Neat: Aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson to produce 200,000 gallons/day for Haitians

[Moonbeam]

Lets not forget that if humanity wasn't psychotic there would be no need for such multi billion dollar weapons as aircraft carriers and the capacity to produce many more times that amount of water for that cost could be easily realized.

 

[ProfJohn]

If we do this in excessive amount it can result in environmental disaster to marine life. Too much sea water distillation results in higher salt contents in sea water which can adversely affect marine life.

ummmm.... There is around 343 billion BILLION gallons of water in the ocean.

I think we could take a few million gallons out a day and it would make no difference in the overall salt content of the ocean.

We would just have to be careful about where we took the water from and where we dumped the salt.

 

[Patranus]

I believe it would require massive amounts of power to meet the needs of California. It would probably be fantastically expensive to do so. Solar desalination would probably be cheaper per gallon, but even then $$$

Um. I am pretty sure the other post was inferring the use of N-U-C-L-E-A-R power....
you know...
the thing Obama and the Democrats are against.

Nuclear is much cheaper than solar and significantly better for the environment.

And here I sit, thinking Obama really wanted to return science to its rightful place.

 

[StageLeft]

ummmm.... There is around 343 billion BILLION gallons of water in the ocean.

I think we could take a few million gallons out a day and it would make no difference in the overall salt content of the ocean.

We would just have to be careful about where we took the water from and where we dumped the salt.

That seemed like an extremely small figure to me so I checked. It's actually trillion, phew! If you wanted you could just sell the salt or ship it off to a dump somewhere. The day people say that we shouldn't desalinate the ocean because it's upsetting its overall salt content is the day we've all failed collectively as a species.

 

[GroundedSailor]

Those are going to be some stinky sailors in a week, the only way to give away that much water is to ration it among the crew. But it is a stink for a good cause.

Most modern ships produce their own fresh water and the capacity to produce water always exceeds normal consumption. This allows for down time for maintenance of the FW generators and allows for consumption in port when the generators are off. (Ships normally use the waste heat in main engine exhaust gas to run the FW generators, so in port they are normally off).

It's important to note that the cost of producing FW from sea water is very expensive in terms of energy required, which is why ships will normally not produce water when stopped, unless urgently needed. Navy ships spend more time stopped than sailing so they have no choice but to do so. Merchant ships spend far more time sailing than in port. Also, unless it has very sophisticated filters, ships will not make water when near land due to the presence of contaminants. usually wait till they are 20 - 50 miles offshore before starting the generators. I believe Navy ships have such filters but merchant ships do not.

Other costs come from adding minerals to the FW, as the water produced is almost distilled and long term use of that water can leach minerals out of your body. Maybe thats why sailors prefer to drink beer () rather than water!!


.

 

[rudder]

200,000 gallons is enough drinking water for 200,000+ people under a disaster scenario. For normal household usage, it is essentially nothing. Probably two orders of magnitude too little for a city the same size.

200,000 would barely cover toilets being flushed during the course of a day.

 

[ichy]

What is this fuel source? Its clean, cheap, and plentiful? Nuclear Power? Blasphemy. Even if its good enough for the US military, it sure ain't good enough for US civilians!

While I am pro-nuclear power (France is one of the least fossil-fuel dependent countries in the world thanks to nukes) it is anything but cheap.

 

[3chordcharlie]

That seemed like an extremely small figure to me so I checked. It's actually trillion, phew! If you wanted you could just sell the salt or ship it off to a dump somewhere. The day people say that we shouldn't desalinate the ocean because it's upsetting its overall salt content is the day we've all failed collectively as a species.

Makes water conservation (low-flush toilets, grey water projects, etc) a lot more cost effective if you make it more salient to the people that water is manufactured (it is already, we just ignore it).

As far as taking too much water, or changing salt content, I doubt it would happen, but our last 200 years of treating air and oceans as 'infinitely big compared to whatever we do' hasn't gone as smoothly as it might have.

