onecommentman 13 hours ago

Impossibly expensive?

“The price tag: about $90 billion in today’s dollars, just for capital costs.” To save (their words) Texas water supply, a State with a population of 30 million people.

A passenger rail system between LA and San Francisco. “The latest estimate for San Francisco to Los Angeles is $106 billion — more than three times the original cost estimate.”

https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-transportati...

To potentially serve 30 Million “riders” annually with a rail transit service,. So 100 Thousand riders/day? Three tenths of a percent of all Californians? On a corridor that already has auto, bus and air options? Where’s the salvation here?

https://hsr.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Draft-Bus...

If the Texas plan is impossibly expensive, where does that leave the California high-speed rail plan?

Nuclear is a bit silly. Solar/wind is perfect…you really don’t care exactly when the water moves.

  • dragonwriter 11 hours ago

    Note that those cost figures aren't comparable; CA HSR estimates are not current dollars like the TX water system estimate, but year-of-expenditure dollars incorporating future cost inflation according to a projection of when each part would be done.

LargoLasskhyfv 14 hours ago

Not visionary enuf, too isolationist. Think BIGGR, DIGGR!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Water_and_Power...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Recycling_and_Northern_D...

Upgrade with nukkular-powered desalination at the coasts, and pump it upwards/inland.

Combine with all sorts of other pipelines, interstates, MAGLEVed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breitspurbahn high-speed rails, with smartly gridded HVDC-transmission lines.

If you think nukkular is bad, use Yellowstones geo-thermals instead, so it doesn't blow.

Distribute via smartly gridded HVDC-transmission...

Build it with nukkular subterrenes.

Call it 'Department of nuTRAQ', 'DON' , because 'DON' gets things on new tracks, and DONE!

Upgrade, or fade!

Edit: I forgot to mention sprinkling some of these, or built like them https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SRMSC_MSR_HAER_ND-9-... along the lines, for capture of atmospheric CO2, and maybe spraying mists of water in the air for more weather control :-)

  • LargoLasskhyfv 12 hours ago

    Editoftheeditbecause of time-out:

    I mean 'Atmospheric Processing Plants', somehow built similar to https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SRMSC_MSR_HAER_ND-9-...

    along the nodes of the smartly (hexagonal?) gridded transmission lines, for capture of atmospheric CO2 and other nasties(fine particular matter, anyone?), and maybe spraying mists of water high in the air when it's too dry.

    Ionospheric heating like HAARP and EISCAT for even more weather control could be optional :-)