Surely I can't be the only one to have realised that this new machine that can magic water out of thin air is little more than a humble dehumidifier, the like of which has been around for....well I don't have a clue actually but it is hardly a new invention. They are very common in Japan (either as a function of an air-con or as a stand-alone unit) where the summers are extremely humid. I wouldn't fancy drinking what comes out of the back end, mind you, but that only requires a bit of sterilising and filtering.
As for the cost of the resulting water, at $0.30 per litre...I do not know how that compares to existing dehumidifiers but it makes a nonsense of the breathless claims that this gadget could make a useful contribution to water production. The claim of paying for itself in a couple of years is clearly absurd and refers only to an alternative of living off bottled water - and who does that?
Desalination plants can generate water at about a thousandth of the price (random google).
As for the cost of the resulting water, at $0.30 per litre...I do not know how that compares to existing dehumidifiers but it makes a nonsense of the breathless claims that this gadget could make a useful contribution to water production. The claim of paying for itself in a couple of years is clearly absurd and refers only to an alternative of living off bottled water - and who does that?
Desalination plants can generate water at about a thousandth of the price (random google).
3 comments:
And even at that, desalination is not a terribly cost-effective approach, as our current conversations about that technology here in New Mexico make clear.
I can't see how this would be any dirtier than rainwater (which is what most of rural Australia drinks). And while the cost may be high, the marginal cost of running water already condensed by your air conditioner into the rainwater tank instead of the sewer is zippo.
ON a related note, a wind-powered condenser was making the news a few years back. I think the idea is that the wind turbine directly drives the refrigeration compressor, so you don't need any electrics...
http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1860729.htm
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