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I agree with you... Why not dig a deep well and run a solar pump? Around Tucson... I have friends that have +400ft. deep wells that cost $60k to install. Seems

I agree with you... Why not dig a deep well and run a solar pump? Around Tucson... I have friends that have +400ft. deep wells that cost $60k to install. Seems expensive... but we are talking +35gpm all day long/ Once the well is dug, cased, and the pump is installed there are very little operating costs especially with solar-powered electric pumps. The math for a comparison between a well and this gizmo would be interesting.

clayrichardson 11y ago
I would like to see that comparison as well! I'm not sure how to determine the practicality of well excavation, but my intuition tells me it largely depends on geographically influenced factors. I'll look into that.
intron 11y ago
An AWG is rarely the most efficient solution, but sometimes it's the best solution. If you're not going to be in a particular area for very long, digging a well might not be an option. An AWG can collect water while you're moving -- all you need is access to air. If you find yourself in an area where the water table is contaminated, using an AWG may end up being the safer option. Imagine you're living in space (or a similarly resource-constrained environment): you've got multiple people losing something like 0.5+ L/day (citation needed) to the air through perspiration -- that's valuable water. Moreover, to keep people comfortable, you should make sure your relative humidity stays below 60% (citation needed), so you're going to be pulling it out of the air anyhow. NASA undoubtedly has these systems in place in space, but that doesn't mean we should develop a open source version of the equipment that everyone can collaborate on and improve. TL;DR Sometimes you're willing to trade energy for water. Also, open source.
dsr_ 11y ago
If you're digging a new well, you should see if you can do a ground source heat pump to get heating and cooling out of it at the same time. Most of the startup cost is in digging the heat exchange loop. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_heat_pump https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_heat_pump

clayrichardson 11y ago

I would like to see that comparison as well! I'm not sure how to determine the practicality of well excavation, but my intuition tells me it largely depends on geographically influenced factors. I'll look into that.

intron 11y ago

An AWG is rarely the most efficient solution, but sometimes it's the best solution. If you're not going to be in a particular area for very long, digging a well might not be an option. An AWG can collect water while you're moving -- all you need is access to air. If you find yourself in an area where the water table is contaminated, using an AWG may end up being the safer option. Imagine you're living in space (or a similarly resource-constrained environment): you've got multiple people losing something like 0.5+ L/day (citation needed) to the air through perspiration -- that's valuable water. Moreover, to keep people comfortable, you should make sure your relative humidity stays below 60% (citation needed), so you're going to be pulling it out of the air anyhow. NASA undoubtedly has these systems in place in space, but that doesn't mean we should develop a open source version of the equipment that everyone can collaborate on and improve. TL;DR Sometimes you're willing to trade energy for water. Also, open source.

dsr_ 11y ago

If you're digging a new well, you should see if you can do a ground source heat pump to get heating and cooling out of it at the same time. Most of the startup cost is in digging the heat exchange loop. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_heat_pump https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_heat_pump