compared to those of desalination to be not really worth discussing). > You may want to check out the health implications before you commit. The health implications of drought and famine are arguably far more pressing.

baybal2 4y ago

No desal water will be enough for agriculture. Only multigigawatt nuclear desal can privide so much fresh water economically.

yellowapple 4y ago

> A few desal plants won't cut it. Then we build more than "a few".

ASalazarMX 4y ago
Hope their byproducts are environmentally safe. Northern Mexico also has water scarcity, and it's been shocking to see the studies about how water is used in my state: - Residential: ~10% - Industrial: ~20% - Agriculture and farms: ~70% Residential water is being rationed, but it won't make a dent unless we address that 70%, which to make it worse, loses half of that to evaporation and inadequate distribution networks. Solve the most glaring wasters and you don't need massive desalination anymore.
- yellowapple 4y ago
  > Hope their byproducts are environmentally safe. The byproducts are sea salt. You might pay less for it at the store. The environmental impacts come from having so much extra salt that there's nothing worth doing with it other than dumping it. Considering how tiny of a fraction Earth's freshwater (let alone that actually used by humans) represents of the total global water supply, the environmental concerns are arguably way overblown even in that worst-case scenario of "we literally can't find any better use of this salt other than dumping it back into the ocean whence it came".
  - wildmanx 4y ago
    > The byproducts are sea salt. You might pay less for it at the store. 1. It's not some food-grade "sea salt" that you get. It's brine, which, dumped into the ocean, wreaks havoc in the local ecosystem. It's heavier than sea water, sinks to the ground, etc. Not something you want in your backyard. 2. Energy is not free. No, nuclear isn't either. Want a uranium mine in your backyard? Or a coal mine? Wasting less water could be the easier solution here.
    - yellowapple 4y ago
      > It's brine, which, dumped into the ocean, wreaks havoc in the local ecosystem Only if dumped such that it's concentrated. Either don't dump it or do so in a more dispersed manner. > Energy is not free. No, nuclear isn't either. You don't need free energy for desal to be more than worthwhile. > Want a uranium mine in your backyard? If I had a backyard, then sure, why not?
      - wildmanx 4y ago
        > > Energy is not free. No, nuclear isn't either. > You don't need free energy for desal to be more than worthwhile. It was a response to that the only byproduct of desalination is sea salt. It's not (or it's a bad-faith misleading statement). You need to account for the energy you put in which has its own byproducts. > > Want a uranium mine in your backyard? > If I had a backyard, then sure, why not? You may want to check out the health implications before you commit.
        yellowapple 4y ago
        > It was a response to that the only byproduct of desalination is sea salt. Because it is. Energy requirements are inputs, not products ("by" or otherwise). They may have their own byproducts, but those happen anyway (and in the case of nuclear, are so tiny in quantity compared to those of desalination to be not really worth discussing). > You may want to check out the health implications before you commit. The health implications of drought and famine are arguably far more pressing.