I never claimed desalination (which is energetically expensive) is necessary, I claim both throttling of Panama Canal traffic and fresh water loss are unnecessary.
Is saving shipping fuel or saving freshwater during a drought that is expected to worsen significantly "(un)necessary"? Is human prosperity "(un)necessary"?
Why are you bending over backwards to defend wasting precious resources?
New commenter here, and I understand your arguments you've made in this thread, but it's like asking what is the waste of a waterfall? The math you're doing would say add up how much energy could have been extracted and compare it to equivalent generation in coal or similar. The water, even spent on the locks, goes to the ocean anyways.
It's not like the waste of a waterfall: the potential energy loss across a waterfall ignores the loss of freshwater.
Suppose you drink water from a river and piss in the river so the water ends up in the ocean, later someone diverts this river upstream straight to the ocean, would you really not care that the water no longer passes through your body?
Does the knowledge that the water has returned to the ocean quench your thirst?
The Panama Canal operators are throttling shipping capacity by about 10%.
May I inform your employer you are ready to swallow a 10% reduction in pay check?
Is saving shipping fuel or saving freshwater during a drought that is expected to worsen significantly "(un)necessary"? Is human prosperity "(un)necessary"?
Why are you bending over backwards to defend wasting precious resources?