Engineers boost output of solar desalination system by 50%

Re:Engineers boost output of solar desalination system by 50% by jacknews on Wednesday June 19, 2019 @01:38AM (#20221061)

I believe this could be building on a previous project from 2012: https://phys.org/news/2012-11-major-advance-sunlight-steam.h...

They state 24% effiency there, so the new result implies 36% overall efficiency? I find articles which only state '50% improvement' without stating the end result, frustrating.

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Re:Engineers boost output of solar desalination system by 50% by sebazzz on Wednesday June 19, 2019 @01:42AM (#20221079)

Typical journalism. Percentages are always abused.

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Re:Engineers boost output of solar desalination system by 50% by agumonkey on Wednesday June 19, 2019 @02:08AM (#20221180)

I completely understand, but still, a 50% increase is enough to be state as is. Usually tech progresses by much less.

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Re:Engineers boost output of solar desalination system by 50% by jacknews on Wednesday June 19, 2019 @03:59AM (#20221582)

I agree a large advance is still newsworthy, but it's just laziness not to go on to say what that means, ag "giving a really rather good 36% overall" or "despite the still-low overall officiency, scientists are optimistic about future progress" etc.

Then again how are they even measuring efficiency, is there a theoretical minimum energy required to remove the salt from water?

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Re:Engineers boost output of solar desalination system by 50% by mrguyorama on Wednesday June 19, 2019 @01:48PM (#20225412)

Would an average reader have a good concept of what "36% efficient overall" would mean here?

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Re:Engineers boost output of solar desalination system by 50% by skybrian on Wednesday June 19, 2019 @07:05AM (#20222285)

More examples: https://mobile.twitter.com/justsaysrisks

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