Ok, its maybe more expensive than I realised according to that source, but I would argue that comparing it to something like charging EVs or running a fridge is not a fair comparison. If you desalinate 1000 litres of water it's not the same as a household using 1000 litres of water. Not exactly. Once water is in a municipal system it's cleaned and reused many many times. Desalination could overcome water shortages by topping up water in a system, in times of drought, rather than just waiting for rain.
Desalination is cheap though. It's just never really been needed at scale in the UK because of rainfall. Maybe it's time to reassess
Desalination is energy expensive, and results in a pretty nasty waste. Removing the salt loses the benefit of lower temperatures.
Desalination is expensive
I’ve always thought desalination would make a nice shiftable load to incentivize renewable build-out.
Not really. https://www.sustainabilitybynumbers.com/p/how-much-energy-do...
Ok, its maybe more expensive than I realised according to that source, but I would argue that comparing it to something like charging EVs or running a fridge is not a fair comparison. If you desalinate 1000 litres of water it's not the same as a household using 1000 litres of water. Not exactly. Once water is in a municipal system it's cleaned and reused many many times. Desalination could overcome water shortages by topping up water in a system, in times of drought, rather than just waiting for rain.
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