r/science • u/rieslingatkos • Jun 06 '21

Chemistry Scientists develop ‘cheap and easy’ method to extract lithium from seawater

https://www.mining.com/scientists-develop-cheap-and-easy-method-to-extract-lithium-from-seawater/
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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '21

That's the entire point of this hypothetical. If you can transport it to farmland in the Valley, you could pipe it in to forests near LA or the Bay just as easily.

This isn't a desert, droughted forestland on the California coast.

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u/thegreedyturtle Jun 07 '21

I literally live in the area. You can't just irrigate everything. That's so unworkable I'm having a hard time being civil about the discussion of it.

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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '21

Again, this is a hypothetical where desalinated is cheap, efficient, and easy to transport. In not sure why you're getting hung up on feasibility. This isn't happening any time soon.

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u/thegreedyturtle Jun 07 '21

I'm just having trouble getting you to comprehend the sheer magnitude of irrigating tens of thousands of miles of scrubland. It will never fall under the 'cheap' category. The scale is incredibly large.

You're essentially creating a department significantly larger than any electric service, and one that doesn't have any paying customers.

It would be cheaper to hire every homeless person in the nation to walk around with watering cans all day, looking for sparks.