[ExI] East African Rift Valley again

[Dan]

To be sure, if something like this could work and justify the initial investment of digging such a canal and building a hydroelectric plant, this wouldn't be true perpetual motion. The Sun, after all, is inputing the extra energy to keep the system going.
 
Regards,
 
Dan

From: Jeff Davis <jrd1415 at gmail.com>
To: Dan <dan_ust at yahoo.com>; ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2011 2:48 PM
Subject: Re: [ExI] East African Rift Valley again

Bit of trivia here.  Some years ago, I encountered the notion of a
canal from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea.  The idea was -- or so I
remember it -- that the water flowing down hill would generate
hydroelectric power, and that the increased surface area of the Dead
Sea. with the less dense sea water on top would increase the rate of
evaporation such that the evaporative loss would match the rate of
inflow.  Almost a perpetual motion machine, kind of.

There are at least a couple of other spots on the planet where the
ground elevation is below sea level.  Somewhere in the Mojave and a
spot in Libya.  The fact that all these depressions are in desert
areas also makes one wonder about the possible benefit of more water
vapor in the desert air, and, of course the possibility of more rain.

Best, Jeff Davis

        "Everything's hard till you know how to do it."
                                        Ray Charles
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