The water wheel idea is flat out stupid.
Innumeracy at its finest.
Forget converting the kinetic energy of natural moving water to electrical energy.
Think converting gravitational potential energy to electrical energy:
We already have the Hoover dam.
Imagine blowing up the dam.
And replacing with a bunch of yahoos with water wheels in the river.
Put enough water wheels across a river, and what do you have?
The worst of both worlds:
A poorly designed dam & water wheels in vastly diminished flow.
At the Bonneville dam, I think they have installed underwater augers.
That probably adds somewhat to the output.
But not the main effect.
Desalination works.
But manufacturing fresh water?
And pumping it uphill to places like AZ?
Energy intensive.
Possibly workable on a limited scale with well run atomic fission.
Emphasis on limited scale.
Yes, a much smaller American population could fend for itself for a long time.
But blow up the population without limit, and you always exceed carrying capacity.
Of course, with the C-19 injections, overpopulation may be moot.
The water wheel idea is flat out stupid.
Innumeracy at its finest.
Forget converting the kinetic energy of natural moving water to electrical energy.
Think converting gravitational potential energy to electrical energy:
We already have the Hoover dam.
Imagine blowing up the dam.
And replacing with a bunch of yahoos with water wheels in the river.
Put enough water wheels across a river, and what do you have?
The worst of both worlds:
A poorly designed dam & water wheels in vastly diminished flow.
At the Bonneville dam, I think they have installed underwater augers.
That probably adds somewhat to the output.
But not the main effect.
Desalination works.
But manufacturing fresh water?
And pumping it uphill to places like AZ?
Energy intensive.
Possibly workable on a limited scale with well run atomic fission.
Emphasis on limited scale.
Yes, a much smaller American population could fend for itself for a long time.
But blow up the population without limit, and you always exceed carrying capacity.
Of course, with the C-19 injections, overpopulation may be moot.