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EROEI will kill this thing stone dead, if the world is still thinking rationally. Note that it is essentially a solar installation, it doesn't really say if it
by brc 14y ago
EROEI will kill this thing stone dead, if the world is still thinking rationally.
Note that it is essentially a solar installation, it doesn't really say if it works during the night. But you can safely assume that if it works on temperature, the headline 'nameplate' figure of 500 gw is only available in peak conditions.
It says it uses desalinated water - which is a very energy intensive operation- so at best I figure it would be mildly energy-neutral, at worst it would actually be an energy suck. Then there is the small matter of all the embedded energy in the worlds second tallest structure. The costs are $1 billion for the tower, $100 million for the pipeline, and desal plants are about a $1b a piece these days. That's $2.1 billion invested - not including transmission lines - that's going to take a very long time to earn back.
It looks like a subsidy farming exercise to me, or possibly a stock pump'n'dump scheme.
- richardjordan 14y agoAny time people think in terms of EROEI they get an upvote from me, as it's the problem with so many plans. I was hoping from the headline that this was a conc. solar tower or something similar, as have been described in the past and which have a chance of being EROEI positive. Sadly few people see the world in the eyes of basic physics and energy return on energy investment. Most of the utopians who believe we'll think ourselves out of the energy crisis without having to make any lifestyle changes or depopulate tend to rely on arguments that are almost always EROEI negative.