 

[skyking]

Makes water conservation (low-flush toilets, grey water projects, etc) a lot more cost effective if you make it more salient to the people that water is manufactured (it is already, we just ignore it).

As far as taking too much water, or changing salt content, I doubt it would happen, but our last 200 years of treating air and oceans as 'infinitely big compared to whatever we do' hasn't gone as smoothly as it might have.

Fish to man "here's your mercury back. Have a nice day"

 

[ProfJohn]

That seemed like an extremely small figure to me so I checked. It's actually trillion, phew! If you wanted you could just sell the salt or ship it off to a dump somewhere. The day people say that we shouldn't desalinate the ocean because it's upsetting its overall salt content is the day we've all failed collectively as a species.

ummmmm

1 trillion equals
1,000,000,000,000

343 billion BILLION equals
343,423,668,428,484,681,262

Which looks bigger you?

 

[Fear No Evil]

Lets not forget that if humanity wasn't psychotic there would be no need for such multi billion dollar weapons as aircraft carriers and the capacity to produce many more times that amount of water for that cost could be easily realized.

And we'd all be eating Soylent Green to help recycle.

 

[lothar]

While I am pro-nuclear power (France is one of the least fossil-fuel dependent countries in the world thanks to nukes) it is anything but cheap.

Umm...Nuclear energy is cost competitive compared to oil/natural gas, solar, wind.
The only thing cheaper is coal, but that pollutes the environment and if you add esterification(which reduces the pollution), that's no longer cheap.

 

[spidey07]

That is some seriously awesome tech. But I wonder what do they do with the salts (plural on purpose) left behind? Dump it back in the ocean?

I do salt water reef aquariums and there is a LOT of salt(s) in the water with Ca and Mg also being pretty abundant. In all honesty the best thing they could do with what's left behind is to just dump it in the ocean at a constant rate.

 

[Oceandevi]

Lets not forget that if humanity wasn't psychotic there would be no need for such multi billion dollar weapons as aircraft carriers and the capacity to produce many more times that amount of water for that cost could be easily realized.

How else would a tribe defeat their enemies?

 

[Oceandevi]

That is some seriously awesome tech. But I wonder what do they do with the salts (plural on purpose) left behind? Dump it back in the ocean?

I do salt water reef aquariums and there is a LOT of salt(s) in the water with Ca and Mg also being pretty abundant. In all honesty the best thing they could do with what's left behind is to just dump it in the ocean at a constant rate.

reefers could use the salt.

 

[hal2kilo]

It's always been too expensive/no one has been able to do it.

Nuclear Power allows it to be done, but, we all know America's acceptance of Nuclear Power. Meanwhile, the military, uses Nuclear Power (since day one), and reaps its benefits.

So, I am fine with stealing everything an ocean has to offer, killing bunches of fishes (does this remind you of anything?) for getting virtually unlimited, cheap, water.

-John

Since day one? Truely delusional.

 

[hal2kilo]

While I am pro-nuclear power (France is one of the least fossil-fuel dependent countries in the world thanks to nukes) it is anything but cheap.

Some thinking people get it.

 

[EagleKeeper]

That is some seriously awesome tech. But I wonder what do they do with the salts (plural on purpose) left behind? Dump it back in the ocean?

I do salt water reef aquariums and there is a LOT of salt(s) in the water with Ca and Mg also being pretty abundant. In all honesty the best thing they could do with what's left behind is to just dump it in the ocean at a constant rate.

Where does all the desaliniated water go? - Eventually back to the oceans or storage lakes.

Unless we are shipping it off the planet; it is being distributed. People use it but eventually must expell it.

Dump the salt offshore (past the continental shelf). The amount of salt being dumped will have to be measured to have minimal impact on organisms.

Note that dumping to much fresh water into the ocean at any point impacts the organisms that depends on a certain salinity content for their environment

 

[Patranus]

That is some seriously awesome tech. But I wonder what do they do with the salts (plural on purpose) left behind? Dump it back in the ocean?

