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> Last year, he formed a company called Water Harvesting that this fall plans to release a microwave-size device able to provide up to 8 liters per day. The com

> Last year, he formed a company called Water Harvesting that this fall plans to release a microwave-size device able to provide up to 8 liters per day. The company promises a scaled-up version next year that will produce 22,500 liters per day, enough to supply a small village. “We’re making water mobile,” Yaghi says. “It’s like taking a wired phone and making a wireless phone.” Any ballpark estimates on the cost for a residential use unit? i.e. 200L-1000L/day Also, is it feasible for this to markedly effect downstream areas? i.e. If there's eastwardly wind flowing through Nevada where machines are extracting humidity at an extreme scale, how might the 30%+ humidity-requiring plants (i.e. that Jamaican Yerba) in Utah hold up? water wars 2.0, version: air. humidity credits & humidity sink surveillance with humidobfuscation 'consultants'.

ac29 7y ago
>Also, is it feasible for this to markedly effect downstream areas? > i.e. If there's eastwardly wind flowing through Nevada where machines are extracting humidity at an extreme scale, how might the 30%+ humidity-requiring plants (i.e. that Jamaican Yerba) in Utah hold up? There is a LOT of water in the air, 12,900 km3 [0]. As a comparison, the US uses 1.2 km3 of water per day (all uses combined.) [0] https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/how-much-water-there-earth https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/scie... [1] https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/total-water-use-united-states https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/scie... Interestingly in that second link - the largest category of water usage is for thermoelectric power generation, actually using more than irrigation. I wouldn't have guessed that, and as we start to rely less on burning things for power, that number should come significantly down.
- sbierwagen 7y ago
  >and as we start to rely less on burning things for power, that number should come significantly down. Nuclear plants also need cooling towers. Also note that heat exchangers can also use seawater, though with higher maintenance costs from biofouling.
  - Retric 7y ago
    No, subs and aircraft carriers should be obvious counter examples. They just need cooling and large bodies of water can work just as well, however at scale this can harm local wildlife. https://nuclear.duke-energy.com/2013/11/13/why-don-t-all-nuclear-plants-have-cooling-towers https://nuclear.duke-energy.com/2013/11/13/why-don-t-all-nuc...
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
- masonic 7y ago
  the largest category of water usage is for thermoelectric power generation, actually using more than irrigation Isn't there a lot of overlap there? Hydroelectric doesn't consume the water, it just takes energy from its gravity.
  - minitoar 7y ago
    Thermoelectric sort of does consume it, I guess. They inject the water down into geysers to produce steam. My home town, Santa Rosa, California, gets most (all?) of its power from thermoelectric. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geysers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geysers
    - sbierwagen 7y ago
      To be clear, when the article says "thermoelectric", they're talking about any power plant that heats up water to generate steam, which is to say, every coal, nuclear, and combined-cycle natural gas power plant in the country.
      - minitoar 7y ago
        Ah...makes sense.
    - reissbaker 7y ago
      I don't think that's consumption, though? Steam is still water, just in gaseous form, and it becomes liquid again via condensation.
      - usrusr 7y ago
        I was about to post the same objection, the steam used in the turbine is in a closed cycle for all that I know. But a large amount of water is evaporated to cool the condenser in big plants that produce more waste heat than can be used by local low intensity heat consumers (district heating, greenhouses). In any case, water consumption is an incredibly weak metric if it's not somehow normalized by source and sink impact. It's irresponsible alarmism when e.g. irrigation use from a plentiful source is measured on the same scale as consumption of a non-replenishing mineral occurrence and/or water use that ends with dumping toxic liquid into a leaky artificial lake as seem with certain mining processes.

ac29 7y ago

>Also, is it feasible for this to markedly effect downstream areas? > i.e. If there's eastwardly wind flowing through Nevada where machines are extracting humidity at an extreme scale, how might the 30%+ humidity-requiring plants (i.e. that Jamaican Yerba) in Utah hold up? There is a LOT of water in the air, 12,900 km3 [0]. As a comparison, the US uses 1.2 km3 of water per day (all uses combined.) [0] https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/how-much-water-there-earth https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/scie... [1] https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/science/total-water-use-united-states https://www.usgs.gov/special-topic/water-science-school/scie... Interestingly in that second link - the largest category of water usage is for thermoelectric power generation, actually using more than irrigation. I wouldn't have guessed that, and as we start to rely less on burning things for power, that number should come significantly down.

sbierwagen 7y ago
>and as we start to rely less on burning things for power, that number should come significantly down. Nuclear plants also need cooling towers. Also note that heat exchangers can also use seawater, though with higher maintenance costs from biofouling.
- Retric 7y ago
  No, subs and aircraft carriers should be obvious counter examples. They just need cooling and large bodies of water can work just as well, however at scale this can harm local wildlife. https://nuclear.duke-energy.com/2013/11/13/why-don-t-all-nuclear-plants-have-cooling-towers https://nuclear.duke-energy.com/2013/11/13/why-don-t-all-nuc...
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
masonic 7y ago
the largest category of water usage is for thermoelectric power generation, actually using more than irrigation Isn't there a lot of overlap there? Hydroelectric doesn't consume the water, it just takes energy from its gravity.
- minitoar 7y ago
  Thermoelectric sort of does consume it, I guess. They inject the water down into geysers to produce steam. My home town, Santa Rosa, California, gets most (all?) of its power from thermoelectric. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geysers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Geysers
  - sbierwagen 7y ago
    To be clear, when the article says "thermoelectric", they're talking about any power plant that heats up water to generate steam, which is to say, every coal, nuclear, and combined-cycle natural gas power plant in the country.
    - minitoar 7y ago
      Ah...makes sense.
  - reissbaker 7y ago
    I don't think that's consumption, though? Steam is still water, just in gaseous form, and it becomes liquid again via condensation.
    - usrusr 7y ago
      I was about to post the same objection, the steam used in the turbine is in a closed cycle for all that I know. But a large amount of water is evaporated to cool the condenser in big plants that produce more waste heat than can be used by local low intensity heat consumers (district heating, greenhouses). In any case, water consumption is an incredibly weak metric if it's not somehow normalized by source and sink impact. It's irresponsible alarmism when e.g. irrigation use from a plentiful source is measured on the same scale as consumption of a non-replenishing mineral occurrence and/or water use that ends with dumping toxic liquid into a leaky artificial lake as seem with certain mining processes.