It's a Glorious Day for Science!

OK, I admit it, I stole that line from Girl Genius.

But via the GG mailing list on Yahoo!, here's some interesting news on a potential source of new power, fresh water, and even better crops.

The key to Craven's cool world is converting the ocean's thermal energy. The first step: Sink a pipe at least 3,000 feet deep and start pumping up seawater. The end result: an environmentally sustainable, virtually inexhaustible supply of electricity, freshwater for drinking and irrigation, even air-conditioning. Here's how it works:

Refrigeration:
Cold seawater circulates through a closed loop of pipes that replace the coolant and compressor found in conventional air-conditioning units.

Irrigation:
Pipes carrying cold water run beneath fields of crops, sweating freshwater to irrigate plants and chilling their roots, promoting faster crop cycles.

Desalination:
Cold seawater passes through Craven's "skytowers," which contain closely packed radiator-like networks of pipes. The frigid pipes sweat in the tropical heat, producing­ freshwater condensate.

Power Generation:
Pipes draw warm water from the ocean surface and cold water from the seabed. The warm water enters a vacuum chamber and is evaporated into steam that drives an electricity-producing turbine. The cold water condenses the steam back into water for drinking and irrigation

Now, my only question is, when we return this no-longer-as-cold water to the ocean, is this going to end up screwing up the ocean anyway? This is a question I didn't notice was being addressed anywhere in the article -- even to say that it would have no effect.