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South Pole Water Infrastructure

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Re: South Pole Water Infrastructure

#31

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

photochemsyn wrote: post #23

Fascinating! >"Heating the equivalent of 1 gallon of water from -60°F to a reasonable liquid distribution temperature (50°F) means heating it up by a whopping 110°F. That’s 268 watt-hours of raw energy required just to bring a single gallon of water up to distribution temperature! This is one of the reasons we’re restricted to two-minute showers." Everyone reading this should try to get by on a two-minute shower once…

I like what a cold shower does to my brain. It's uncomfortable in the moment but it sort of stays with you all day in a nice way. I used to time them at 5m when I was building the habit but now I gravitate to around 2m.

Admittedly, Colorado "cold" is not Antarctica "cold". Just saying that 2m is plenty of time for a shower if you're not luxuriating in world of steam and shower thoughts.

Re: South Pole Water Infrastructure

#32

Post by __MatrixMan__ »

ta1243 wrote: post #9

I was shocked that such a scientific station is using Fahrenheit to measure the temperature of the water

Fahrenheit is based on what a human body finds hazardous, and this is a life support system for humans. It's the right tool for the job.

I doubt they're using Fahrenheit in contexts that don't benefit from a human bias.

Re: South Pole Water Infrastructure

#34

Post by noprocrasted »

immibis wrote: post #15

TL;DR: They mine the Antarctic for ice, creating huge sinkholes, then fill the holes in with raw sewage, a gift for future generations. Environmentally friendly, right!

The alternative would be to collect and ship it back which would require tons of energy that will have to be in the form of fossil fuels given current technology. Said fossil fuels have a huge environmental footprint (greenhouse gas emissions and depletion of fossil fuel reserves) that is affecting us now.

In contrast, the ice shelf is huge and still has a lot of capacity to contain sewage. It should remain frozen for the foreseeable future - if it melts (to the level where this sewage will become liquid) it means the global warming situation is so bad that there's likely no longer any humans around to actually witness this sudden deluge of sewage.

As long as we manage to keep that ice shelf frozen, we're fine. If we somehow fail at it it's likely there wouldn't be anyone around to complain about the sewage anyway.

Re: South Pole Water Infrastructure

#35

Post by SoftTalker »

cesarb wrote: post #18
defrost wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a blog for general US public reading, I'm inclined to think the seriousstuff is all Celsius and SI units and Fahrenheit is used in the social write ups so than regular folk in the US know what the tempretures are.

> I'm inclined to think the serious stuff is all Celsius and SI units and Fahrenheit is used in the social write ups [...] There are two photos in this article which show thermometers (search for "Temperature of the "), which clearly are in Fahrenheit (the scale goes from 20 to over 140, which would be from "comfortable room temperature" to "beyond boiling at normal pressure" if it were in Celsius), and both having a…

Application-specific industrial instrumentation probably sourced from USA. I'm sure all their scientific instruments are in Celsius.

Re: South Pole Water Infrastructure

#36

Post by SoftTalker »

photochemsyn wrote: post #23

Fascinating! >"Heating the equivalent of 1 gallon of water from -60°F to a reasonable liquid distribution temperature (50°F) means heating it up by a whopping 110°F. That’s 268 watt-hours of raw energy required just to bring a single gallon of water up to distribution temperature! This is one of the reasons we’re restricted to two-minute showers." Everyone reading this should try to get by on a two-minute shower once…

Or even less often.

Daily full-body bathing is unnecessary unless you do very physically demanding or dusty/dirty work.

Re: South Pole Water Infrastructure

#37

Post by consumer451 »

michael9423 wrote: post #33
icapybara wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have a better idea?

drying and burning.

There are some smart folks making the decisions for the procedures down there. I wonder how that decision process went, to end up with burial. I would love to know the details.

Re: South Pole Water Infrastructure

#38

Post by ano-ther »

ta1243 wrote: post #9

I was shocked that such a scientific station is using Fahrenheit to measure the temperature of the water

It’s a US government operated facility, so this is not too surprising.

Also, most equipment (especially things like plumbing) will be from US suppliers and that will just be easier to procure by the inch.

Re: South Pole Water Infrastructure

#39

Post by unethical_ban »

immibis wrote: post #15

TL;DR: They mine the Antarctic for ice, creating huge sinkholes, then fill the holes in with raw sewage, a gift for future generations. Environmentally friendly, right!

Wait until you learn about landfills!

Although considering the desire to survive on the Moon and Mars, one would think recycling sewage in more of a closed system would be worth funding.

Re: South Pole Water Infrastructure

#40

Post by immibis »

unethical_ban wrote: post #39
immibis wrote: post #15

TL;DR: They mine the Antarctic for ice, creating huge sinkholes, then fill the holes in with raw sewage, a gift for future generations. Environmentally friendly, right!

Wait until you learn about landfills! Although considering the desire to survive on the Moon and Mars, one would think recycling sewage in more of a closed system would be worth funding.

Landfills aren't usually in Antarctica. I thought we were supposed to be trying to keep Antarctica relatively pristine because it's Antarctica. Also, the sewage doesn't decompose in those temperatures, like it would in a normal landfill.
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