We all know now how good solar panels can be in terms of harvesting natural energy from the sun and saving us money in the process. Now, a company called Zero Mass Water has taken that one step further and have managed to extract clean, drinkable water straight from the air using their special solar panels.
Zero Mass Water currently has pilot programs running in Ecuador, the U.S., Jordan, and Mexico that looks to provide clean water to those who are without it. CEO of the company, Cody Friesen, says “We started this company to provide water to everyone, everywhere.”
This new type of solar panel is named Source that uses a material that has the ability to passively absorb water that’s in the air and the solar panel expels the water back out, but purified. The water is also run through a mineral block to improve its taste by adding magnesium and calcium to it.
Friesen and his team are hopeful that their system can save lives everywhere by providing water that can help eliminate disease and make many people’s lives much easier. But, it’s not just about helping third world countries. Friesen states, “There are many people in the world. Kind of the ‘middle billion,’ who have jobs and make maybe modest sums of money compared to you or me, but they live a life that is pretty close to what we live. Except that their infrastructure stinks, so they end up buying a lot of bottled water.”
Areas with known pipe problems of those in remote places will be able to benefit from these systems as will those in places where the water quality is poor. The can even be set up to cater for hospitals or businesses with multiple panels. More countries are beginning to have the systems installed and in 2017 the company plans to scale up to offer much larger systems than they do now.
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