Seawater agriculture

Chew Toy McCoy

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I know some people are going to be skeptical because the study is being done by MIT and not The First Church of the Holy Donation, but I think it’s an interesting concept. As a Californian I see we have drought, large seasonal fires, a lot of people, and a lot of agriculture. We also have one of the country’s longest coastlines. It’s like we can’t see the water for the seas.

 

Yoused

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I am mostly not a fan of nuclear power, but I could see a use for it in ag. A stable MSBR (designed to shut itself down naturally when problems arise) with a tertiary cooling/power loop that draws in seawater, screens the plankton and debris out and uses the steam to run the generators while then shipping the condensate (distilled water) inland for ag/drinking seems like it could work.

The seawater infeed, filtration, boiler and brine recovery would have to be very salt-tolerant, and the net power output would be a tad lower as a fair amount would have to be used to support the seawater infeed system and clear water pumping, but if you could set up ten or twenty of these along the coast, the Central Valley would get very green again. And a MSBR is going to survive a major sanandreas event much better than a traditional BWR or PWR.
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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I am mostly not a fan of nuclear power, but I could see a use for it in ag. A stable MSBR (designed to shut itself down naturally when problems arise) with a tertiary cooling/power loop that draws in seawater, screens the plankton and debris out and uses the steam to run the generators while then shipping the condensate (distilled water) inland for ag/drinking seems like it could work.

The seawater infeed, filtration, boiler and brine recovery would have to be very salt-tolerant, and the net power output would be a tad lower as a fair amount would have to be used to support the seawater infeed system and clear water pumping, but if you could set up ten or twenty of these along the coast, the Central Valley would get very green again. And a MSBR is going to survive a major sanandreas event much better than a traditional BWR or PWR.

I know we also need to look at the negatives to alternatives. but for all the hyper red alert climate change hysteria in the state I feel like this is what is happening now..

Q: What are we going to do about the drought and forest fires?

A: Everybody drive a Tesla!

Q: Shouldn't water be part of the solution?

A: No!

It's like everybody is busying themselves by trying to prevent something happening 20 - 30 years from now that is actually currently happening.
 

SuperMatt

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I know we also need to look at the negatives to alternatives. but for all the hyper red alert climate change hysteria in the state I feel like this is what is happening now..

Q: What are we going to do about the drought and forest fires?

A: Everybody drive a Tesla!

Q: Shouldn't water be part of the solution?

A: No!

It's like everybody is busying themselves by trying to prevent something happening 20 - 30 years from now that is actually currently happening.
Agreed. People making excuses to buy another gas-powered car need to get over it. If a Tesla is too expensive, you can get EVs from other companies for cheaper.
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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Agreed. People making excuses to buy another gas-powered car need to get over it. If a Tesla is too expensive, you can get EVs from other companies for cheaper.

My point was more buying an EV now is in no way going to solve the problems we are already having NOW. I'm hearing very little about hard work being applied to current problems as opposed to problems decades from now.

So all the "climate change is already here!" people can take the winners trophy. So what are you doing about what's happening now, now?
 

SuperMatt

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My point was more buying an EV now is in no way going to solve the problems we are already having NOW. I'm hearing very little about hard work being applied to current problems as opposed to problems decades from now.

So all the "climate change is already here!" people can take the winners trophy. So what are you doing about what's happening now, now?
Buying an EV now ABSOLUTELY improves the situation. EVs are much more efficient than gas-powered cars, so even if it takes time for the grid to switch over to more renewable sources, you are still burning way less fossil fuel with an EV. When it comes to things that an individual can do to help, it is one of the best. And vote for green new deal politicians.

 

Chew Toy McCoy

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Buying an EV now ABSOLUTELY improves the situation. EVs are much more efficient than gas-powered cars, so even if it takes time for the grid to switch over to more renewable sources, you are still burning way less fossil fuel with an EV. When it comes to things that an individual can do to help, it is one of the best. And vote for green new deal politicians.


You're still talking about solutions that would have contributing results years from now. I want to know what is anybody doing about the crisis now that is directly dealing with it. Driving EVs isn't refilling our rapidly depleting water reserves, and as many have said we are already past the turning point. So driving EVs isn't going to refill our water reserves ever.
 

SuperMatt

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You're still talking about solutions that would have contributing results years from now. I want to know what is anybody doing about the crisis now that is directly dealing with it. Driving EVs isn't refilling our rapidly depleting water reserves, and as many have said we are already past the turning point. So driving EVs isn't going to refill our water reserves ever.
Did you read the report they released today? Nothing can undo what is already done. Drastic reductions in fossil fuel usage are needed to keep it from getting it worse. We just have to deal with the bad situation today and try to stop it from getting worse in the next half century.
 

Yoused

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We just have to deal with the bad situation today
Chewy's point is that we are not dealing with it. Too many people's right-now livelihoods would be put at severe risk if we were to try to make things not suck for our great grandchildren. To start with, the guy that runs that Vegas hotel is going to be closing it up, along with every freaking other hotel/motel/casino in Clark County because we simply cannot afford the insane quantities of water they use. That, or just fuck our descendants (kind of like child porn only deadlier).
 
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