Whats the point?

[babalu87]

(broken link removed)

UAE is world's third largest water consumer after U.S.
BY MOUSHUMI DAS CHAUDHURY

25 December 2004



DUBAI - At present, the UAE is the world's third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada. The consumption of water is expected to increase by 44 per cent to 3.2 billion cubic metres by 2025, according to a survey.

What this article doesnt tell you is the amount of oil they use to produce the water. A Discovery channel special noted that they use 300,000 gallons of oil to make 1 million gallons of water! It takes MUCH steam to make salt water drinkable and therefore MUCH oil to make the steam.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I heard a story this morning on NPR about a reverse osmosis water purification plant in Perth, Australia. It has big power requirements, but they get all their juice from a wind farm build especially for that purpose. I think they said it generates 90 mw under optimum conditions. But RO is apparently a much faster way to produce potable water than conventional distillation. Anyway, it keeps the city of Perth watered up and with room for growth.

Seems to me a place like Dubai could exploit solar energy for a similar project, were they so inclined.

 

[BrotherBart]

I am working on a way to use the Ash Can to heat my house. My garage. The warehouse. Two blocks of the neighborhood...

 

[babalu87]

Seems to me a place like Dubai could exploit solar energy for a similar project, were they so inclined.

Why when you have an abundance of oil to make steam and then water with. Makes you wonder about peak oil doesnt it?

 

[Sandor]

Babs, that story is over two years old. From my various readings about energy on the web, I know I read some stories about how Dubai was really going after solar power.

Let's get some more up to date material. I'll go look for ya.

Lets see.... this story is about the Vice President of the U.A.E, who is also the ruler of Dubai, putting on a convention about solar power for the country. Story is 30 days old.

(broken link removed to http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/63363.html)

Could you even imagine Dick Cheney doing this?

How about this one. Its about the potential for using solar to power desalinization plants.

(broken link removed)

Its kinda interesting that the story you provided was before Kuwait admitted that the great Burgan oil field was past peak and in terminal decline. It was also before Mexico admitted that the huge Canterell oil field was in terminal decline. It was also before Saudi Arabia began cutting its allocation to certain countries amid record high oil prices. It was also before the Alaskan oil fields were pumping 75 percent water and 25 percent oil.

So, I think some thinking has changed since that story was written in 2004.

 

[babalu87]

The show on Discovery was from 2007 and I did a quick google of it and found that article. That desalination plant is STILL running. They are going to solar to ramp up water production.