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Is atmospheric water generation an economically viable solution?

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Abstract

The increasing pressure on freshwater resources motivates the need for exploring new water harvesting methods, critical for global sustainable development. Atmospheric water generator (AWG), or air to water, is a potential under-explored component of the water solutions portfolio. This paper offers the first bottom-up model of AWG in the environmental economics and policy literature to assess the economic potential and riskiness of a representative AWG system. The model is used to estimate the performance of a typical AWG machine in ten locations with heterogeneous climate and economic conditions. Using a 4-year time series, estimates of the value at risk for water production are provided as well. Assuming a perfect substitution between AWG machines and bottled water, the financial performance of the AWG machines demonstrates an attractive substitute product in the majority of locations. However, the results also indicate that the current state of AWG does not provide economically viable alternatives for potable tap water or nondrinking water sources. This paper provides a quantitative foundation to evaluate the AWG technology as a business practice. Our work can inform water supply debates in both developed and developing countries.

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Notes

  1. An extensive search in the major environmental and resource economics and policy journals did not produce any results on AWG or related topics. Wahlgren (2018) is close to our work in some aspects but it is written mainly for a practitioner audience.

  2. “Radiative passive collectors exploit the physical processes responsible for dew formation to collect dew water without using any external energy input. Previous studies indicate that a 1\(m^2\) radiative condenser yields between 0.3 and 0.6 L/day of dew water in arid and semiarid regions” (Khalil et al. 2016).

  3. Regions that experience stress with regard to drinking water also suffer from other issues such as low per capita income and poor access to energy poverty (Van Houtven et al. 2017). That makes AWG a less desirable solution for such regions.

  4. The elevation heterogeneity of regions considered in this study is small.

  5. https://www.atmosphericwatersolutions.com/aquaboy-pro-ii.

  6. https://bwnews.pr/2GiGfQ6.

  7. See these links: https://www.wunderground.com, and, https://www.weather.com.

  8. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/empirical-rule.asp.

  9. https://tcwcid19.org/rates-and-fees- Travis County Water Control and Improvement District No. 19.

  10. The model is independent of the level of temperature and humidity. Our knowledge of the literature does not suggest that those factors are key determinants of energy use. Hence, we employ our experimental data to predict energy use in other locations.

  11. https://www.ecoloblueblog.com/tag/power-consumption/.

  12. In arid regions, such as the Persian Gulf cities, bottled water is indeed the major source of potable water.

  13. https://www.circleofblue.org/waterpricing/.

  14. Note that, except a few regions, the USA as a whole is not subject to major water scarcity. Thus, the observed numbers could have been higher should the USA was a more water-stressed country.

  15. https://blog.marketresearch.com/the-global-bottled-water-market-expert-insights-statistics.

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Acknowledgements

This work was completed with funding from the US Department of Agriculture (Grant # 2016-38422-25540). The authors would like to thank the USDA and Texas State University for providing funding and access to both infrastructure and laboratories. The sponsors are not responsible for the content and accuracy of this article. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, USA

    Faraz Moghimi

  2. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, USA

    Hamed Ghoddusi

  3. Texas State University, San Marcos, USA

    Bahram Asiabanpour

  4. UC San Diego, San Diego, USA

    Mahdi Behroozikhah

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  1. Faraz Moghimi
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  2. Hamed Ghoddusi
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  3. Bahram Asiabanpour
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  4. Mahdi Behroozikhah
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Correspondence to Faraz Moghimi.

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Appendices

A Atmospheric water generators

AWG are devices that produce clean potable water from humid ambient air (Almusaied and Asiabanpour 2017). Vaporized \(\hbox {H}_{{2}}\)O in the air is absorbed and condensed below its dew point to generate liquid water. The AWG system used in this study is commercially available and produces and filters water, so that clean, potable water is available where the AWG system is located. The system includes a fan, condenser coil, pump, and multiple stages of filters. The fan pulls the air into the system and across condenser coils that have been cooled using a compressor and coolant. This water then drips into a tank where it is treated with ultraviolet (UV) light and is then pumped to an upper tank through many more filters prior to dispensing. This system also offers hot and cold water options and has a screen that displays current temperature and humidity as well as the available amount of water. A simple diagram of the system is shown in Fig. 8. Due to the objectives of this paper, the technical aspect of AWG will not be subject to further discussion.

Fig. 8
figure 8

AWG breakdown

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B Sample of AWG machine prices

See Table 9.

Table 9 Sample of brand/price for AWG
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C Experimental data

See Table 10.

Table 10 Data from the 20-day experiment
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D Water production

See Figs. 9 and 10.

Fig. 9
figure 9

The daily water production estimated by the model in each of the cities during the four year period

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Fig. 10
figure 10

The daily water production estimated by the model in each of the cities during the four year period

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E Kernel density

See Figs. 11 and 12.

Fig. 11
figure 11

Kernel density estimates of water production for all the cities. The red vertical line shows the mean, and the dashed green line identifies the \(2.5\%\) cumulative distribution (CDF) point. The theoretical normal distribution, with similar mean and variance, is also plotted for the comparison with the distribution of the empirical data

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Fig. 12
figure 12

Kernel density estimates of daily cash flow for all the cities. The red vertical line shows the mean, and the dashed green line identifies the \(2.5\%\) cumulative distribution (CDF) point. The theoretical normal distribution, with similar mean and variance, is also plotted for the comparison with the distribution of the empirical data

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Moghimi, F., Ghoddusi, H., Asiabanpour, B. et al. Is atmospheric water generation an economically viable solution?. Clean Techn Environ Policy 23, 1045–1062 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-020-02015-6

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