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20 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16yeah why would new technology that may save our childrens lives be dugg on digg...you think this is a technology site or something?
- apdicaprio, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11That is a very simple one. desalinization plant uses a lot of electricity which california doesn't have because no-one wants a nuclear power plant around. So instead there are brownouts and coal plants which release more radiation and pollutants than Nuclear...and before anyone starts talking waste desposal, maybe 1% of all nuclear waste is power plant related and ideally it won't get burried because there is still much more power to generate from it.
- nixonrichard, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Hmm, that's funny . . . I took a piss right before reading this, so today's drinking water is tomorrow's seawater!
- culbeda, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5This is the drinking water of TODAY for many.
I was in Malta and their natural fresh water supply is enough to sustain about 10,000 people. They have about 200,000-250,000 people and HEAVILY dependent upon desalination. And they're certainly not alone. - drizek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3wtf are you on about? This isnt about coal or nuclear energy. Desal plants use up a lot of energy period. It is a far better solution to just divert water from norcal(not that its a GOOD solution, but its not as bad). Desal plants use up a lot of energy, require a lot of maintenance and in general are just very expensive to run.
- OaklandNative, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I hope it tastes better than what comes out of current desalinazation plants. Santa Barbara has been using desalinized water since the last draught in CA. Endless supply of drinking water but it tastes like a swimming pool.
- jiggawoot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Bah humbug. First of all, water from a Reverse Osmosis plant doesn't taste THAT bad. I drink it every day. We have 2 RO plants on board and they quite easily supply enough fresh water for a crew of 250. Showers, washing hands, cooking, and of course drinking water.
And I really don't see how it requires so much energy either. There was some Australian boffin last year who figured out he could use the flow of the water to generate extra power, and re-circulate the waste water back through the system to increase output, hence making it more efficient. I couldn't be stuffed finding the link right now, but if you're that interested just do a search online and I'm sure you can find all the info you like. De-sal plants aren't exactly a new concept, the Israelis have been perfecting them for at least a decade. - tombisho, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1apdicaprio, how does a coal-fired powerstation generate more radiation?
- AikoMiko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Sweet! We can use this to counteract the rising sea levels from global warming! Now we can say f*ck the ice caps! Yeah!
- megaloid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@tombisho:
It's not a bad question you're asking. The reason coal plants release more radiation than nukes is because of the bits of uranium present in the coal. It goes into the air along with the rest of the pollution and it does have a statistically significant effect on human health in the form of higher cancer rates. Read the Wikipedia article for a thorough look at the subject. - jerbaker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1But coal power plants don't leak thorium into the groundwater (see San Onofre). Don't let the pro-nuclear nuts fool ya.
- spect3r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hey, they did it in Sim City!!
- zediker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yep, just like megaloid said. Coal is found deep (by deep i mean several thousand feet depending on location) in the earth where alot of the heavier elements formed. So you get other heavier elements bound inside it when it forms. Any elements higher than lead on the periodic table tend to be slightly to completely unstable, and thus emit radiation. Thus burning coal releases these radioactive elements into the enviroment. Although there isnt alot of it, over time it still is a huge amount of radioactive material, easily surpasing that of the nuclear fuel waste from a nuclear power plant. Additionally, the nuclear fuel from a nuclear plant, can be re-used by specialty nuclear plants as well as stored more securly than the radioactive material released into the atmosphere by a coal plant.
- ChiefUCF, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Please chase after that link, that's a very interesting concept...sounds like it should see some decent Popular Mechanics coverage.
- neftaly, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Today’s Seawater Is Tomorrow’s Drinking Water" sounds like a political commentary =O
- Ajajadude, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I believe there are plenty of places in the world that use desal plants. I heard a lecture about water supply (I'm in Florida) sometime ago, and the lecturer briefly mentioned some resort islands that use desal plants...I'll have to find something on that, I'm curious now.
- steveTr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0good idea, but the article says california is the 5th largest economy in the world. In actuality, it is the 9th largest.
- jerbaker, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2I have always wondered why we can afford to build aqueducts from northern California, but we can't run a desalination plant. Like I tell my water company, "No, there's a drought when I go to the beach and it's gone, but not before."
- devr, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2That was weird, I was reading this article on the UCLA HSSEAS website earlier today.
- jeremy66158, on 10/12/2007, -24/+1I don't think this could get 35 real diggs. What do you think?
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