Comments by "David Himmelsbach" (@davidhimmelsbach557) on "How Saudi Arabia Is Turning Desert into Huge Farmlands" video.

  1. It's ironic, but KSA would be an IDEAL spot to use wind power. Sporadic pumping of agri-water is the perfect match for wind energy -- duh. The western mountains are natural wind concentrators... of course. The ideal wind is that of modest, steady, blows. KSA has such a climate... in its western highlands. Mecca and Medina exist because of nature's natural shedding of fresh water into the Arabic western highlands -- which then flows down the leeward side to become ground water. KSA in its west is too geologically active for atomic plants. Earthquakes and tsunamis are exactly what atomic plants have to stay away from.
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  2. The Romans did dam various flood plains across North Africa -- centuries ago. They simply built dams where it was dry -- but where it was obvious that prior floods-to-the-sea had occurred. So the Big Brains had merely copied the Roman technique -- probably straight from the histories. For the Romans, the area behind their dams was filled in with rubble -- the biggest chunks being the lowest down. Then ever more, ever smaller stones were dumped on top. This all worked because the Romans were using slave labor // convict labor. Today's earthmoving machines make the Roman solution look absurd. The ideal scheme is one pre-planned using historical data points. Also figure on a long, comparatively low, retaining dam. You absolutely want to fill in behind the dam in the Roman style -- as open fresh water will soon be lost to evaporation. The Romans favored orchard crops for their schemes. Tap roots entirely solved plant thirst. For all kinds of reasons, the Saudis should seriously consider building a rail line up their West Coast. Rail transport is essential for modern agriculture. In our day, we have the ability to cross-link such retaining dams, too. A hybrid system that has back-up supplies of desalinated water makes the most sense. By weight most of the ware comes as rainfall. Ruinous droughts that would kill an orchard are prevented by human intervention.
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