Hi Ugo,

Thanks for a great post. Any sense of how many acres of solar cells would be needed to desalinate the water to irrigate an acre of farm-land?

Dave

Well, I didn't make a calculation. But I have in mind that just the "empty quarter," Ar Rub al Khali, in the South West would be enough in terms of area to produce as much energy by PV panels as the whole world primary supply. The calculation is here, unfortunately I think it is accessible only if you have a subscription - plenty of space, anyway, for enough energy for solar desalination:

T. Muneer, M. Asif and J. Kubie
Generation and transmission prospects for solar electricity: UK and global markets.
Energy Conversion and Management
Volume 44, Issue 1, January 2003, Pages 35-52