Over 6 years ago, Zero Mass Water started out on a mission to create solar panels that can be used to bring clean drinking water to the world.
The technology was first developed at Arizona State University and has since been used in a number of countries to help bring clean drinking water to communities; places like Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Lebanon, and Jordan.
What they created was a set of hygroscopic materials that are porous enough to be able to rapidly absorb water. The water goes through a mineralized filter and can be sent directly to the kitchen tap or stored somewhere else.
It's helping to bring water independence to many and now folks in the US will be able to get their hands on the technology as the Source panels have been recently launched in that market.
Each panel is going to cost around $2000 and will need to be maintained, with filters and mineral blocks needing to be replaced etc. And it can generate between 2-5 liters of water every day; depending on the humidity and sunlight. They want to be able to bring clean drinking water to as many as they can, whether that means a refugee camp in Syria, an orphanage in Mexico City, or a mansion in San Francisco. Their ideal customer is everyone.
And Zero Water Mass isn't the only project seeking to do this, there are others that have also been developed. Like the project known as Water-Gen that's also seeking to remove the humidity, purify the air and transform it into clean drinking water.
Today it's estimated that 1 in 9 people lack access to clean drinking water and this sort of innovation could go a long way toward meeting that basic need for millions. It's estimated that by using this solar technology for drinking water, that it could help to get rid of 70,000 plastic bottles over 10 years.
Pics:
Pixabay
via Duke Energy
via Zero Mass Water /BI
Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/zero-mass-solar-panels-water-from-air-launch-us-2017-12
https://www.forbes.com/sites/miguelhelft/2017/11/15/meet-zero-mass-water-whose-solar-panels-pull-drinking-water-from-the-air/#646e001a370e
http://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/new-technology-uses-air-and-sunlight-to-produce-drinking-water_o
https://illumination.duke-energy.com/articles/from-thin-air-clean-drinking-water
https://www.timesofisrael.com/extracting-water-from-air-israeli-firm-looks-to-quench-global-thirst/
https://water.org/our-impact/water-crisis/
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/24/tech/innovation/machine-makes-drinking-water-from-air/index.html
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