"... and we will change the face of Arakis."
Interesting, but currently very inefficient.
Source works something like this: It draws ambient air through a fan into its devices. There, special nano-materials engineered by Zero Mass absorb the water through a process similar to what makes sugar in an open container clump with humidity. Similar, but highly concentrated, Friesen says. The solar panel then helps separate the water from the material. After it is condensed, it flows into a reservoir below the panel, where it runs through a mineral block that adds magnesium and calcium common in drinking water... The system extracts moisture out of the air at a rate of as much as five liters per day.
Friesen’s clean water doesn’t come cheap. A typical setup for a home will set you back about $4500 -- $2000 for each of two Sources and an additional $500 for installation. Friesen says for a household that regularly buys bottled water, payback will take about five years. Considering that Americans drank, on average, 40 gallons of bottled water last year, he sees plenty of potential customers. Friesen says that over its lifetime, a two-panel set up may help to remove 70,000 plastic bottles from circulation.
I'm not really sure how it could be as high as 70,000. If I drink two 1 litre bottles every day for 70 years, which seems pretty extreme, that's still only 50,000. Though five litres a day is enough for two people, so maybe if you have a couple of long-lived bottled water fanatics sharing the same system... ?
But Friesen has a pitch and a plan to push Source well beyond homes. Consider a school that’s had issues with lead in its water. Installing an array of Source – say a dozen or two of the devices -- could be cheaper than replacing decrepit infrastructure. Contamination doesn’t have to be on the scale of Flint, Michigan for the idea to make sense. Last year, the Los Angeles Unified School District, for example, spent nearly $20 million to retrofit or remove 48,000 contaminated drinking fountains. Zero Mass' backers believe numbers like these point to Source's viability not only for homes but also for institutions and organizations.
I seem to recall that the US has weird and varying laws as to whether you can collect rainwater for drinking without paying the state for it. Perhaps this would be a clever way to circumvent that.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/miguelhelft/2017/11/15/meet-zero-mass-water-whose-solar-panels-pull-drinking-water-from-the-air/#5243b988370e
Most water bottles people consume in the US aren't liters, but much smaller, 16-20oz. And that's the size of small soda you'd get from a fast food place. Somebody that drinks (almost) exclusively bottled water can go through quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteThat would still be an exceptional person that goes through that much. They'd have probably transitioned to a filter and pitcher at that level of consumption, just based on price alone.