Yeah, they tried that. The technology to track, collect, and concentrate solar radiation to a "boiler" drum is incredibly complex and expensive to run. Power plants don't operate on 100°C (212°F) saturated steam. They need superheated, dry steam to produce any appreciable amount of momentum. The efficiency of a turbine is directly related to the temperature differential between the turbine inlet and the downstream condenser. The condenser creates and area of low pressure that the high pressure steam rushes to occupy. This migration is the force harnessed by the turbine blades that causes them to spin. Of course a gearbox can adjust the resistance of a turbine but it also creates extra complexity and reliability issues. This overall effect lowers the output and efficiency of the process more than most people consider. Building a plant is one thing, operating a plant is another. Keeping it running is a completely different nightmare all together.
One thing we need to do is move water from the ocean back inland to places we need it and if we can do that while generating clean energy we have a chance to mitigate climate change and still have a prosperous future. It is really, really hard but it is not impossible. The biggest idea I am trying to express is tunneling aqueducts from the coast, in this case the west coast of the USA inland to feed combination geothermal power and sea water desalination plants. The idea seems to be so big that no one has considered it possible but I believe it is not only possible but it is necessary. For over a century the fossil water contained in aquifers has been pumped out to feed agriculture, industry and municipal water needs. The natural water cycle cant refill fossil water deposits that were filled 10,000 years ago when the glaciers melted after the last ice age. Without refilling these aquifers there is not much of a future for the region of the United states. As a result ground levels in some areas of the San Joaquin Valley have subsided by more than 30 feet. Similar fossil water depletion is happening in other regions all around the world. TBM and tunneling technology has matured and further developments in the industry are poised to speed up the tunneling process and it's these tunnels that are the only way to move large volumes of water from the ocean inland. The water is moved inland to areas where it can be desalinated in geothermal plants producing clean water and power. In many cases the water will recharge surface reservoirs where it will be used first to make more hydro power before being released into rivers and canal systems. It's very important however to not stop tunneling at these first stops but to continue several legs until the water has traveled from the ocean under mountain ranges to interior states. Along the way water will flow down grade through tunnels and rise in geothermal loops to fill mountain top pumped hydro batteries several times before eventually recharging several major aquifers. What I am proposing is essentially reversing the flow of the Colorado River Compact. Bringing water from the coast of California first to mountaintop reservoirs then to the deserts of Nevada and Arizona and on to Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming. This big idea looks past any individual city or states problems and looks at the whole and by using first principles identifies the actual problem and only solution. Thank you for your time, I would like the opportunity to explain in further detail and answer any questions.
Some could even argue that reducing continental water is causing the temperature rise. Which seems to be concentrated in areas where agriculture and negligence caused a lot of water loss. CO2 is a just a symptom. 😉
A question I have is that in the process of artificially developing this environment based around distributing water in contrived areas, you are facilitating the emergence of new ecosystems (trees, insects, birds, and animals will flourish in these areas) - but because it is based on technology, there would be some reasonable risk of failure? We have seen that power plants sometimes fail or meltdown, for example? This could massively impact the animals in said areas. Could it be considered morally irresponsible to artificially create ecosystems that are based on complicated technology with an inherent risk of failure? Perhaps it could be considered more responsible to limit our use of desalinated water strictly for human activity to avoid such risks...
No matter the cost there is no real alternative. Beverage companies, including beer, soda, and water bottlers all use desalinization. I'm sure some people argued against tax dollars being spent on highways 100 years ago. The world needs clean drinkable and washable water!
Thorium and Solar ponds would solve a lot of issues in arrid regions. The world needs to come together for the benefit of all humanity,not just for a few. Somethings should always be free.
Building a river ecosystem and atmosphere scrubbing is more ideal than the wall.. the Rio grande doing a massive terreform project by building a system of dams and reservoir system from desalination using the brine to produce mineral as lithium and other great salt lake monolith Utah brine mineral harvesting...
NEOM should use the seawater directly as well - use it for evaporative cooling instead of the fresh water.. Either to cool public places and homes, or to cool and humidify shade-houses, to reduce the amount of fresh water needed to grow local vegetables etc Salts can be harvested from these systems too
@@mshtysf4646 My home city is cooled with sea breezes, and hasn't rusted as yet... Evaporated water is much the same, if evaporated from fresh or salt water, so you'll have to explain why evaporative cooling (which doesn't rust anyone''s house that I've seen) would rust this city?? :)
@@mshtysf4646 no it will not. finland use seawater to produce cool water in helsinki. mostly cooling offices and buildings in summer time. it is close system. sea water from deph 40meter were it is very cool. sea water is used heat exchanger. no need get rid of salt.....
@@Apina79 The water in the Gulf of Finland has significantly less dissolved chlorine than most sea water, due to where the water draining into it is coming from a rather significant basin, and the fact that there's a net flow southwards from the snow and ice melts and pushes the contents towards Poland.
