
Can making seawater drinkable quench the world's thirst? - SimplyUseless
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34478052
======
klipt
Sure, but water recycling is even more efficient. You can extract pure,
drinkable water from used shower water, or even toilet water, using much less
energy than it takes to remove sea salt (since you're fighting a much gentler
osmotic gradient).

Psychologically though, I think most people prefer the idea of purified sea
water to purified toilet water ... even if the sea is a toilet for everything
that lives in it!

~~~
Nikker
Would there be any logic in solidifying NaCl for fuels or for burning to drive
electric generators?

~~~
pjc50
You can't burn NaCl.

~~~
techdragon
Fluorine disagrees.

------
intopieces
I'd like to know the impact that the desalination plants in Israel and Saudi
Arabia have on the environment, specificially the sea life in the water being
sucked into these plants. It's my understanding that the biggest hurdle for
desalination in California is not energy but the ecosystem.

------
drjesusphd
What a silly question. Of course it can.

