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Jaded_Prompt_15 t1_j1z4xor wrote

But...

That water vapor becomes rain...

It's not really "free" water, that rain goes to nature and eventually human use.

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Cryptizard t1_j1ztgm5 wrote

That’s like saying that the sunlight goes to plants so we can’t use solar panels to capture it. There is just so much of it that the small amount we are using is negligible.

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mrvandaley t1_j1zr5rw wrote

It’s a small portion of the massive amount of evaporation over the ocean surface

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zenwarrior01 t1_j20ehmq wrote

The article even mentions:

>The researchers said one of the more elegant features of this proposed solution is that it works like the natural water cycle.
>
>“The difference is that we can guide where the evaporated water from the ocean goes,” Dominguez said.

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Jaded_Prompt_15 t1_j20enup wrote

Yep, so wherever it would have gone, it doesn't.

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zenwarrior01 t1_j20soro wrote

Well, what I contemplated was the idea that this could potentially (if done at absolutely massive scale?) actually decrease flooding via massive rainfall and increase water in areas that need it most (something the article also alluded to). If only we could do that with wind someday too. Of course all of this boils down to temperature differences, global warming and such.

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