Well, if half of Greenland’s ice is shortly headed on the way to the sea as meltwater, then pulling some of that out via desalination might not be such a bad idea. : )
That’s obviously simplifying things, but just sayin’.
Well, if half of Greenland’s ice is shortly headed on the way to the sea as meltwater, then pulling some of that out via desalination might not be such a bad idea. : )
I like that idea. I always thought it would be an amazing achievement to irrigate the desserts and perhaps drain the swamps.With advances in solar technology (and reductions in production costs), I think it would probably easily pay for itself over time via water rights. You could probably get away with having a lot of small, relatively inexpensive (as far as government mega projects go) satellite pumping stations.
While in no way comparable, a family member's ranch uses a series of small solar pumps to transfer water from a spring-fed pond to an upper pond. It's been a while since I walked the fence, but If I recall correctly there are 3-4 small pumps (the housing of each "station" is about the size of a carryon luggage case). Each pump has a single panel (maybe 45 watts) at each pump. The distance between the ponds is probably about 130 yards, and 30 feet of elevation. This small setup is able to irrigate about 40 acres of pasture.
True. I hadn't thought of that. They can estimate the additional flow going in, so they should have a rough idea of what could be taken out.