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MIT’s New Desalination System Produces Freshwater That Is “Cheaper Than Tap Water”
(scitechdaily.com)
this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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Technology for a Solar-Punk future.
Airships and hydroponic farms...
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What is the magical method we are pimping this week and what is the fatal flaw which will be revealed that makes it entirely impractical for commercial or industrial scale uses? I ask because we seem to (re-)invent various version of the solar still (oh, look - that's what they're doing!) every year or two and it's revolutionary every time because the energy is free and all that's required is a way to scale it up, prevent the scaled up version from destroying the local ecosystem through hypersalination around the plant when operated at the level needed for efficient collection and distribution to a sizable population, and figure out how to move the billions of tons of water required in a typical year for a medium sized city/population center from the desalination location to a distribution system.
Also, sorry for being shitty. I'm in an especially intolerant mood today.
It's a solar still that can operate continuously without maintenance as it doesn't get clogged with salt. That's a pretty nifty and practical achievement.
They're also proposing it be used at household scale, because the system is so small, rather than scaled up to factory scale.
Oh god, can you imagine the brine disposal problem with home use? People still pour motor oil down drains.