Count on Israel to continue being awesome:
“an Israeli firm has designed a device that produces clean drinking water from ambient air”
Water from ambient air? I call that a win!
Obviously this is something we can all understand. We all know there’s ambient water in the air. We call it humidity and it’s why everyone avoids Galveston in August. There are ways to harvest it. If you’re something of a windowlicker you can gather water on a cold but humid summer morning. We call it dew and anyone who’s slept under the stars knows about it. If you’re in a tighter spot and you’re motivated you can go after water inside respiring foliage. Everyone with a lick of sense has heard of a solar water still:
This is a similar technology (though not the same… so don’t attack me in the comments!). The biggest limitation is that the solar water still (above) is something I associate with gathering a few ounces of water from a pile of foliage where it’s reasonably humid. Someday it might keep me alive but it’s not going to fill my coffee pot. (Without coffee are we truly alive?)
Science fiction is rife with similar ideas. Here’s a fish based Kevin Costner proving that in the future people will be idiots. They’re so fucking dumb they can float on an ocean under the bright sun and fail to master solar powered desalinization.
This little pussy was supposed to be fixing the water collection technology when he started playing with droids and hanging out with some desert hippie.
“Luke! Quit playing grab ass with the droids and hike your skinny ass over to that evaporator. We need it fixed before the next farm bill check comes in.”
Israel, of course, is cooler than all that. They went with the “there’s water dripping off this air conditioner and it gives me an idea” path. They seem to be on the cusp of something workable. The article is talking about 300watts (which is is peanuts) and I wish them all the luck in the world.
Also, because they have balls of titanium, they went for it and mounted it on a tank!
Hat Tip to Maggies Farm.
P.S. Wait a few years until the technology is proven and it starts improving lives. Then then cue the enviroweenies for their protest that harvesting humidity is bad for Gaia in 3. 2. 1…