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Casey Handmer, PhD
@CJHandmer
New blog on desalination. I think solar plus matched desal can get below 10c/m^3, cheap enough that we can put 5 million acre feet into Nevada, terraforming about 1500 miles of valleys and waterways in that state (>90% remains unchanged though) and creating space for tens of millions of people to find wealth and opportunity in the process.
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David Watson ๐Ÿฅ‘
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Sarah Cone
@sarah_cone
The big problem with desal now is that the most efficient methods create a gallon of toxic hypersaline brine for every gallon of freshwater. Cleaning that hypersaline brine is what my company Cetos Water works on.
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Gutter Monster
@Gundermgg
My impression reading this is that you talk about pumping water uphill with "canals", but it seems that to actually do that, you'd need a pipeline or something that can maintain pressure. Or am I missing something?
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Austin Hale
@saqbach
Do you think solar plus matched desal is a better/cheaper option than something like solar plus MOF-303 at industrial scale?
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Jesse D. Jenkins
@JesseJenkins
I love the grand vision Casey! It's fun to explore what a world of clean energy abundance could enable! But you peg solar costs at 20ยข/W here, when projects today are more like $1/W. You are confident in another 80% reduction in installed costs? Module costs are almost free now
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HUDI
@humandataincome
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Dana En
@DanaEn803
The exact same people that yell "Why don't you Terraform Earth first." will be standing in line to stop anyone from Terraforming Earth... First. They don't want soloutions, they want the problems to be activists for. I love this plan.
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Joel C. Sercel, PhD
@JoelSercel
That is a fantastic idea! Two other places that could benefit from this kind of thinking are the Australian outback and the Sahara. Nuclear would be the way to go IMO.
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SignalToNoiseRatio
@clearSNR
Adding water to existing cities in The West is a great idea, but encouraging further sprawl into uninhabited areas is a mostly bad idea. Desalination on the coast to feed CA cities paired with cutting CA portions of Colorado River flow (to supply Las Vegas & Phoenix) works. No
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Mankosmash
@Mankosmash
I'm not sure terraforming is justified until farmland becomes more valuable. Turning things green doesn't matter when population density is dictated by pure economics - hence why it's highest on the coasts. But it does show that the Earth can support much higher populations.
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Taxonomist
@BeastsInJars
How important are batteries for this? Are the inefficiencies associated with bringing RO units on & off as the solar availability cycles during the day inherent in the RO process or is it simply the necessary excess of RO capacity (to meet peak power)?
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Alex
@KernelArray
Why use batteries? Is maximizing the desalination utilization worth the increased cost of electricity? I would not be surprised if desalination efficiency could be traded off with cost. Solar can generate cheap, but unreliable power. But, we don't need water generation 24/7.
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David Chapman
@Meaningness
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David Chapman
@Meaningness
Replying to @Meaningness
Let's BRING BACK Lake Lahontan! We can! It will be surprisingly easy! We're going to have to re-terraform earth anyway, so we might as well! The islands will be a glorious place to live!
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Abe Murray
@abemurray
Yes please make it so sir
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Abe Murray
@abemurray
If you donโ€™t want this future to exist then you are part of the problem We should create more waterfront, more islands, more rivers, more wealth Superabundance is our future x.com/cjhandmer/statโ€ฆ
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Ben Wallace
@Bwallace_esq
There is a long ignored plan in Western Australia called the "Pilbara water scheme". A. Like called Ron Coleman has been trying to get it to happen. Re-route some of the water from mines to farmers. Would be awesome like the Nevada one.
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Daniel Montgomery
@Danmontgomery_
Why not divert some of the flow from the Columbia River into these areas? Thereโ€™s a ton of fresh water going straight into the ocean. What could 10% of that flow do to the Great Basin? I havenโ€™t researched this idea and donโ€™t know the second order effects, but this seems easier
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Mark Yerkes
@markyerkes1734
I am shocked no one has done this at the Salton Sea. It used to be the playground of southern cali and even had its own fishing fleet. The desalination brine is almost perfect for the salinity of the lake creating win win.
