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Title: The eco machine that can magic water out of thin air
Source:
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URL Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environme ... ov/23/water-mill-eco-invention
Published: Nov 23, 2008
Author: Ed Pilkington
Post Date: 2008-11-23 18:03:54 by PSUSA
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Keywords: None
Views: 407
Comments: 16
Water, Water, everywhere; nor any drop to drink. The plight of the Ancient Mariner is about to be alleviated thanks to a firm of eco-inventors from Canada who claim to have found the solution to the world's worsening water shortages by drawing the liquid of life from an unlimited and untapped source - the air. The company, Element Four, has developed a machine that it hopes will become the first mainstream household appliance to have been invented since the microwave. Their creation, the WaterMill, uses the electricity of about three light bulbs to condense moisture from the air and purify it into clean drinking water. The machine went on display this weekend in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, hosted by Wired magazine at its annual showcase of the latest gizmos its editors believe could change the world. From the outside, the mill looks like a giant golf ball that has been chopped in half: it is about 3ft in diameter, made of white plastic, and is attached to the wall. It works by drawing air through filters to remove dust and particles, then cooling it to just below the temperature at which dew forms. The condensed water is passed through a self-sterilising chamber that uses microbe-busting UV light to eradicate any possibility of Legionnaires' disease or other infections. Finally, it is filtered and passed through a pipe to the owner's fridge or kitchen tap. The obvious question to the proposition that household water demands can be met by drawing it from the air is: are you crazy? To which the machine's inventor and Element Four's founder, Jonathan Ritchey, replies: 'Just wait and see. The demand for water is off the chart. People are looking for freedom from water distribution systems that are shaky and increasingly unreliable.' For the environmentally conscious consumer, the WaterMill has an obvious appeal. Bottled water is an ecological catastrophe. In the US alone, about 30bn litres of bottled water is consumed every year at a cost of about $11bn (£7.4bn). According to the Earth Policy Institute, about 1.5m barrels of oil - enough to power 100,000 cars for a year - is used just to make the plastic. The process also uses twice as much water as fits inside the container, not to mention the 30m bottles that go into landfills every day in the US. But the mill also has downsides, not least its $1,200 cost when it goes on sale in America, the UK, Italy, Australia and Japan in the spring. In these credit crunch times that might dissuade many potential buyers, though Ritchey points out that at $0.3 per litre, it is much cheaper than bottled water and would pay for itself in a couple of years. There is also the awkward fact that although there is eight times more atmospheric water than in all the rivers of the world combined, it is unevenly distributed. Those areas of the US that are most desperate for more water - such as the arid south-west where ground water levels are already dramatically depleted - have the lowest levels of moisture in the air. The mill ceases to be effective below about 30 per cent relative humidity levels, which are common later in the day in states such as Arizona. To combat that problem, the machine has an intelligent computer built into it that increases its output at dawn when humidity is highest, and reduces it from mid-afternoon when a blazing sun dries the air.
Poster Comment: That and a solar panel or 2 and maybe an inverter, and there you go. It sounds like a 12v cooler might be all you really need.
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#1. To: PSUSA (#0)
Sounds good. The first microwaves cost a fortune, now they sell for 65 bucks.
Do we know how this stacks up against the water-sucker that AlexJones is now pimping? They are both dependent on AC/DC from what I can tell. Thanks.
I dont know. I havent been to his site in a long time. He's always selling something. Selling Mark Dices' book was the last straw for me. This sounds simple enough to build in an afternoon at the most. The patent can probably be found online.
_______________________________________________________ Click for Privacy and Preparedness files Click to subscribe to Shooters Nehemiah 4:14 And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
From what I read it sounds like they've repackaged a dehumidifier, added an air filter, water filter, germicidal UV lamp and called it a miracle. With a water cost of over a buck a gallon, it's no bargain. I'll stick with Berkey. I think that runs about a dime a gallon with the arsenic & flouride post filters. About the only way to get cleaner water is by reverse osmosis.
I never considered drinking the water from the dehumidifier even if there were no bacteria and dust in it. I wouldn't drink rainwater either even though that would be far superior. Only groundwater for me.
Money problems do not come from a lack of money, but from living an excessive, unrealistic lifestyle
The U.S. Constitution is no impediment to our form of government.--PJ O'Rourke
I have one of those in my basement. It is called a dehumidifier.
On problem I see is that with a cooling Earth there will be less moisture in the air.
What are you talking about. I'm going to see them in January. But why does it depend on them? I don't get it.
Not really. This thing incorporates filter and purifier and uses only outside air.
Not really. This thing incorporates filter and purifier and uses only outside air. I'm just being silly. It is a fancy dehumidifier.
I've not a clue on this one. Any, and all help is appreciated.
Exactly.. They're sucking air through a filter, condensing it on a coil and zapping it with a common UV light you can get from ebay. Whooptie shit.
~ Your failure to be informed, does not make me a wacko.
The huge Berkey's are what are in play here. When the filters are changed, you can tell the difference in the weight of the filters - God only knows what's in the used filters...
Please check them all out. I want to know about the systems that don't require electricity. Which the Berkey does not. Gravity is good.
I'll be staying with the Berkey also - after three years, why would I want to change?
#2. To: PSUSA, everyone (#0)
#3. To: lodwick (#2)
Do we know how this stacks up against the water-sucker that AlexJones is now pimping?
#4. To: lodwick (#2)
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#5. To: Esso (#4)
dehumidifier
#6. To: PSUSA (#0)
#7. To: PSUSA (#0)
#8. To: PSUSA, *Agriculture-Environment* (#0)
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. —Thomas Jefferson, 1802
#9. To: lodwick (#2)
They are both dependent on AC/DC from what I can tell.
#10. To: Old Friend (#7)
I have one of those in my basement. It is called a dehumidifier.
#11. To: Cynicom (#10)
I have one of those in my basement. It is called a dehumidifier.
#12. To: PSUSA, water witchers and filterers. (#3)
Nehemiah 4:14 And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”
#13. To: Esso (#4)
From what I read it sounds like they've repackaged a dehumidifier, added an air filter, water filter, germicidal UV lamp and called it a miracle.
#14. To: Esso, all (#4)
#15. To: Old Friend (#9)
What are you talking about. I'm going to see them in January. But why does it depend on them? I don't get it.
#16. To: Esso, Berkey users (#4)
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