Red Sea dam
Encyclopedia
The Red Sea dam is a speculative macro-engineering
proposal put forward in 2007 by a group of scientists and engineers. Although the authors' intentions are to explore "the ethical and environmental dilemmas and some of the political implications of macro-engineering", the proposal has attracted both criticism and ridicule.
at its southern end where the Bab-al-Mandab Strait
is only 29 km (18 mi) wide. Natural evaporation would rapidly lower the level of the enclosed Red Sea. Water rushing back into the sea would then drive turbines to generate electricity. It is claimed that up to of electrical power could be generated, dwarfing all other power schemes worldwide.
The authors claim "Green" credentials for the idea: "On the positive side of the environmental scale, however, are the big reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, and the reduced pace of fossil hydrocarbon resource exhaustion".
Influential scientists such as Peter Bosshard, policy director of the International Rivers Network, have condemned the scheme as ludicrous.
What some influential scientists have overlooked, however, is the same authors' earlier macro-project proposal for a Hormuz Strait Dam mentioned in the text and cited fully.
Macro-engineering
In engineering, macro-engineering is the implementation of extremely large-scale design projects...
proposal put forward in 2007 by a group of scientists and engineers. Although the authors' intentions are to explore "the ethical and environmental dilemmas and some of the political implications of macro-engineering", the proposal has attracted both criticism and ridicule.
Proposal
The idea is to dam the Red SeaRed Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
at its southern end where the Bab-al-Mandab Strait
Bab-el-Mandeb
The Bab-el-Mandeb meaning "Gate of Grief" in Arabic , is a strait located between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula, Djibouti and Eritrea, north of Somalia, in the Horn of Africa, and connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden...
is only 29 km (18 mi) wide. Natural evaporation would rapidly lower the level of the enclosed Red Sea. Water rushing back into the sea would then drive turbines to generate electricity. It is claimed that up to of electrical power could be generated, dwarfing all other power schemes worldwide.
Implications
The proposal's authors point out that "Macro-engineering projects of this size cause a massive destruction of existing ecologies", a point emphasized by critics who can point to the damage caused by current, far smaller schemes.The authors claim "Green" credentials for the idea: "On the positive side of the environmental scale, however, are the big reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, and the reduced pace of fossil hydrocarbon resource exhaustion".
Influential scientists such as Peter Bosshard, policy director of the International Rivers Network, have condemned the scheme as ludicrous.
What some influential scientists have overlooked, however, is the same authors' earlier macro-project proposal for a Hormuz Strait Dam mentioned in the text and cited fully.
See also
- AtlantropaAtlantropaAtlantropa, also referred to as Panropa, was a gigantic engineering and colonization project devised by the German architect Herman Sörgel in the 1920s and promulgated by him until his death in 1952...
- HydroelectricityHydroelectricityHydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
- Hydroelectric possibilities in the Qattara Depression
External links
- Gibraltar Strait Dam Macroprojects by Richard Cathcart, one of the authors of the Red Sea Dam proposal.