Imagine our power needs if we can't export as much of our manufacturing/industry to China or other countries as easily (who are also burning some dirty). Tag in electric vehicles. We just consume so much freaking power as a single country that it's just wild to think that it ISN'T immoral to draw a bunch of power to get a gallon of water in the middle of the desert.

I noticed you're in California.

https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/2021-total-system-electric-generation

If you look through this, you'll see that the total power consumed by California (not just the generated in state power - California buys power from a lot of out of state sources) has a make up of about 65% non-renewable to 35% renewable.

Well. It isn't being drawn from renewable resources, nor will it be in the near future. Renewables are great, but there are a lot of hurdles to overcome if we want to use renewables for all of our energy. In the US, all of the industry, manufacturing, etc. alone will need coal/natural gas plants for some time. We just simply cannot get enough renewable energy out of our available methods. That doesn't mean we shouldn't push towards that of course, but this is a whole different topic.

It is weird to burn a bunch of natural gas and coal to produce a gallon of water in the middle of a desert. And only rich folk can afford to do so.

We all share the energy infrastructure in the US. It is regional, but it is a shared UTILITY. Huge draws of power increase the cost of electricity for everyone, not just the consumer of said power (to some extent, some power companies will charge you more if you have large surges). If you ever work with a power company commercially, you would understand that unnecessary power consumption raises the costs for everyone.

There is simply not enough solar power available to meet our energy needs (nor will there ever be unless we CONSUME LESS POWER) and because your argument hinges on this, I don't know what to tell you..

They have these already on the market. Perhaps these researchers are doing something different, but I have a hard time seeing how they'll overcome the constraints of the existing tech. Those are: Tons of power draw per gallon of water produced. Variable efficiency depending on relative humidity, temperature, and other weather conditions. Huge startup cost.

The result. Rich people in the Sonoran desert drawing huge amounts of power to create only enough water to drink (not enough to farm).

The effect. Subsidized (by the general population) power to support some weirdo in the desert who has too much money and not very good critical thinking abilities.