Plan to Make Egypt Food Self Sufficient
It appears that Egypt has implemented all of my recommendations, including the Mistral purchase.
Egypt has swiftly built the New Suez canal which is going to profit the country for decades to come.
Egypt has invested in solar power to become energy self sufficient.
Egypt had build fish farms.
Egypt has started to reclaim the desert.
What Egypt should also do, besides desert reclamation projects, is change its entire weather system to mitigate climate change by increasing its cloud cover, improve air quality with more rain and increase its agricultural output to levels that maintain the population's needs and allow for exports to Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria which are challenged by long term droughts and desertification.
To this end, I propose making the Qattara Depression into a FRESHWATER lake. A canal should be built from the Mediterranean and the water that goes through it, should be desalinated. The techniques used for desalination should be powered by solar energy. A concentrated thermal solar power system should also be used to supply the channel with fresh water during the night.
The entire depression does not need to be filled with water. The Nile can supply the depression via an aqueduct in a pipeline, as pictured below. The pipeline will needs to be of a large cross section, but it can also provide electricity, as inside it, turbines can be placed. On can also build multiple water and hydro-power pipelines for the Nile river, so redundancy prevents flow interruption in case some break, and adds water carrying capacity incrementally to capture as much of the river's fresh water as possible. Lake's water level can be controlled to any level desired. Any present oil exploration in the Qattara Depression, can continue even if the lake is filled. People drill for oil miles under the sea. This should not be an issue here.
The fields around Lake Qattara, can be then irrigated with fresh water. If for some reason a decision is made to make the depression into a salt water lake and not build a pipeline from the Nile, the solar desalination systems can be used for irrigation of agricultural projects on the lake's surrounding banks.
Freshwater Qattara Lake's level can be maintained by the water pipeline from the Nile, and raised by the desalinated water from the Mediterranean Sea as needed. The two solar power plants when not working to power the desalination plant, can supply the local electricity grids possibly as far as Alexandria.
I propose two approaches to reduce solar heat exposure in farming:
1. Greenhouses where solar radiation, moisture level and soil quality are controlled in an LED (at night) vertical farming environment where top level can be manned without robotics (max 8 feet), men can move along rows of produce on elevated electric vehicle platforms onto which they can collect plants or use them for carrying necessary farming supplies or tools.
2. Hanging gardens built from 3-D solar printed termite like structures to grow vine like plants such as beans, tomatoes or grapes, and shade them from excessive sunlight.
3. Depending how deep the lake is, one can also grow plants right on top of these 3-D printed structures, they just need to be built and planned ahead of time, at lake depths that will allow the plants to stay above water level. Imagine the top of the sand printed structures to be what holds up rows of the plants pictured below:
The project will require the use of military equipment and labor. My understanding is that even if the project is made as big as pictured in the original Wikipedia graphic, only 300 people need to be resettled.
Finally, even if the entire depression is filled with water from the Mediterranean Sea, it will create an inland coastline that is about half the length of the Gulf of Suez. This would become prime real estate for development of tourist resorts, condominiums and suburban towns, provided the 70 km to 140 km distance can be traveled relatively quickly to Alexandria. High speed rail and vacuum tube magnetic levitation transport might make this into a gigantic oasis for the world's rich, in addition to being prime farm land. Especially if the area were deemed a special economic zone. Below is a satellite image of the west coast of the Gulf of Suez at about the same latitude.
The question remains. Is it easier to go with a salt lake, or does it make more sense to go with a fresh water one? Personally, all that fresh water from Nile going into the Mediterranean seems like an awful lot of waste!
Also, should Egypt go with the FRESHWATER plan (or saltwater, whichever), as always I highly recommend SYNERGIES. This means the lake should be a fish farm (but not necessarily in view of the shore) much like there are oceanic fish farms... but in order NOT to evaporate, the Qattara Lake's surface should be used as a photovoltaic floating solar power plant that shields it from the sun, while cooling the panels and keeping them free of dust. This way it will be easier to control both evaporation rates and water levels. If the banks are developed into prime real estate, receding water level could cause property values to drop. Water level must be strictly controlled once project is completed. So plan WISELY!
Like the Three Gorges Dam, the Qattara Depression Project will be just a dream... until it becomes the Qattara Lake. I'm hardly ever wrong, the synergies here are mindbogglingly lucrative. This project's time has come.
P.S. I came across this rail map for the New Silk Road. It is nearly identical to what I pitched over the years... and now it appears Mexico will get high speed rail next year, and USA is still in the boonies. No comment.
P.P.S. Earlier today I explained how GDP depends on what's counted into it, country by country. For instance, how do aircraft carriers figure into GDP growth for USA and USSR (see graph)? When private enterprise produces the entire supply lines, equips the sailors, profits on fuel etc, it is rather easy to figure out. Not so with state owned corporations and soldiers who are conscripted into service.
P.P.P.S When Russia dissolved the Soviet Union, its per capita GDP PPP took a downward turn and only recovered by 2002, then grew rapidly with a decline during the world financial crisis of 2008 and as a result of the War in Donbas. Ukraine, the FSU or Former Soviet Union's second largest and most populous economy on the other hand dropped to HALF of its 1990 per capita GDP PPP, then took until 2006 to recover its 1990 levels and experienced far larger drops in 2008 and 2014.
