Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Solar Pond Desalination Systems Could Save Desert Lakes

Solar Pond Desalination Systems Could Save Desert Lakes

solar pond
Solar ponds could save briny salt lakes in American deserts and elsewhere around the globe. The University of Nevada-Reno is developing a specializedsolar pond and distillation system that is low-cost and powered by renewable energy. The goal is to aid these lakes that are losing water and gaining salinity every year to the detriment of their aquatic animal species.
The Great Salt Lake, Salton Sea and Aral Sea are a few bodies of water that stand to benefit from such a system. By using the university’s patented membrane distillation system, researchers at UNR can desalinate the water help prevent the buildup of minerals and salt left behind by evaporation, thus supporting the lake’s ecosystem. They have developed a process that traps solar heat at the bottom of the solar pond and uses the collected energy to power the distillation system.
The system has been successful in extensive lab testing. In a two-week period, the temperature in the bottom of the solar pond increased from 68 degrees to 126 degrees Fahrenheit, according to doctoral student Francisco Suarez, who is working on the project. That trapped energy can be utilized 24 hours a day with very little electricity.solar pond
Suarez and his fellow researchers’ next move is to build a real-world demonstration project to really find out if the system will work. The project will be built at Walker Lake in Nevada, where water levels have dropped 140 feet in the last 100 years and aquatic life is suffering in its wake. Costs to run the system are negligible, thanks to solar power. The system could have a profound effect on lakes, people and habitats around the world.
Source: ScienceDaily
Photo Credit: Daniel Hopkins & TREP
Posted on January 11 in Solar Research by .
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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Desalination of The Great Salt Lake
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Mojo_Jojo
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:02:10 PM EDT
If this works and The Great Salt Lake becomes more hospitable to life forms, imagine the benefits.

http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-research/solar-pond-desalination-systems-could-save-desert-lakes/
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:05:25 PM EDT
And Salt Lake City can grow even bigger!!
I knew daredevils and I ain't got nothin' against them, ........it's just they're all dead.
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:06:14 PM EDT
[Last Edit: 2/1/2012 6:07:19 PM EDT by sf1645]
i'll bite...tell me the benifits

eta former midwesterner now living in the SLC valley
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:07:31 PM EDT
Originally Posted By sf1645:
i'll bite...tell me the benifits


The whole valley doesn't smell like a rotten a-hole... .
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:14:05 PM EDT

It will endanger the brine shrimp in the Great Salt Lake among other things. The enviro-loons will never let it happen even if it was possible and economical.
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:18:13 PM EDT

Originally Posted By SailMeister:

It will endanger the brine shrimp in the Great Salt Lake among other things. The enviro-loons will never let it happen even if it was possible and economical.

True perhaps, but might the possibility of a fish population that could be harvested along with the revenue it could generate be a acceptable tradeoff? And water for agriculture? 
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:26:24 PM EDT

Originally Posted By Mojo_Jojo:
If this works and The Great Salt Lake becomes more hospitable to life forms, imagine the benefits.

http://solar.calfinder.com/blog/solar-research/solar-pond-desalination-systems-could-save-desert-lakes/
Great.
I'll bet there's a crowd of people looking for new places to introduce Snakeheads and Zebra Mussels.
Really, I'll bet they show up if the water is made sweet.
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:27:38 PM EDT

Originally Posted By Mojo_Jojo:

Originally Posted By SailMeister:

It will endanger the brine shrimp in the Great Salt Lake among other things. The enviro-loons will never let it happen even if it was possible and economical.

True perhaps, but might the possibility of a fish population that could be harvested along with the revenue it could generate be a acceptable tradeoff? And water for agriculture? 

There's no "tradeoff" for environmental-loons. They don't give a shit about revenue or agriculture or people or anything.
"That's why I never kiss 'em on the mouth."
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:29:09 PM EDT


But, but, but ....... we won't be able to float anymore!
And all the powers of darkness tremble at what they just heard .......
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:29:48 PM EDT
So what will we call it now? Will we say "The Once Great Salt Lake City"?
"If we have been evolving for millions of years the leftover bones would cover our planet.".-vepr223
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:30:24 PM EDT
The article is extremely vague.
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:30:29 PM EDT
Originally Posted By Mojo_Jojo:

Originally Posted By SailMeister:

It will endanger the brine shrimp in the Great Salt Lake among other things. The enviro-loons will never let it happen even if it was possible and economical.

True perhaps, but might the possibility of a fish population that could be harvested along with the revenue it could generate be a acceptable tradeoff? And water for agriculture? 