Solar thermal desalination has been done on a small scale with parabolic troughs and heat exchangers in California's Central Valley. I don't see how the dome improves upon that system.
Saudi have technology to turn brine to minerals "lithium, mg, sodium, pb etc" , and they're on process to implement the technology in all the destinations plants.
@@srec539 Then STFU.........if you value your life.....no one loves a whistleblower......too many people out there wanting to make trouble for someone just because they can.
@@gangleweed nice words... criminals do not like whistleblowers. About making trouble for someone else, dude you are so wrong you can not even imagine. Faisal shared his opinion like i did and no hard feelings, he is proud for his country, and if i do not agree with him or someone else, that is our right and I do not see the point of stfu... just sad from your side, but not all people can grow up at the same point in life.
@@srec539 The point is if you are a potential crusader for human rights you will have to cop the flack that goes with it.........some people are masochists that way, personally as long as you mind your own business the whole World will be fine......those with vested interests make sure the whistleblowers get what's coming to them........sad but true, you only have one life to live and an unmarked grave is a lonely place to spend eternity for no good reason.
@@gangleweed If you mind your own business? That's based on the idea that everyone has an idea what "one's own business" is. For example, some people think getting involved in Yemen's civil war is minding "their" business. Because they think what happens in Yemen is their business. And when other parties get involved they say that they should mind their own business.
irrigation+rainfall = evaporation + transpiration + runoff + leaching Which one of these processes do Farmers really have control over during the growing season? If you have the ability to irrigate your sandy soils and water is cheap and plentiful, then you are fortunate and have some control on the left side of the equation. If you do not have irrigation, you must look at the factors on the right side of the equation to see what can be controlled or minimized to benefit your crop. Evaporation from the soil surface can be reduced with mulch or leaving crop residue on the soil surface. Transpiration is a function of the plant leaf surface area and the weather. Runoff is or should be minimal in sandy textured soils with high percolation rates. This leaves the leaching of water out of the root zone as the #1 controllable loss of moisture to your crop. Interrupting the downward movement of moisture in your soil by installing a "smart" barrier can greatly reduce the leaching of water and nutrients. SWRT subsurface membranes detain/retain up to 90% of irrigation or rainfall in the root zone for crop use by disrupting the gravitational movement of water in the soil while still allowing excess water to percolate and do not create anaerobic soil conditions.
To build a desalination plant located in the desert that uses electricity is the epitome of standard corporate blockheadedness. With thousand degree temperatures all year long, some genius decided that an electric furnace would be a good idea and was able to sell the idea to investors (i.e. government). The lack of creative thinking at the corporate level is only exceeded by the numbskulledness of government bureaucracy.
Hello, thank you for your explanation when several countries in the world seasonal air temperature and water is above 35 degrees we can use this condition to produce electricity and pure water and other products that I mention my profile.
Collection of stock footage, combined with comments praising a project that is a clear waste of resources. Based on prior art, there are far more efficient technologies available to desalinate sea water and then they could easily be combined with renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic power as electricity source for a reverse osmosis plant or thermosolar power as primary heat source of a multi stage flash desalination unit.
Why is this taking so long? Heaps of sunshine hours and close to seawater! You could add in some tidal power as well and create a Pump Hydro system as well so that you can generate power at night-time. OK it might be Capital Intensive to set up on scale but wow! Why weren't we already doing this?
Depends on your fuel source ...if you grow hemp make fire bricks you can make a million tonnes off hemp every 3 months if you want...make fire bricks n burn those too boil salt water n collect the steam now its not expensive it's free
they should just pump water up a 100m tower then let it fall through a membrane at bottom as it drags the water up (as well) so hardly any pumping, all while pressure is at 100m depth equivilancy at membrane so huge pressure
Has anyone ever done a cone (pointy end at top) down to say 100m deep and wide at base and found water pressure still (same) huge at depth. Surely it is pressurised same as 100m etc deep in ocean but you never know as weight above is different
The sun don’t just support electricity generation, It evaporate sea water leaving sadly behind in a desalination process. Sun is abundant in Saudi Arabia regions. The only problem left is brine water and heat disposable or recycle.
The Salton Sea in California is a source for some rare materials. Good use for brine. Another use is in the petroleum industry, used to force oil & gas to upper layers more easy extracted.
I don't understand why humanity hasn't made great effort to desalinate sea water and mirrors and glass had been so under utilised to try and boil water. Greenhouses have been around for a long while as well so it's a surprise nobody ever tried to harness the power of glass in harnessing the sun's power
It will make the land infertile and dead. Of course that might already be the case in some places, like the Danakil valley in Ethiopia. Check that out, it would be an amazing project to build a canal from the red sea to Danakil valley, relatively cheap, would produce hydroelectricity and the water would evaporate and rain.
Use a solar dome to activate an HTC carbonization process plant then you get clean drinking water and useful buy product in the process; Instead of a desalination plant with brine waste problem.
