Sucks for Russia but is this really a dystopia thing?

This was in Freakonomics https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-perils-of-drunk-walking/

The farmers have the most senior water rights, so there’s a lot of legal hurdles to that solution. It’s definitely something that needs to happen though. Letting them go bust means the Southwest US needs to get food from somewhere else, most likely shipped in on trucks. It’s not as simple as people make it out.

Heat pumps are AC in reverse, so why’s that so much more efficient? And most new homes are built with good insulation and lawns are illegal for new homes. Most grass has been removed and replaced with rocks, only older homes are allowed to keep their lawns. There’s cash incentives to get them to remove it though. In fact, Las Vegas has actually decreased it’s water usage in the past few decades, while increasing the population.

More energy is used in the US to heat homes than to cool them, so I’m really not seeing why people should live elsewhere. At least not from a pure energy use standpoint.

It’s easy to passively cool things, as long as you’re okay getting them wet :)

If the Hoover Dam becomes inoperable, the entire Southwest US is in trouble. It provides water for farms and power, both mostly in California. Las Vegas would actually be the last to feel the effects of Lake Mead drying up because they’ve installed a deeper “straw” to draw water from, along with a pumping station.

https://www.snwa.com/where-southern-nevada-gets-its-water/our-regional-water-system/intake-no-3.html

At an individual level sure, it’s easy to throw on a blanket when it’s cold. But at a household level, much more energy is used to heat homes.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-10/why-we-always-fight-over-air-conditioning

What purpose does any city serve?

The largest water reservoir in the US is a few miles away. A large air force base was built on the, then, out skirts of town, the nuclear testing site, and the magnesium plant in nearby Henderson. All of which helped the US in WWII. That’s why Las Vegas isn’t a ghost town. It’s much more than gambling and debauchery. If that’s all it took, then why isn’t Pahrump (where prostitution is legal) a big city? What happened to Reno, which used to be the place to go party?

I think Lemmy users are incredibly ignorant of Las Vegas and should get a little bit of reading in before trashing my home town.

You also may want to let the 2 million plus residents know their city is not necessary.

Las Vegas grew out of being a train stop for water. Yes, water.

The laws of thermodynamics disagree

Edit: the downvoters may want to actually learn about this https://www.scienceabc.com/eyeopeners/why-does-it-take-more-energy-to-heat-a-home-than-to-cool-one.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-10/why-we-always-fight-over-air-conditioning

I grew up in Vegas. I’d hang out outside with friends all night in the summer. The nights used to be a break from the heat, now it’s just always hot. Plus the removal of almost all grass contributes to the heat island effect. The grass needed to go, but it wasn’t without consequences.

Would you say the same about places where it gets well below freezing in the winter?

Edit: Many older houses don’t have AC in Vegas. They use evaporative cooling mostly.

The problem is would DDG pay them $500 million to be the default. That’s doubtful.

Wayne Gretzky 3D Hockey is my all time favorite. The arcade style hockey was awesome.