3 ms·

I think the mechanism is fairly simple. The article mentions pipes deep under ground. I am assuming they dig deep enough to find permanently cooler temperatures

by bh42222 15y ago

I think the mechanism is fairly simple. The article mentions pipes deep under ground. I am assuming they dig deep enough to find permanently cooler temperatures, then they circulate air and water condenses due to the temperature differential. They mention it is self-powered so I am assuming solar cells or tiny wind turbines. I see two problems with this. 1. You don't have to dig very deep to find the earth is warm. But maybe if the desert air is at 100+F then ground temperatures of 50+F are sufficiently "cool" to condensate water out of the air? 2. Disastrously poor places are not poor due to lack of tech or knowledge. War, corruption and general lawlessness tend to keep them poor. Nifty tech just tends to get broken/stolen/monopolized/regulated to oblivion, take your pick. But in more prosperous areas this might work. It does seem like it would be a lot of work to dig those in. But perhaps once the initial effort is done, you can just leave them there and forget them. Plant away and don't worry about watering. Perhaps even more areas of Australia will now grow vine grapes.

Someone 15y ago
How do you get the water up from "deep enough to find cooler temperatures" to where the plant roots are? It will not fill the air pipes, so is there some secondary piping system? Or will the plants be able to get the water from there? Also, I wouldn't call it self-powered if it required wind or solar and those were separate parts of the system. A sailing ship is self-powered, but IMO, an electric car that uses electricity extracted from wind is not.
- Gormo 15y ago
  Couldn't you use a heat pipe to bring cooler temperatures closer to the roots?
Gormo 15y ago
Re the earth's warmth, water vapor condenses at the dew point[1], which, depending on the level of humidity, may only be a small temperature difference from ambient. Here in Florida, with very high humidity, it's not uncommon to get condensation at room temperature on very hot days. If I turn my car A/C down to 60F when it's 85F and dark out, my windows will literally be dripping with water within minutes. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dew_point http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dew_point

by bh42222 15y ago

Someone 15y ago

How do you get the water up from "deep enough to find cooler temperatures" to where the plant roots are? It will not fill the air pipes, so is there some secondary piping system? Or will the plants be able to get the water from there? Also, I wouldn't call it self-powered if it required wind or solar and those were separate parts of the system. A sailing ship is self-powered, but IMO, an electric car that uses electricity extracted from wind is not.

Gormo 15y ago
Couldn't you use a heat pipe to bring cooler temperatures closer to the roots?

Gormo 15y ago

Re the earth's warmth, water vapor condenses at the dew point[1], which, depending on the level of humidity, may only be a small temperature difference from ambient. Here in Florida, with very high humidity, it's not uncommon to get condensation at room temperature on very hot days. If I turn my car A/C down to 60F when it's 85F and dark out, my windows will literally be dripping with water within minutes. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dew_point http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dew_point