I do salt water reef aquariums and there is a LOT of salt(s) in the water with Ca and Mg also being pretty abundant. In all honesty the best thing they could do with what's left behind is to just dump it in the ocean at a constant rate.

Just sell it as sea salt. Right now they take it from the ocean by evaporating the water. Seems like it could be all integrated.

 

[PingSpike]

What is this fuel source? Its clean, cheap, and plentiful? Nuclear Power? Blasphemy. Even if its good enough for the US military, it sure ain't good enough for US civilians!

Not in my back yard! Say no to building things! Say no to different things! I'm afraid of stuff!

 

[PingSpike]

ummmm.... There is around 343 billion BILLION gallons of water in the ocean.

I think we could take a few million gallons out a day and it would make no difference in the overall salt content of the ocean.

We would just have to be careful about where we took the water from and where we dumped the salt.

Frankly, with all the crap we've already dumped in the ocean I think the waters could use a good boiling anyway.

 

[ElFenix]

Er, I should say, hot water produces energy... the bi-product is cold water.


-John

i find it amazing that after ~125 years of really working at it our best way of producing electricity is still boiling water.

 

[ichy]

Nuclear Power allows it to be done, but, we all know America's acceptance of Nuclear Power. Meanwhile, the military, uses Nuclear Power (since day one), and reaps its benefits.

The military gave up on nuclear powered surface ships (except for aircraft carriers) a while back because it costs huge $$$. They keep using it on submarines, but that's because of a nuke plant's rather unique ability to run without needing oxygen. I agree with you that there's been an irrational fear of nukes since Three Mile Island, however nuclear power is anything but cheap. I'd like to see more nuke plants in the US but let's not pretend it's a silver bullet to easily solve all of our energy problems.

 

[lothar]

The military gave up on nuclear powered surface ships (except for aircraft carriers) a while back because it costs huge $$$. They keep using it on submarines, but that's because of a nuke plant's rather unique ability to run without needing oxygen. I agree with you that there's been an irrational fear of nukes since Three Mile Island, however nuclear power is anything but cheap. I'd like to see more nuke plants in the US but let's not pretend it's a silver bullet to easily solve all of our energy problems.

I don't think they gave up on it.
Earlier this week, I heard a military official testifying on C-Span Radio in my car regarding this very issue.
He said something to the tune of "The US Navy has 6-7 refuel stations(or was it planes?) in the Pacific fleet. If you're an enemy what do you do? Target that weak spot instead of targeting the Carrier. Having nuclear powered surface ships would eliminate/negate that threat."

I'm not sure if it was in a Senate, House, or some other kind or hearing but I heard it about 4 days ago I'm sure of it.
It was mostly about China stuff, but I didn't listen to the beginning or the end so it may have been different topics.

 

[hal2kilo]

I don't think they gave up on it.
Earlier this week, I heard a military official testifying on C-Span Radio in my car regarding this very issue.
He said something to the tune of "The US Navy has 6-7 refuel stations(or was it planes?) in the Pacific fleet. If you're an enemy what do you do? Target that weak spot instead of targeting the Carrier. Having nuclear powered surface ships would eliminate/negate that threat."

I'm not sure if it was in a Senate, House, or some other kind or hearing but I heard it about 4 days ago I'm sure of it.
It was mostly about China stuff, but I didn't listen to the beginning or the end so it may have been different topics.

There's only a few yards that are certified to do Refueling Overhauls. Notice the word overhaul in there. If you ever seen what encompasses refueling a nuclear reactor on a Navy vessel (only subs and aircraft carriers now), it's an extremely complex and expensive operation. When they are done with the reactors (ship decomissioned), the fuel is removed for reprocessing and the reactor core is prepared for burial in Hanford Washington. But let's not worry about that little tidbit. I sure hope when civilization comes back after the asteroid hit that they don't accidentally uncover any of that stuff. Some of that stuff has half lives of 250,000 years.