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Why is a new and cheaper desalination invention in the news every 3-4 years?

by bsima 3y ago

maxerickson 3y ago
Water is important.
- Arrath 3y ago
  And fresh water is increasingly scarce, and desalination is energy intensive.
  - sixothree 3y ago
    And since we’re stating the obvious, seawater is particularly abundant.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - smegsicle 3y ago
      and seawater is salty, making it unfit for drinking and irrigation
unstatusthequo 3y ago
I feel like we see these in that cadence, but do we see them becoming commercially viable or actually in use at scale at all?
- LogicWolfe 3y ago
  I don’t know about elsewhere but I live in Perth and we have a desalination plant that supplies 15% of our drinking water. https://www.watercorporation.com.au/Our-water/Desalination/Perth-Seawater-Desalination-Plant https://www.watercorporation.com.au/Our-water/Desalination/P...
  - iamthemonster 3y ago
    I think we've got another one at Alkimos that supplies another 15% or so right? I think we are projected to have the majority of our drinking water come from desal over the next few decades. Desal is cheap as chips compared to Water Corp's supply charge!
    - dbetteridge 3y ago
      Yeah Alkimos just past the private school.
  - techdragon 3y ago
    And it’s a pretty recent thing too since we realised we couldn’t just blindly drain the underground water and the rain had become insufficient for our long term population growth predictions.
- pests 3y ago
  The world leader in desalination is Saudi Arabia with it producingover 37% of their water supply > Water desalination in Saudi Arabia has doubled over the past decade to reach 2.2 billion cubic meters in 2021 [0] Then United States is right behind at #2. It does seem like a lot is happening it just has to be the perfect storm of correct conditions. [0] https://www.arabnews.com/node/2160116 https://www.arabnews.com/node/2160116
langsoul-com 3y ago
Water and food are the absolute essentials to life. If meta came up with a new product, you can ignore it, but you cannot ignore water scarcity. Most nations are beginning to deal with intense water pressure issues. Especially as seasons don't follow the patterns so perfectly. A flash drought could cripple almost all water and excessive underground water pumping sinks the land. See china's issue with random potholes due since the land is sinking. Modern water desalination is quite new, so technology has much room to grow. Not only does that make it attractive in terms of patents for better systems, but also there's always a market.
TheCapeGreek 3y ago
It's important news for dry countries and regions.

Why is a new and cheaper desalination invention in the news every 3-4 years?

by bsima 3y ago

Why is a new and cheaper desalination invention in the news every 3-4 years?

maxerickson 3y ago

Water is important.

Arrath 3y ago
And fresh water is increasingly scarce, and desalination is energy intensive.
- sixothree 3y ago
  And since we’re stating the obvious, seawater is particularly abundant.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - smegsicle 3y ago
    and seawater is salty, making it unfit for drinking and irrigation

unstatusthequo 3y ago

I feel like we see these in that cadence, but do we see them becoming commercially viable or actually in use at scale at all?

LogicWolfe 3y ago
I don’t know about elsewhere but I live in Perth and we have a desalination plant that supplies 15% of our drinking water. https://www.watercorporation.com.au/Our-water/Desalination/Perth-Seawater-Desalination-Plant https://www.watercorporation.com.au/Our-water/Desalination/P...
- iamthemonster 3y ago
  I think we've got another one at Alkimos that supplies another 15% or so right? I think we are projected to have the majority of our drinking water come from desal over the next few decades. Desal is cheap as chips compared to Water Corp's supply charge!
  - dbetteridge 3y ago
    Yeah Alkimos just past the private school.
- techdragon 3y ago
  And it’s a pretty recent thing too since we realised we couldn’t just blindly drain the underground water and the rain had become insufficient for our long term population growth predictions.
pests 3y ago
The world leader in desalination is Saudi Arabia with it producingover 37% of their water supply > Water desalination in Saudi Arabia has doubled over the past decade to reach 2.2 billion cubic meters in 2021 [0] Then United States is right behind at #2. It does seem like a lot is happening it just has to be the perfect storm of correct conditions. [0] https://www.arabnews.com/node/2160116 https://www.arabnews.com/node/2160116

langsoul-com 3y ago

Water and food are the absolute essentials to life. If meta came up with a new product, you can ignore it, but you cannot ignore water scarcity. Most nations are beginning to deal with intense water pressure issues. Especially as seasons don't follow the patterns so perfectly. A flash drought could cripple almost all water and excessive underground water pumping sinks the land. See china's issue with random potholes due since the land is sinking. Modern water desalination is quite new, so technology has much room to grow. Not only does that make it attractive in terms of patents for better systems, but also there's always a market.

TheCapeGreek 3y ago

It's important news for dry countries and regions.