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mcbagz
@Bagz_Tech
Thoughts on cloud seeding? Seems like it could be more cost efficient, though possibly less predictable or precise.
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Matthew Cote ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฒ
@Matthew56030261
Love this, desal should be one of the many curtailment strategies....when there's too much energy on the grid, start the pumps, that simple. Its only a matter of time
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arctotherium
@arctotherium42
We should do this, but I want to use nuclear weapons to redirect Canadian rivers from the Arctic to Nevada and the American Southwest instead.
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Tim Starr
@timstarr2001
1) Nuclear's obviously better than solar, which is only cheap due to Chinese subsidies. 2) Eco-Nazis will never approve either the water pipelines or the habitat destruction of whatever desert species they can find & call "endangered."
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Cord
@NotTheSame_Cord
all you need do is build fission power plants to cover 150% of baseload and you can do all the foolishness you want
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Mark Friedenbach ๐Ÿดโ€โ˜ ๏ธ
@MarkFriedenbach
Casey, have you considered a California ballot initiative? It would provide funding and a regulatory workaround -- the state would be required to fund and implement it.
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Donal
@Spelt_D_o_n_a_l
You want to pump Pacific Ocean water to Nevada, use solar power to desalinate it, use the desal water to create oases in Vegas and Reno, and then pump the brine back to the ocean? Thats an impressive amount of middlemen youโ€™re creating there.
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Space Haxx
@SpaceHaxx
If you could take these same analytical tools and point them at getting enough of western China into wheat production as to zero-out their current imports, well that would really do it for me. Even if it comes out an objective "no", it'll still help.
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AndyXAndersen
@AndyXAndersen
Nice idea, in principle. Costs are not that low yet. Also not sure about demand. Surely people move to the South-West but not in such huge quantities.
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seektruth
@WalterChirulli
Lots of nice places around the world where one could try. Desalinated water from the Mediterranean could be brought into the Qattara depression and green the whole Egypt for example
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Blake Borgeson
@blakeweb
Thank you, super cool! I have nature on my mind atm, and wonder--is there a nature angle here too? Eg could this work in a scheme to compete with (marginally) saving nature in the Amazon (or other lush+vanishing places), for instance, by making new wild forest in Nevada?
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๐Ÿ•ท๏ธ
@r0b0t_sp1der
I always loved the idea of the "solar desal tower". Dunno if it was bunk science, though. Attractive idea ... a passive struct that pumps out "clouds" that give you locally higher humidity.
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@tinyhandcuffs
@tinyhandcuffs
Followed! This concept has always intrigued me. Iโ€™ve wondered if desalination could be used to combat the effects of climate change and address some of the issues water shortages have created/will create.
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Oliver Cockcroft
@oliverc85
What would putting all the water in the desert do for the weather in that area and east of it? Seems like you could change weather patterns in ways that might not be well understood.
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Nedi Sawego Yogya
@NediSawego
Offshore Solar + Desalination + Agriculture = floating food basket. Not limited by land area if you use magnesium from the sea as the main structural support.
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Greg Harbour
@GregHarbour
Desal-ing artesian or ocean water tho As if the rev osmosis wasnโ€™t energy intense, gotta power the pumping from the coast over a mtn range too Artesian comes with its own issues
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Toni Arbona ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ
@AntoniArbona
May this grow organically? I mean simple home owners installing PV and small desalinization units to grow a garden in arid places?
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svi
@svi58670452
Terraforming in southern Florida had disastrous consequences for some amazing ecosystems: byscane bay and Everglades. Idk anything about Nevada.
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Wry
@nickleke
You're so gung ho about this; I can tell you it's not fully thought out yet & likely to fail. Enthusiasm is great. But in great schemes like this, caution should fully be on display.
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