Let this be a grave warning to the British, as they leave the European Union, I don't think the EU will be affected at all, as it will expand in size even with the UK quitting and likely take pieces of UK back into it, just as Russia reformed the Eurasian Economic Union.
Egypt has swiftly built the New Suez canal which is going to profit the country for decades to come.
Egypt has invested in solar power to become energy self sufficient.
Egypt had build fish farms.
Egypt has started to reclaim the desert.
What Egypt should also do, besides desert reclamation projects, is change its entire weather system to mitigate climate change by increasing its cloud cover, improve air quality with more rain and increase its agricultural output to levels that maintain the population's needs and allow for exports to Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria which are challenged by long term droughts and desertification.
To this end, I propose making the Qattara Depression into a FRESHWATER lake. A canal should be built from the Mediterranean and the water that goes through it, should be desalinated. The techniques used for desalination should be powered by solar energy. A concentrated thermal solar power system should also be used to supply the channel with fresh water during the night.
The entire depression does not need to be filled with water. The Nile can supply the depression via an aqueduct in a pipeline, as pictured below. The pipeline will needs to be of a large cross section, but it can also provide electricity, as inside it, turbines can be placed. On can also build multiple water and hydro-power pipelines for the Nile river, so redundancy prevents flow interruption in case some break, and adds water carrying capacity incrementally to capture as much of the river's fresh water as possible. Lake's water level can be controlled to any level desired. Any present oil exploration in the Qattara Depression, can continue even if the lake is filled. People drill for oil miles under the sea. This should not be an issue here.
The fields around Lake Qattara, can be then irrigated with fresh water. If for some reason a decision is made to make the depression into a salt water lake and not build a pipeline from the Nile, the solar desalination systems can be used for irrigation of agricultural projects on the lake's surrounding banks.
Freshwater Qattara Lake's level can be maintained by the water pipeline from the Nile, and raised by the desalinated water from the Mediterranean Sea as needed. The two solar power plants when not working to power the desalination plant, can supply the local electricity grids possibly as far as Alexandria.
I propose two approaches to reduce solar heat exposure in farming:
1. Greenhouses where solar radiation, moisture level and soil quality are controlled in an LED (at night) vertical farming environment where top level can be manned without robotics (max 8 feet), men can move along rows of produce on elevated electric vehicle platforms onto which they can collect plants or use them for carrying necessary farming supplies or tools.
2. Hanging gardens built from 3-D solar printed termite like structures to grow vine like plants such as beans, tomatoes or grapes, and shade them from excessive sunlight.
The project will require the use of military equipment and labor. My understanding is that even if the project is made as big as pictured in the original Wikipedia graphic, only 300 people need to be resettled.
Finally, even if the entire depression is filled with water from the Mediterranean Sea, it will create an inland coastline that is about half the length of the Gulf of Suez. This would become prime real estate for development of tourist resorts, condominiums and suburban towns, provided the 70 km to 140 km distance can be traveled relatively quickly to Alexandria. High speed rail and vacuum tube magnetic levitation transport might make this into a gigantic oasis for the world's rich, in addition to being prime farm land. Especially if the area were deemed a special economic zone. Below is a satellite image of the west coast of the Gulf of Suez at about the same latitude.
The question remains. Is it easier to go with a salt lake, or does it make more sense to go with a fresh water one? Personally, all that fresh water from Nile going into the Mediterranean seems like an awful lot of waste!
Also, should Egypt go with the FRESHWATER plan (or saltwater, whichever), as always I highly recommend SYNERGIES. This means the lake should be a fish farm (but not necessarily in view of the shore) much like there are oceanic fish farms... but in order NOT to evaporate, the Qattara Lake's surface should be used as a photovoltaic floating solar power plant that shields it from the sun, while cooling the panels and keeping them free of dust. This way it will be easier to control both evaporation rates and water levels. If the banks are developed into prime real estate, receding water level could cause property values to drop. Water level must be strictly controlled once project is completed. So plan WISELY!
Like the Three Gorges Dam, the Qattara Depression Project will be just a dream... until it becomes the Qattara Lake. I'm hardly ever wrong, the synergies here are mindbogglingly lucrative. This project's time has come.
P.S. I came across this rail map for the New Silk Road. It is nearly identical to what I pitched over the years... and now it appears Mexico will get high speed rail next year, and USA is still in the boonies. No comment.
P.P.S. Earlier today I explained how GDP depends on what's counted into it, country by country. For instance, how do aircraft carriers figure into GDP growth for USA and USSR (see graph)? When private enterprise produces the entire supply lines, equips the sailors, profits on fuel etc, it is rather easy to figure out. Not so with state owned corporations and soldiers who are conscripted into service.
P.P.P.S When Russia dissolved the Soviet Union, its per capita GDP PPP took a downward turn and only recovered by 2002, then grew rapidly with a decline during the world financial crisis of 2008 and as a result of the War in Donbas. Ukraine, the FSU or Former Soviet Union's second largest and most populous economy on the other hand dropped to HALF of its 1990 per capita GDP PPP, then took until 2006 to recover its 1990 levels and experienced far larger drops in 2008 and 2014.
Let this be a grave warning to the British, as they leave the European Union, I don't think the EU will be affected at all, as it will expand in size even with the UK quitting and likely take pieces of UK back into it, just as Russia reformed the Eurasian Economic Union.
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