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It's 2024 and drought is optional
In the early 20th century, the United States diverted and dammed nearly every major river that runs through the West, ushering in an era of unparalleled dominion of water. Today, California once again struggles with water scarcity — but solar energy could change all that.
Just a couple of hours’ drive east of Los Angeles lie the Coachella and Imperial valleys, home to Palm Springs, some of the most productive agricultural land on Earth, and the Salton Sea, a large brackish lake that formed in 1905. Solar panels are essentially large sheets of glass containing a thin layer of silicon configured so that light will push electrons through in one direction, generating electricity with no emissions, no fuel, no noise, no dust, and no moving parts. Geographically, the region between Brawley and the Gulf is a flat, low-lying flood plain, which rises to a maximum altitude of about 30 feet above sea level at the saddle adjacent to the Cerro Prieto geothermal power plant, necessitating minimal pumping to move water to and from desalination.
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