21–30 of 155 posts
MIT figured out fusion this month, water shortages are on the verge of being solved since water is not scarce, just dirty/salty - it's an energy problem.
I think the recent 200GW solar power deal between Saudi Arabia and SoftBank has more potential to solve desalination problems than Fusion (at least over the medium term).
In 2008, according to the Beijing Weather Modification Office, China used rockets to make sure the Olympic opening ceremony was rain-free: https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/how-beijing-use...
In 2013, China was producing "55 billion tons of artificial rain a year" according to the China Meteorological Administration: https://qz.com/138141/china-creates-55-billion-tons-of-artif...
Last year, the CMA spent millions on airplanes and rockets to affect rainfall: http://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/206...
That said, it's unclear whether cloud seeding actually works: https://cen.acs.org/articles/94/i22/Does-cloud-seeding-reall.... An experiment in the US, the Wyoming Weather Modification Pilot Program, gave somewhat positive but inconclusive results on the order of a 5 to 15 percent increase in precipitation amount: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/we-may-never-know-how-w...
And, sure enough, in 2011, China's rainmaking tech wasn't enough to fix the Yangtze delta drought: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/jun/01/china-dr...
To me, all this rain-making news out of China seems like either propaganda or some Chinese government bureau justifying its existence by inflating how much this cloud-seeding technology can actually do. But that's just my feeling from an hour of searching around and skimming articles -- I'd love to hear how I'm wrong!
The potential environmental impact of loads of silver iodide on human and other animal life is of concern. But it is China, so they probably don't care about that aspect.
Not only China, but which large country cares about larger environmental impact? Looking at the weapons the big countries are still building (man made floods, tornadoes etc) I don't think it's fair to target China alone.
I've always thought Australia should build a giant canal from the Great Australia Bite up through central Australia. Perhaps forming a permanent inland sea. The sea water evaporating would fall as rain (not sure where , though...). A question for this article is who would have gotten that rain had it not been seeded.
Do you mean Lake Eyre? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Eyre There has been discussion about flooding it with sea water for years but it seems impractical.
I think the big problem is motivation: we have heaps of arable land, and people are increasingly concentrated in cities.
EDIT thanks for the headsup, there's quite a bit online about it. I had this idea pre-internet, but haven't had the idea of googling it. IANA millennial, AMA (but I won't know).
In other news, in San Francisco, the NIMBYs won an agitation to prevent a 4 school building from being constructed. I am kidding..maybe. In all honestly, I think the time for US to create large scale construction projects that serve humanity (at the expense of environment) are over. We are lucky that the interstates got build in 1950s, that the NYC Subway was formed in late 19th century etc. Today, the regulations an…
Excluding systems which put water into the air, Atmospheric water is a zero sum game AFAIK so if this causes rain to fall where the Chinese want it, somebody else misses out. Freshwater from high mountains in the India/China region is a hot topic. They're running out of glaciers.
In other news, in San Francisco, the NIMBYs won an agitation to prevent a 4 school building from being constructed. I am kidding..maybe. In all honestly, I think the time for US to create large scale construction projects that serve humanity (at the expense of environment) are over. We are lucky that the interstates got build in 1950s, that the NYC Subway was formed in late 19th century etc. Today, the regulations an…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the recent 200GW solar power deal between Saudi Arabia and SoftBank has more potential to solve desalination problems than Fusion (at least over the medium term).
That too, although solar still has relatively high costs per watt. Fusion can make energy nearly free.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the recent 200GW solar power deal between Saudi Arabia and SoftBank has more potential to solve desalination problems than Fusion (at least over the medium term).
That too, although solar still has relatively high costs per watt. Fusion can make energy nearly free.
In other news, in San Francisco, the NIMBYs won an agitation to prevent a 4 school building from being constructed. I am kidding..maybe. In all honestly, I think the time for US to create large scale construction projects that serve humanity (at the expense of environment) are over. We are lucky that the interstates got build in 1950s, that the NYC Subway was formed in late 19th century etc. Today, the regulations an…