Greening the Sahara: A Simple Idea

Originally posted by HossBog
Death vally would be perfect if you could pump saltwater there.

You don't even have to pump it. There is your perfect syphon opportunity. I think it's a couple of hundred feet below sea level. All you have to do is build the pipe.

reply to post by Raivan31


Ummmmm yeah. It's a desert dude. Save the desert rat? Yeah. Ok. We'll save a few rats so that the 7 billion people on Earth can't have fresh water. Good one. Do you value scorpions and rats over human life? Come on man, use ur pumpkin (or is that a head).

reply to post by ipsedixit


Perfect. Run the pumps for a few hours then turn em off and let it flow. Same as lake Ayre. And there are alot of places in the same situation (not that guy off jersey shore). You got it dude. Thats the go.



The brain waves are merging.................

Originally posted by Raivan31
The one big problem that i see with this is quite straight forward and simple.

There isn't supposed to be water in deserts,

Who made that rule?

. . . it's a particular environment and it would be ruined just a surely as clear cutting a rainforest.

And starvation is a biological condition that would be ruined by eating.

Destroying more natural environment is not ever going to be the answer.

"Destroying" a pristine wasteland.

You're not posting from the portico of the temple of Gaia are you? You need a tour of North Africa, a place that used to be green, incidentally.

You've got to lay off the 'shrooms man. Are you Cheech or Chong? Sorry to react this way but seriously, you need to rethink this.

reply to post by ipsedixit



So if there was a massive inland lake in death valley do you think this would cool things off and promote rainfall?

HELLL YESSSS. Lets do it.

OP you really got my goat with this one. (Australian saying that means you perked my interest.) I think we might be onto something. 7 billion people rising to 20 billion by 2020. We're gonna need water.

reply to post by HossBog

This idea is so easy. Of course, as every home handyman knows, no idea, no matter how simple is devoid of complications. But the simpler the original premise, the fewer the complications that arise from it, generally speaking.

Somebody, somewhere should be trying this. The Saudis could do this in an eyeblink, effortlessly. So could the Californians.

reply to post by ipsedixit


SSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! We don't want to blow the mother load. Keep them in the dark. Sell it to the rich nations to fund the 3rd world nations. That way you can change the world without profit mongers.


I'm working on an updated image, gimme 1 hr.

reply to post by ipsedixit


I thought you might find this interesting

Sand Hills (Nebraska)

Underneath lies the fossil water of the Ogallala Aquifer


2 Trillion Dollar per Year Geoengineering of the Sahara



Do forests attract rain?

Abstract A new hypothesis suggests that forest cover plays a much greater role in determining rainfall than previously recognized. It explains how forested regions generate large-scale flows in atmospheric water vapor. Under this hypothesis, high rainfall occurs in continental interiors such as the Amazon and Congo river basins only because of near-continuous forest cover from interior to coast. The underlying mechanism emphasizes the role of evaporation and condensation in generating atmospheric pressure differences, and accounts for several phenomena neglected by existing models. It suggests that even localized forest loss can sometimes flip a wet continent to arid conditions. If it survives scrutiny, this hypothesis will transform how we view forest loss, climate change, hydrology, and environmental services. It offers new lines of investigation in macroecology and landscape ecology, hydrology, forest restoration, and paleoclimates. It also provides a compelling new motivation for forest conservation.

Link

reply to post by HossBog

I'll have to check it out tomorrow. I've got to get some other things done around here. I think it would be great if someone could even try a small experiment around this idea though. But really, anyone who has left the lid on a pot of soup knows that water evaporated out of the soup will condense on the lid of the pot. It is just that fundamentally simple a concept.

reply to post by Agarta


The solution might be that the collection pond be built into the ground at a depth calculated by engineers to provide a cool reservoir. Therefore allowing collection without re-evaporation.

Just a thought...this is an Idea I have thought about for sometime...good thread OP

OK. Who's ready for a laugh.



Good as gold! At least the kids think so..................

Right click and then show picture.

For the Sahara or any country that has solar and wind with a near by sea water source the technology is off the shelf.

Solar trough solar collector have been used for years now and by adding a second collector tube you can heat sea water at the same time you are collecting heat to convert into power.
en.wikipedia.org...

Build these solar collectors raised on platforms 15 to 20 foot above ground and use the platform structure for green houses under the collectors.
Fresh water from the distillation unit powered by the solar trough system is used in the green houses and the power from the solar troughs is used to power the system including dehumidifiers that take the excess humidity from the green houses and recovers the water.

A set up like this would have enough excess power to run housing and supply water for the farmers homes with extra to sell to the grid.

Plus you could grow crops year around.

reply to post by Andronian


I like the way you think, no barriers, no dramas, no preconceived ideas. Thats the key, underground Aquifier. Works!

reply to post by ANNED



YESSSS! We have another thinker! Good SH#T! Ok, got rid of the NAYSAYERS, now its time for the people that don't take no for an answer.

"When times get tough it's time for the people that say its impossible to stand out of the way of the people that are doing it."

reply to post by HossBog


what your plan then?

reply to post by Doublemint


To promote discussion on the subject. I don't have all the answers, there's been some really good ones from other posters I hadn't considered like rodents and bats, farming under the solar collectors, that sort of thing. Thats my plan, to get new ideas. This subject fascinates me......

Doublemint, were you asking what my plan was to get the ball rolling? We could do some small scale tests, i'll give it a go. Next time I go to the hobby shop I'll buy a small solar panel and a motor for a pump, we could use a plastic bottle for the aquifier and clingwrap for the collector. I have an old saucer from under a "pot" plant......that could be the evaporator, if i drill a hole in the middle, put a small funnel with a hose leading into the "aquifier". I'd have to bury the aquifier in a pot underneath the evaporator.

There's a wrecking yard not far from where I live, maybe the pump from a windscreen washer bottle, I'll take the 12v motor off and put the smaller solar powered motor on it, maybe with a float on/off switch in the evaporator so it fills to a certain level when needed. That way I could just put it outside and measure how much fresh I can get in 24 hours. A 2 litre aquifirer should do. Anyone else interested?

reply to post by HossBog

I'll be following the experiment.

There are probably technical experts out there who can calculate how much water would evaporate under certain conditions of temperature, area exposed, etc. That is the fundamental measurement that is important. It would tell how large the containment pond would need to be to yield a particular amount of fresh water and the rate of production.

Conditions in a place like Mexico or North Africa must be near to optimal for solar powered anything.