Gadgetory

what if you could produce clean drinking water right out of thin air and without using electricity that's what one Arizona based start-up is trying to do using a combination of solar energy material science and data is this the next level of drinking water this is zero mass water it's a water startup operating out of an old car dealership in Scottsdale Arizona zero mass is building and selling solar-powered panels that harvest drinking water called source the panels have been up and running in specific locations over the past couple years but source just became more widely available very highest level we take sunlight and air and we produce water and so as you drill into that the air part of that equation is applying air into materials that like water so in the same way when you leave a lid off of a sugar bowl the sugar gets a little clumpy that's because that sugar really likes water in that in the air I visited zero mass at their headquarters to check out their panels and of course to taste the water where is this water coming from so the panels that produce this water on the roof so we're taking a water vapor out of the air concentrated in the panels and then we're dispensing it to the tap it tastes nice and clean that's good isn't it yeah I had some tap water last night that didn't taste quite like this okay so to say they pull water from the air is technically accurate but really it's a multi-step system the zero mass panels look like regular solar panels but the middle strip is the only part that a standard photovoltaic technology that part drives the fans and the communications inside the unit on either side of that strip is a proprietary porous material one that generates Heat a separate proprietary material inside the panel absorbs moisture from the air then the pail uses sunlight to take the water back out of those materials and produce a process that's not dissimilar from do forming on grass basically when warm air hits a surface colder than itself and then the water ends up in a 30 liter reservoir where it's mineralized and pH balanced and that point it's drinkable let's say there's an emergency situation like with the recent hurricane in Puerto Rico how quickly can you get one of these set up so the three of us could install two of these in probably an hour and so it actually turns out that the thing that takes the longest putting is in is moving that line down to the sink or to the refrigerator while I was able to see the zero mass panels and taste the water I didn't have much of his ability into how the water actually runs from the reservoir to a faucet I was however able to see the company's Network Operations Center we call it NOC for short every panel that we have ever deployed is communicating with the server we have here Robinson also said that each panel has a circuit board that runs an algorithm so it can adjust itself to maximize water output on average each panel is supposed to produce 5 litres of water per day but it is safe to assume that if you're in a less humid climate or more dry climate that your water output could be less but here is probably very different from here in the Philippines right the two things that effect the amount of water we produce are the humidity in the atmosphere and the amount of solar energy that's available still he says that zero mass panels are absolutely able to make water in the desert even at a place as dry as Arizona there's no doubt that a lack of access to clean water is a big problem for a lot of people according to the United Nations water scarcity affects more than 40 percent of the global population what would you say is the biggest water problem you have around the globe right now is it scarcity is it quality is it access I would say is really all about that would be the right answer the number of people who die from waterborne diseases is enormous it exceeds a million deaths per year dr. Ashok Gadgil is a kind of legend when it comes to socially beneficial technologies especially in the developing world he's won numerous awards including an induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame back in the 90s he a product that uses UV light to disinfect water he says that changes in climate patterns the explosion in urban populations and rising incomes are setting us up for a serious water crisis this century is going to be an extraordinary crisis that the ground waters between relied on as if it was there in indefinitely large quantities is not of course they're that way and we are really deeper and deeper and we are extracting now water that some of my geochemist friends tell me is 10,000 years old that is being pulled out of the ground to be used because that's that's the rate of your planet it's minuscule compared to the rate of a draw so is zero mass going to replace groundwater as a primary source is it going to help people with little to no access to clean water or is it just for people who buy a lot of bottled water Cody Friesen the CEO says all of the above just takes us from a position of water scarcity to a position of water abundance for every person and it's it's a profound thing to say and I recognize it sounds profound but this technology entitles us to be aspirational because of the fact that we can say okay yep they're Syrian refugee issues in northern Lebanon let's go there yep Maria hit Puerto Rico yep let's go there hey there's issues in Flint let's go there hey by the way you're buying what bottled water in Berkeley let's displace that same in Oakland same in Scottsdale there is still the cost to consider each panel costs $2,000 plus a $500 installation fee so $4,500 total for a two panel array so far zero math says hundreds of panels have been set up in eight countries around the world for people in developed markets that means they're either early testers or they're paying out of pocket in emergency situations or places where there's a lack of funding the company is relying on donors NGOs are multilateral institutions the fact that it's totally independent of any infrastructure no wire no pipe or anything the fact that we can just put this anywhere changes your lives there's no doubt zero mass is working hard on an innovative way for people to have access to clean water without electricity or sophisticated plumbing it's not surprisingly others are working on solutions like this too the question then doesn't seem to be whether it's too good to be true it's whether harvesting water from the air is the most sustainable most cost-effective solution for clean water while dr. GAD Gill declined to comment on zero mass specifically he said the method of harvesting water from the air wouldn't be his first choice willing water from moisture condensing water from moisture in the air he's liable if I was on a desert island I had lots of money and there was no other source of fresh water and I was going to die then the value of my life is what is now pitted against the cost of that work instead he says conserving water and recycling water like the stuff we flushed down the toilet every day are still more cost effective than harvesting new water we need to do both but we should do whatever is cheaper and least damaging to the environment in almost all cases reusing the water seems to be the cheaper way to go similarly conserving water seems to be cheaper way to go before you start harvesting it from the air in the world of water there may be different interpretations of sustainability and varying approaches to how to just get clean water to more people for zero mass the company says the goal is to get to the point where the idea of water from thin air is just a part of people's everyday conversations if you're at a cocktail party you say well I've got solar my route people think Oh electricity in a small number of years people saying oh you have so learned if I give you talkin electricity or water let's go up to the roof and check out our array up there I think my Chris come with us yeah I'm supposed to sorry I was eating mixin we all just like we and all the enter from around corners memories