Why not build a floating dome on the ocean, like a large "buble wrap" which cover part of the ocean and trapping the natural water evaporation which will not produce waste like brine. This also can reduce the land use
When you talk about Israel - what you are showing is not desalination facility. there is one facility called sorek, but its not what you are showing, its much closer to the sea.
There is a new invention: Process of converting seawater to hydrogen, piping it and reforming it to freshwater that converts seawater into freshwater AND transfer it inland at minimal cost. This investment would last generations.
that distilation, and uses a lot of electricity, they call it destiliation but he means to say distilation, reverse osmosis passes though a membrane where as distilation evaporates the sea water and collects as freshwater it uses a lot of electricity, to make hydrogen using electrolosis and mixing it with oxygen would use the same if not more elctricity, to boil water and collect the steam as water to fall around a surface and collect again as fresh water would use less electriciy than what electolosis in water would use
@@climatehero I know it is electrolysis the only way to make water into hydrogen, that would use a lot of electricity more that distilation, but combined it is distilation process to distill the water extract salt, hydrogen is then mixed with oxygen to make fresh water and would use even more elctricity than just boiling the water
@@alistairmacgregor1456 The process is called Dual Fuel cell. The first PEM fuel cell extracts salt from seawater and produces hydrogen gas that can be transferred for very long distances and at high altitudes at minimal cost. Granted it uses a lot of electricity. At the end of the pipeline, the other fuel cell receives the hydrogen and combines oxygen from the air to reform water. This generates a lot of electricity, 95% of the initial electricity, so the net cost is only 5%. Now you have to factor in the cost of transporting water in the case of reverse osmosis, that is very expensive, to the minimal cost of transferring hydrogen; it becomes very efficient. In the case of Saudi Arabia, a single source of desalination could generate hydrogen to feed a whole series of freshwater stations and the resulting electricity.
@@climatehero I will have to look into this, high altitude hydrogen is dangeroius blimp style, but I cant see other ways transporting in high altitudes, the thing i dont get is how does combining hydrogen and oxygen create 95% or any electricity the best way to clean water is a implosion vortex but no one knows much on implosion.
Global warming is winning and this is just the beginning Think globally, act locally . Reduce your carbon footprint Every dollar you spend is a vote Its time we behave like adults Its time we face the facts and take responsibility Please Act and Vote responsibly every day before its to late
Global Warming? After promising an apocalypse in yearly 2000 and time proved this myth of global warming is a lie, politics and other totalitarian bastards changed this cliche for something even more subjective and broad to interpretation to keeping tricking fools as you. In accord with Al Gore and other climate-gangaster where I live should be cover in water, 20 years later there was a very small reduction in the sea level. The last decade I`ve faced hash winters and record of fallen snow and a live in a subtropical area in south Brazil. It is easy make apocalypse forecasts that only will happen 10/15 years in the future and demand actions now. These demagogues know very well the majority of their foolish audience will forget their forecast in less than a month. It is so ridiculously and demonic those prophets of climate change always demand efforts from regular people in form of taxes, meet eating reduction, petrol high prices while them go to environmental meetings decide our life stiles on their private jets and are carried in their luxury car while us the mortals every year watch car and petrol become more expensive denying us the mortals the human right go and come.
I do believe in the development and use of desalinization plants. But this video had some pretty stupid. Specifically the dead fish. That is a Pink Salmon and once they make their spawning run they die. Find a different picture!
In Uk we have water, sun, knowledge, the only thing that is missing, the leader love for the land and peoples. let me cite a pearl of wisdom from the Bible every nation divided on itself collapse.
Brine Disposal idea: Load up a ship with the brine, and disperse it slowly over a long distance ie: 1000 miles. The brine will be so diluted in the water that it will not create any serious harm to the environment.
How is building another dumb project in the middle of the desert going to solve the water crisis... It just adds to the demand. So far ive only seen carcentric hellholes for rich people built in the region. They need to greenify some areas first i think.
God loves all of us so much He came in the flesh to die and rise so that if we choose to accept Jesus as our one true Savior turning from our sins we may be gifted eternal salvation through Christ’s perfect sacrifice on the cross. Have a great day
to much electricity will be needed for any of these, unless it is solar famed or a solar field but you are still a while of harnesing the sun, you dont even use a magnifying lens and thats basic common sense, magnify the solar rays by 5X you will improve solar, its not a hard think, but solar uses quarts and coal and more coal to reach 1800 degrees to fuse the solar cells made from quarts and coal, so is it realy the answer, takes 2 years to off set production so it maybe but still harnessing low amounts, there are other ways aswell to harness even more from solar that is unbelievably simple to do, also the inverter could be edited the copper coil relay is missing something that could improve it a lot, but th issue here is water, there is two ways to get water, one is to implode it and the other is to use reverse condensing from the air, they would run on small units as they cannot produce swimming pools of water but spread out in small operations they work well, I dont think graphene is the answer from a health point of view,
Electricity in gulf countries doesnt need water. The turbines have engines just like a viehicle instead of being rotated by water, crude oil rotates them as its in surplus.