Water Goes Off the Grid

clipped from spectrum.ieee.org A Canadian company rethinks atmospheric-water generators Happy Now?: Will the chance to generate drinking water from the air make consumers smile? The escalating cost of electricity has sent a growing number of consumers in search of ways to generate electricity at home. Element Four, based in Kelowna, B.C., Canada, is betting that with bottled-water consumption increasing and aging water distribution systems, water will be the next commodity consumers will want to produce at home. The company has done what it says is a top-to-bottom reinvention of the atmospheric-water generator—a device that pulls water from the air by cooling it to the point that condensation forms and then keeps it sterile for drinking. Element Four’s WaterMill is a 300‑watt generator that makes up to 12 liters of drinking water per day—enough, it says, for your typical North American household. At Kelowna’s rate of 6 U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour, the cost comes to about 3 to 4 cents per liter

And it's Canadian!

In combination with sustainable power generation - solar, wind, thermal differential, biofuels, biogas - this would definitely make long term, sustainable independence possible in very remote locations. Or in your city apartment, for that matter.