[extropy-chat] energy from osmosis

Mike Lorrey mlorrey at yahoo.com
Mon Oct 3 00:28:14 UTC 2005



--- Dan Clemmensen <dgc at cox.net> wrote:  
> >
> To look at it another way:  create a closed system consisting
> of an outer pips full of saline water and an inner pipe full of fresh
> water, connected via an osmotic membrane at the bottom. start the
> pipes
> bot full to the the same level. The saline water level will decrease
> while the fresh water level will increase, If you then let the
> freshwater
> from the top of the pipe fall into the outer pipe through a turbine,
> you will extract energy, but the fresh water will float on top of the
> salt water and the system will eventually stop. In some sense you are
> extracting the gravitational potential of the weight of the salt as
> it sinks to the bottom of the salt water side.

This is a very good point, and one that provides a possible mitigation
technology wrt the alleged problems with the ocean conveyor system
blamed on global warming. Building such pipe systems in the arctic and
antarctic, even to produce fresh water that needs some pumping, will
increase the deep arctic salinity and help contribute to restarting or
accelerating the conveyor. As the Arctic deep high saline water sinks,
it flows out of the arctic and down to the atlantic and pacific ocean
bottoms.

This process would do double duty if the produced fresh water were
piped across Canada, Europe, and Siberia to be consumed by people,
agriculture, and industry, in river systems that drained to the south:
Gulf of Mexico, Mediterranean, South China Sea, etc. which would
decrease surface salinity at the equator.

Particularly with the Gulf of Mexico, its surface temp and salinity are
major contributors to hurricane landfall intensity, giving an extra
boost to storms that make it into the Gulf.

Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
Founder, Constitution Park Foundation:
http://constitutionpark.blogspot.com
Personal/political blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
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