Techutante

Techutante t1_j22sq04 wrote

Reply to comment by thatawesomedrunkguy in UIUC Researchers propose a new way to get fresh water from seawater, without the disadvantages of traditional desalination. They say that a vertical “capture surface” that is 210 m wide and 100 m tall, could extract enough vapor floating above warm oceans to supply 500,000 people with freshwater by lughnasadh

They apparently mine brine for various minerals and trace metals, I was just reading. Rare earth elements and whatnot.

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Techutante t1_j22k4ty wrote

Reply to comment by thatawesomedrunkguy in UIUC Researchers propose a new way to get fresh water from seawater, without the disadvantages of traditional desalination. They say that a vertical “capture surface” that is 210 m wide and 100 m tall, could extract enough vapor floating above warm oceans to supply 500,000 people with freshwater by lughnasadh

I think they just pump it in a big tank or open field and let it evaporate. Bulldoze it later.

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Techutante t1_j222fff wrote

Reply to comment by strppngynglad in Request for predictions: what will the home of the future look like? by gropethegoat

It's probably going to be a 'throw everything at the wall' technology future, so drones for sure. They are mostly for light loads though, even a larger drone army would have trouble moving trainyards worth of stuff. There's only a certain density of air traffic you can have before nothing can move.

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Techutante t1_j21zlv1 wrote

Reply to comment by teesee150 in UIUC Researchers propose a new way to get fresh water from seawater, without the disadvantages of traditional desalination. They say that a vertical “capture surface” that is 210 m wide and 100 m tall, could extract enough vapor floating above warm oceans to supply 500,000 people with freshwater by lughnasadh

They have literal deserts of sand. I assume you could just dump it there.

*edit* Which they don't apparently. https://www.business-standard.com/article/international/saudi-arabia-s-thirst-for-water-is-creating-a-toxic-brine-problem-119010901323_1.html

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Techutante t1_j21qce5 wrote

Reply to comment by junktrunk909 in UIUC Researchers propose a new way to get fresh water from seawater, without the disadvantages of traditional desalination. They say that a vertical “capture surface” that is 210 m wide and 100 m tall, could extract enough vapor floating above warm oceans to supply 500,000 people with freshwater by lughnasadh

Yeah, some solutions I've read include filling in old pit mines (many of which were dug out of salt veins because it's easy to get through), brine based storage solutions as a heat battery or ultra-cooling facilities for data centers.

Each solution has it's own problems of course, like salt leeching into ground water tables and a lack of scale to handle the possible output of brine.

Atmospheric condensation is a bit of a troublesome issue in it's own way though right, because you're altering the climate distribution of moisture. Not that we aren't altering everything all the time, but imagine if a country were to divert the flow of water from a river that historically ended in another country.

Only then imagine you're doing it with the rivers in the sky instead. Obviously it would be quite a while before capture technologies scaled up to that point, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.

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Techutante t1_j20l0rn wrote

Reply to comment by Surur in UIUC Researchers propose a new way to get fresh water from seawater, without the disadvantages of traditional desalination. They say that a vertical “capture surface” that is 210 m wide and 100 m tall, could extract enough vapor floating above warm oceans to supply 500,000 people with freshwater by lughnasadh

Also we have a HUUUUGE demand for salt as a society, so they can reuse that brine. Mostly for clearing roads at this point during poor weather, which is a whole other can of worms. (salting the earth)

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Techutante t1_j20j3fo wrote

Reply to What would food look like if we could scale up lab grown meat? by sandcrawler56

Wild animals will become boutique food, cost more, be served with special flourish. The Rich will keep eating them, and poor people will get vat food. For good or ill.

This is the future every sci-fi author has seen, through a hundred different lenses.

Think about how many people are trying to make eating bugs a thing. Now imagine snow piercer. If they can, they will.

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Techutante t1_j0nm28b wrote

Reply to I just love floppy paperbacks by shiftinganathema

They used to call small paperbacks a "pocketbook" and people shoved them in their back pocket. I always had one in my coat. Before I forgot how to read after getting a smartphone anyway.

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