I suppose the question is, what does a bucket of water cost if it comes from the groundwater or the next mountains/sea and what does it cost if it comes from a multi-million desalination facility... I mean even if the energy is free (which it's not) the whole plant has to be built, staffed and maintained. And having an expensive factory sit around idle during the night and peak power and just operational from 10am to 3pm isn't economical and makes it even more expensive. And regular water is cheap. Even after being carried around by trucks in the worst case.
Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
In other words, green technology is not feasible from an economic standpoint. Did you factor in the effects of global warming or the cost of depleting known waterways/systems?
hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 4 weeks ago
I mean you also have to factor in the carbon footprint of the concrete that goes into the desalination facory. And producing solar panels also isn't light on the planet.
Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
By your estimation.
hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 4 weeks ago
Sure. I'm not a professor for water treatment. But I haven't heard any of them advocate for this, so there might be a reason to it. And with the constraint, it has to be powered just by excess solar energy, I'm pretty sure I'm right. That might change if you find cheap regenerative energy that runs the plant 24/7 and there are other geological factors that make alternative water sources less attractive. But there is no way it'll work like this. And I mean we use lots of water everyday. Not just in the house, but also for farming and whatnot. You're going to need a massive amount of energy to have a noticeable impact and save other water sources.