This water harvester can turn desert air into drinkable water

Last October, a University of California, Berkeley, team headed down to the Arizona desert, plopped their newest prototype water harvester into the backyard of a tract home and started sucking water out of the air without any power other than sunlight.

The successful field test of their larger, next-generation harvester proved what the team had predicted earlier in 2017: that the water harvester can extract drinkable water every day/night cycle at very low humidity and at low cost, making it ideal for people living in arid, water-starved areas of the world.

Video by Roxanne Makasdjian and Stephen McNally
MOF graphic by Hulda Nelson
Music: "Orange Octopus" by Unicorn Heads, "New Phantom" by Silent Partner, "Far Away" by MK2, "Always Hopeful" by Silent Partner

[jcm]

Think about it.. between owning a properly sized MOF (or an atmospheric water generator), a solar system and a hydroponic farm one can live anywhere off the grid that he or she pleases. Places where land is very very cheap! At giveaway prices. A desert oasis can be made.. And lets not forget satellite internet. Technology is empowering the individual and decentralizing water, power and food supply. Cool stuff to ponder

[rcuk]

Ah, the old Fremen dream - vegetation on Arrakis!

[cryptickcryptick]

Another potential commercial application of this technology might be crawl space dehumidification. In the South Eastern United States (Tennessee, Alabama) many homes have crawl spaces and major moisture problems in those crawl spaces. It is a very complicated problem, but with constant rain, A/C in the home both vented and unvented crawl spaces get a lot of water which causes mold problems. A simple solar powered dehumidifier that could be placed outside a home and in a crawl space vent and cycle significant amounts of water out of of the homes crawlspace would be beneficial. If placed there, if could theoretically work trouble free for years. Absorbing water at night and releasing it to the air during the day when the suns heats it up.

[LON-project]

Berkeley Alum here. I tried contacting the Professor in charge of the study, but haven't heard back. I have 10 acres in Lancaster, CA (high desert) and would love to test it out here! I do R&D for Aerospace things.

[elladailylife]

I love seeing how much your garden grows over time

[Rosspal]

So 1/3rd of a cup of water per pound per 24hrs (I assume?) so like 40+ pounds of the stuff to cover each persons daily consumption needs plus crazy amounts more for crops. Very practical to have a full farm field of synthetic material all covered in translucent boxes which all need to be opened, closed, and harvested each day.... these people are definitely in touch with the people of the land

[Laudrengen]

I love how he wears eye protection whilst using the PC :P

[gordonstull]

I can see the water harvester as being a very important first step into hydroponics on a "large" scale, simply because one-hundred percent pure water can be readily obtained and circulated in an "enclosed" CO2 ecosystem. One possibility for removing CO2 from the air we breathe would come from the Linde air-liquefaction process. Simply by compressing the air we breathe and removing the excess CO2 from the earth's atmosphere while at the same time using the CO2 gas as a refrigerant and pumping it into the grow room for the plants to use. If it were to be possible, this could solve many problems, as well as being a highly efficient way to grow plants that can be tailored to everyone's needs, while at the same time reducing greenhouse gases from the earth's atmosphere! Thank you for this very informative video!

[mattn]

Very exciting. Now why not make the box "funnel shaped" so that the water droplets have a more concentrated path?

[mikhaelstibino]

Kull Wahad! Bless the maker and his water!

[orlenakerek]

Are these on sale yet? If so where can I get one?

[MartianLivesMatter]

What would happen if you used this as a medium for fungi which has a symbiotic relationship with a cyanobacteria? Could this create some kind of implosive energy production framework?

[ReRiver_EasHar_NYC]

Awesome. Now what happened to the audio cloak? It would've had some great applications for home use and studios. Also, why can't we create sirens for emergency vehicles that direct sound away from surrounding homes and aim them directly at the vehicles they seek to alert? We've taken that very ability and weaponized it, so please don't say it isn't possible.

[Vivenk]

Where has this gone in regards to its commercialization? Thank you.

[albertgaspa]

does anyone know when or where i can buy one or two of this???

FORMER CEO OF NESTLE Peter Brabeck-Letmathe: THEY CANT DO THAT I MUST MAKE THIS ILLEGAL I CONTROL ALL WATER MINE


in all seriousness, this is fantastic now I just need to figure out how to build enough of this an never have to rely on BUYING water ever again.

[Calvertons]

You can use a large hole clear or black plastic sheeting and a bucket to do something similar in the desert. That would be a crude version of this. Except you don’t need the special powder. Just getting the water that is in the soil to evaporate land on plastic then drip into a container.

[PedroRodrigues-myji]

Watching my water bottle sweating brought me here

[SixOhFive]

FYI you can order this MOF for 20 to 22 dollars per kilogram online and make this yourself! The MOF used here is called MOF-303.

[adoptakittytoday]

Okay, now can you use a satellite to move water out of our flood areas into the water-deprived countries? Cone, heat, evaporation, relocation, freezing then depositing into a specific area...