UAE to DRAG ICEBERG from Antarctica to Solve Water Shortage?
Published on by Dan Grech, Director at Global OTEC Resources in Academic
Has anyone else seen this article about dragging the iceberg to solve water problems?! It's everywhere in the UK. I wanted to take this opportunity to call bullsh*t and revel in it's audacity with you.
Now, if I'm being completely ignorant to the physical limits of transportation or the weight of 20 billion gallons of water - please correct me and I will stand down. And to note: I'm a huge supporter of innovation and (well researched) big ideas.
The iceberg referenced will provide 20 billion gallons of water. This weighs 629 MILLION tons. OK, that will be reduced 40% as it melts en route, so let's be generous and look at the engine horse power required to transport the end product alone. For 377 million tons in vehicular weight, the engine requires an estimated 108m horsepower (80m kW).
The World's Most Powerful Tugboat has 6,500 HP and could transport 0.006% the proposed iceberg's weight. That's 1,200,000 gallons - not even enough to water all the golf courses across the Emirates in a single day...
What do you think? Should I respect the fact we never believed we'd once walk on the moon? Or does this PR fluff article have no place in the mainstream media?
Taxonomy
- Resource Management
- Water Access
- Water Resources
- Drinking Water
- Water