Xprize Winner: Skysource/Skywater

As a regular contributor to water charities and other nonprofit organizations, Allen Chi discusses the Xprize Foundation, a nonprofit group helping develop solutions to the world's problems through pubilc competitions that encourage innovators and community leaders to take action.

Transmutation:  the age-old dream.  Whether it's a Grimms' Fairy tale about weaving straw into gold, the nice party trick of turning water into wine, the desire to make something out of nothing is pretty strong.  

Enter the Xprize.  

This is one of my favorite prizes because the Water Abundance Xprize challenges us to "alleviate the global water crisis with energy-efficient technologies that harvest fresh water from thin air."

That is not a typo.

Air  ----->  Water

This is not as crazy as it may sound. As you may recall from science class, water is plentiful all over the world which is what makes Earth so habitable. Much of the world has air that has 40-50% relative humidity. By playing with dew point within a condensation chamber, water vapor can be reduced to liquid.  

Though this idea has been around for a long time (it happens nearly every morning on my front lawn), this year's winner, Skysource/Skywater Alliance, is highly energy efficient and has commercially deployed many of its units.  

The problem with earlier versions of adiabatic distillation methods is that they required too much energy to create water. 

I hope the Xprize continues and I hope Skysource/Skywater- and all the other participants- can quickly provide a energy-efficient alternative to ease the clean water problem.

To learn more about different charities and organizations Allen Chi has supported over the years, visit his website: http://allenchi.org/