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I always thought that desalination of sea water was too energy expensive to be worth it but apparently it's only about 3 kWh/m^3, meaning for an average water c

I always thought that desalination of sea water was too energy expensive to be worth it but apparently it's only about 3 kWh/m^3, meaning for an average water consumption of 150l/day you're looking at under 0.5kWh per person per day - about 5c (us) at Mexico's electricity prices. Obviously it's not something that can be implemented in the next month in Mexico, but the long term outlook for water supply in a future hotter world is not as dire as I thought. The UAE gets the majority of its water already through desalination: https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/environment-and-energy/water-and-energy/water- https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/environment-and-ene...

hi-v-rocknroll 2y ago
With the cost of PV now, city-scale RO makes a lot of sense. San Diego did it when was still far more expensive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_%22Bud%22_Lewis_Carlsbad_Desalination_Plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_%22Bud%22_Lewis_Carlsba...
Analemma_ 2y ago
For Mexico City in particular I think the real killer is not cost of desalination but cost of transport. Mexico City is hundreds of miles from the coast and at an altitude of 7,000 feet. That’s a long way to move water, which is an expensive operation energy-wise.