NO NO TRADE OFFS NO DESALINATION 
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:32:57 PM EDT
I find environmental objections to this hilarious. The Great Salt Lake has been shrinking for tens of thousands of years.
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:33:17 PM EDT
Originally Posted By BustinCaps:
So what will we call it now? Will we say "The Once Great Salt Lake City"?


It could be written as just a symbol and called "The Body of Water Formerly Known as the Great Salt Lake"
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:35:36 PM EDT
Originally Posted By BustinCaps:
So what will we call it now? Will we say "The Once Great Salt Lake City"?




Desalinated Lake City

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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:35:40 PM EDT
i obviously don't understand how this works, but it said that it raises the temperature at the bottom from 68 degrees to 120 something. Wouldn't that kill off any aquatic wildlife anyways?
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:39:17 PM EDT
Originally Posted By Neotopia:
Originally Posted By BustinCaps:
So what will we call it now? Will we say "The Once Great Salt Lake City"?


It could be written as just a symbol and called "The Body of Water Formerly Known as the Great Salt Lake"


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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:40:25 PM EDT
Originally Posted By Neotopia:
Originally Posted By BustinCaps:
So what will we call it now? Will we say "The Once Great Salt Lake City"?


It could be written as just a symbol and called "The Body of Water Formerly Known as the Great Salt Lake"




What symbol? A Water molecule raping a salt molecule?
"If we have been evolving for millions of years the leftover bones would cover our planet.".-vepr223
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:42:33 PM EDT

Originally Posted By Neotopia:
Originally Posted By BustinCaps:
So what will we call it now? Will we say "The Once Great Salt Lake City"?


It could be written as just a symbol and called "The Body of Water Formerly Known as the Great Salt Lake"

It's "Great" due to its size, not its salinity.
And all the powers of darkness tremble at what they just heard .......
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:43:45 PM EDT
That may be the most worthless article I've read in 2012. 


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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:47:37 PM EDT


I thought I read somewhere that when the Southern Pacific railroad filled in the cross lake trestle, the northern half of the lake has turned less salty than the southern half. Or something to that effect.
And all the powers of darkness tremble at what they just heard .......
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:47:53 PM EDT
South Park And The Mormons
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:59:04 PM EDT
Sad. There's a lot that has yet to be discovered about microbiology living in extreme environments
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Posted: 2/1/2012 6:59:38 PM EDT
They could call it the Great Saltless Lake.
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Posted: 2/1/2012 7:03:27 PM EDT
Low Sodium Lagoon.
Invest in precious metals - brass and lead.
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Posted: 2/1/2012 7:06:15 PM EDT
Do you know what that means to the starving people of the world?

They'd have enough salt to last forever!
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Posted: 2/1/2012 7:27:42 PM EDT

Originally Posted By ElectricSheep556:

Originally Posted By Mojo_Jojo:

Originally Posted By SailMeister:

It will endanger the brine shrimp in the Great Salt Lake among other things. The enviro-loons will never let it happen even if it was possible and economical.

True perhaps, but might the possibility of a fish population that could be harvested along with the revenue it could generate be a acceptable tradeoff? And water for agriculture? 

There's no "tradeoff" for environmental-loons. They don't give a shit about revenue or agriculture or people or anything.

This is true. But really the water in the GSL isn't going to amount to much if they start pumping it out for agriculture.

Right now the flow into the lake is controlled by several (more than 20) dams and resivours in at least three states. By the time water makes it to the GSL, it has already flowed over or through all of the easily cultivated land in Northern Utah. And really, most of the former farm lands along the lake shore and higher in the valley, are now subdivisions full of houses.

Sport fishing in the lake would be seriously hampered by the very shallow depth ( most of the lake is less than ten feet deep), major deposits of salt and other minerals on the lake bottom that are not conducive to growing plants to provide cover for the fish, and the lack of water circulation (water only flows in at a few points, and there is no outlet).

There are many places where I can walk out miles into the lake and still only be waist deep in the water (I used to duck hunt out there a lot). This also hampers recreational boating.

There is a large amount of brine shrimp in the lake, and those ARE harvested in a yearly season, and turned into fertilizer or fish food.

Mineral recovery is big business here as well, and not just salt. Potash is big, IIRC. Magnesium. Google "Great Salt Lake Minerals recovery"... Mag Corp on the south west side of the lake is one of the worst chlorine polluters in the word.

I live within a few miles of the lake.... just leave it alone. 
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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Desalination of The Great Salt Lake
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