Desalination 'not the solution' (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

Turning salt water into drinking water is not a solution to tackle global water scarcity, the WWF has said.

A report by the environmental group said a growth in the energy intensive technology would increase emissions and damage coastal and river habitats.

More attention should instead be paid to conserving supplies, it suggested.

The study was published as Australia announced plans to build one of the world's biggest desalination plants to supply drinking water to Melbourne.

"Desalinating the sea is an expensive, energy intensive and greenhouse gas emitting way to get water," said Jamie Pittock, director of WWF's global freshwater programme.
***
more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6767533.stm

[Gregorian]

1. Population.

All of the problems we're trying to tackle, magically disappear when the population decreases.

But that isn't what people want to think about. I should really just shut up and go away. I'm not making any friends this way.

[The2ndWheel]

4. Only creating new problems

Most of all the tax base. Over time, as we have fewer people, at some point the math has to come into play. Everything those taxes pay for, either have to scale down, or taxes have to go up.

That's why Europe has the problems they do(or will have). They're an aging population in most countries, and they need all those immigrants(like the US), but many of the major European countries have a problem with the cultural differences and integration, which will make things very interesting when the native populations of Europe start to die.

Whether population increases or decreases(it won't simply stay the same), we're going to have problems.

[phantom power]

6. I think cause and effect are going to make these choices for us.

There will be fewer people at the end of this century. But it's going to happen the good old fashioned, Hobbesian way.

In fact, Glider Guider recently showed pretty convincingly that it can't happen any other way. Assuming that the new equilibrium is at around 1 billion people, and we have 75 years to reach equilibrium.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=92639&mesg_id=92651

[depakid]

2. I guess Jamie Pittock's never heard of the Kwinana Desalination Plant

in Perth.

Wind powered reverse osmosis:




The Emu Downs Wind Farm, with 48 wind turbines north of Perth, provides enough renewable energy to power the desalination plant.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11134967

[NNadir]

10. So they shut the desalination plant whenever the wind is not blowing?

Or is this just a case where coal burning Australia builds a wind plant and then says that whatever electricity they use for the osmosis plant is theoretically supplied by wind.

I assume as well that they use the wind to blow away the salt so it doesn't contaminate the seawater.

[Dr.Phool]

3. WWF? The World Wrestling Federation is worried about water?

[Greyskye]

5. Anyone studied the feasibility...

...of a desalination plant powered by tidal power generation?

Seems as if these two technologies go together like chocolate and peanut butter. But not as sticky.

[GeorgeGist]

7. Ever occur to the WWF ...

that water AND energy are both essential to life? And to treat them as challenges to fulfill, rather than problems to not solve?

[philb]

8. Potable water from the ocean without desalinization as a bonus from energy production

FAU Ocean Power Center of Excellence
As the world's economy grows and strives to meet growing energy demands, the Center is committed to creating, developing and sustaining a new industry that has the potential to provide a clean, reliable and renewable source of energy that can be used to generate electricity, unlimited hydrogen and potable water, as well as providing alternative methods for residential cooling.
http://coet.fau.edu/?p=oceanres

Florida is ideally situated to tap into two major sources of ocean power: mechanical and thermal, the scientists said.
Mechanical power could come from the Gulf Stream, which flows northward off the southeast Florida coast and carries more than 8 billions of gallons of water a minute — 30 times the total flow of all the world's freshwater rivers, Driscoll said.
He envisions fields of turbines, similar to those now being used to harness wind energy, suspended hundreds of feet beneath the waves and generating power that could be directly carried to shore.

Thermal power is produced by the interaction of warm and cold water. The greater the temperature difference, the more power can be generated.
Florida, where the warm Gulf Stream overlays cold water flowing from the Arctic, has one of the world's greatest ocean temperature differences, according to information provided by FAU.
Among the byproducts of thermal energy would be fresh water and hydrogen, which could be used to augment natural gas or as a direct source of energy, Driscoll said.

Another thermal source would be the direct use of ultra-cold water for commercial air conditioning. Over 10 years, Driscoll predicted, the use of cold ocean water could reduce Florida's demand for hydrocarbon-based energy by 20 percent.
(Note: you get potable water as a byproduct of the energy processes)

http://www.coxwashington.com/hp/content/reporters/stories/2007/05/07/BC_OCEAN_ENERGY_ADV07_COX.html

[silverweb]

9. Sorry, I don't buy it.

"Desalinating the sea is an expensive, energy intensive and greenhouse gas emitting way to get water."

It all depends on HOW you go about it, dontcha think?

:eyes: