NOV 24

Every elementary school student learns about condensation. Water from the air accumulates on a cold surface, much like a toilet tank sweats in the summer or dew forms on grass overnight. The technology to extract water from air has been around for years - Waterex and Aquamaker both harvest water out of air using dehumidifiers. Now, though a British Columbian company in Kelowna called Element Four has come up with its version: the WaterMill.

The WaterMill attaches to the outside of your house and uses the electricity of about three light bulbs to condense moisture from outdoor air. A sensing device adjusts so output is highest early in the day when humidity is highest. Round like a ball, about a meter wide and with its two air filters that resemble eyes and a carbon filter shaped like a mouth, the machine kind of looks like a smiling robot. Air is drawn in through the filters and cooled with an internal element. The moisture that accumulates is then sterilized using UV light to zap out the bacteria and water is carbon filtered through a pipe.

Each day the WaterMill can produce 12 liters or 13 quarts of water for drinking and cooking. The company claims it will cost about three to four cents to produce one liter of water, a fraction of the price of bottled water. Eventually, the company hopes to power the WaterMill through solar panels or wind energy.

Air may be free, but the WaterMill is a costly appliance. WIRED Store, which opened last week in Manhattan's Flatiron District, is showcasing the WaterMill as one of its hottest products of the year. It costs $1,299 and will be available next year.


Via The Guardian and the WIRED Store

Comments (7)

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but why?
written by Noll, November 25, 2008

This might be OK if it were solar powered and there were no wells around, but using 300W (assuming three incandescents) of power to suck a few liters of water out of the air where there are already water is already on tap is ridiculous and wasteful.

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That's one expensive dehumidifier!
written by meteechart, November 25, 2008

I'm having trouble seeing what the difference is between this and the dehumidifiers available at big box stores around the nation for $60. (Other than the mildly frightening robo-Mickey Mouse design, that is.)

It's an eco- version of the pet rock.

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They've invented the dehumidifier!
written by bob, November 25, 2008

I've had the unfiltered version of this in my basement for years. Who knew it was such a gold mine.

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1000 Times More Energy (and CO2)
written by Carl, November 25, 2008

If you do a few calculations, you see this eco-product is an eco-disaster. The web site (elementfour.com) is sketchy on details, but it supposedly uses 300W of electricity. The 3gal/day works out to 2.4kWh/gal or 2,400 Wh/gal. By comparison municipal well water (most energy intensive) uses 1.8 Wh/gal, and desalination (too expensive) is 10-14 Wh/gal.

In other words, the WaterMill uses about 1000 times more energy than tap water. If the electricity is made from coal, 1.2 lbs-CO2/l. The Pacific Institute has a figure of .16 lbs-CO2/l emission for bottled water, so the WaterMill is still an order of magnitude worse than bottled water. Yes, the price of electricity for the WaterMill is less than bottled water, because the cost of bottled water is the profit in the supply chain, not cost of pure energy.

It would be good to ban products like this because of the extreme energy waste.

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Pointless, wasteful and overpriced...
written by Chris, November 29, 2008

As other commentators have noted, this is ridiculously wasteful of energy to harvest water when it's much less expensively available from conventional sources.

If you were in the middle of nowhere with no water source, or out bushwalking (hiking) & camping a long way from reliable water sources, then perhaps there would be a role for this sort of thing.

If you had to have one... why not just connect a PV panel to a Peltier device and collect the water that condenses on the cold side? Much cheaper.

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Great Idea! Very efficient and effective
written by Mike Johnson, March 09, 2009

After reading the comments below I conducted the calculations on US Tap Water (some of the cheapest in the world)this innovative idea resolves several of the issues seen! Zero water contaminates, never depends on the water infrastructure of the local municipality. Also, it calculates out to approximately 2 to 6 cents per gallon. In some parts of the United States, this is cheaper than the municipality rate.

I believe, that a dehumidifier has no filtration and uses aluminum coils. After seeing this product at the West Coast Green show, I am aware that every aspect of this machine was designed for consumer safety the production of clean drinking water. The water is cleaner than most bottled waters. And in the blind taste test that I observed, it was chosen 9/10 times as the preferred water.

One last note, this machine is completely capable of running off of the solar panel. As was demonstrated at the last show I saw. Great job! And I hope the staff of the element four receives a Noble Prize!

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the poster above me is a spamer.
written by Eric, April 03, 2009

the guy who is praiseing this invention is probbly the inventor of it, or someone paid to say good things, there is no way water costs 2 to 6 cents a gallon anyway in the USA. also claiming it is completely capable of running off solar panels is the most B.S. claim someone could make, a steel mill is also completely capable of running off solar panels, if you had millions of them. 300 watts of solar panels will set you back quite a lot. Matter of fact, half the stuff on this blog is not environmentally friendly at all. it is just all scams to make you think it is.

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