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To open federal lands or not?
Most people in the US are unaware that the Federal government owns like half of the land in the western states. In states like Utah and Nevada, the ratio is even higher. Some people, mostly on the right, have proposed opening up this land for settlement and development. I'm of two minds but mostly against. Here's some arguments I see against and for.
Against:
Development is permanent. Once land is developed, it is almost never returned to its natural state.
Development is ugly. I love the beautiful wide open spaces in the west. In the east, there is very little true wilderness. Everything is someone's private property, with the associated buildings, trailers, junky cars, trash, etc...
Development turns public spaces into private property denying citizens of their birthright to enjoy the open spaces
For:
Development is pro-natal. Cities are fertility and IQ shredders. Density increases prices and decreases fertility, especially among high IQ people. If we want people having 3, 4, 5 kids, we need cheap housing with lots of space. But states like Utah, Colorado, and Nevada have relatively expensive housing despite lots of open space.
Development is good for the economy.
Should we open the public lands?
I think you could satisfy both 2/3 by dividing the land between privatization and public park/monument/wilderness area rather than the current status of BLM leasing. A world in which the BLM leases to a rancher satisfies neither efficient usage nor preservation of natural beauty.
The real impediment is the lack of water. We need to force California to repeat rules against desalination, especially since the excess of cheap (even free!) power during the middle of the day is an excellent match for plants that can use ~infinite excess power on a moment's notice and then give it back later. A win/win for growth and clean energy -- of course CA can't fucking do it.
Of course, you'd have to let them buy power at the actual market-clearing price, by the hour. That's a minor technical glitch.
Can you steelman California's argument against desalination? Or at least explain it. It just seems absurd given their situation.
I don't know enough to steelman, but the usual concern is what you do with all the high salinity effluent. Opponents claim that dumping it in the ocean raises the salinity and kills marine life in the area.
Presumably, extract useful minerals, turn the rest into salt palaces and make it a tourist trap.
I'd assumed based on prior discussion that efficient desalination would require enough power output that it'd require either lots of fossil fuels, or nuclear. Are renewables in California competitive enough for desalination, now?
There are some plans along those lines. Presumably you can't turn it into salt palaces because you're gonna run out of land to stack the salt.
He's assuming batteries at 10c/Wh, which is... Remarkably optimistic because the support infrastructure (chargers, wiring, BMS, disconnects, inverters, housing, etc.) is going to quadruple it after all's said and done. You need a climate controlled environment for batteries with costs closer to a data center than a warehouse: lots of power electronics active during the day means a lot of cooling, especially in the desert!
I've gotten cells and a BMS alone for 8c/W, but only due to a pricing error.
Lots of very naive napkin math from someone who needs to get a few micro solar projects under his belt before planning macrogigamega-projects.
You don't even need to keep desal running 24/7, it's not that capital intensive. Although he hasn't covered pumping costs either, which is tremendous when you're going both ways (and pumping brine all the way back to the ocean apparently? Why not just do the desal on the coast? It's a hell of a lot easier to ship electricity than water.)
All in all storm water recovery and more reservoirs is going to be a hell of a lot cheaper.
TL;Dr I think this guy might be retarded
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