Ted Bowman, design engineer at Tsunami Products, installs a unit in the backyard of owner Don Johnson in Benicia, Calif. On September 28, 2021. The recent invention can produce water from air and in California parched, some homeowners are already buying the expensive devices. Air-to-water systems work like air conditioners by using coils to cool the air and then collect the water drops in a basin.
Ted Bowman, design engineer at Tsunami Products, installs a unit in the backyard of owner Don Johnson in Benicia, Calif. On September 28, 2021. The recent invention can produce water from air and in California parched, some homeowners are already buying the expensive devices. Air-to-water systems work like air conditioners by using coils to cool the air and then collect the water drops in a basin.
Don Johnson waters plants in his greenhouse using water from his air-to-water system installed by Ted Bowman, a design engineer at Tsunami Products, in his garden in Benicia, Calif. On September 28, 2021. The recent invention may make the water out of the air and in California parched, some homeowners are already buying the expensive appliances. Air-to-water systems work like air conditioners by using coils to cool the air and then collect the water drops in a basin.
As communities across the western United States search for ways to cope with the ongoing drought, some are turning to $ 30,000 machines that the developers say can produce hundreds of gallons of water per. day, literally taken from the air.
By HAVEN DALEY
BENICIA, Calif. (AP) – The machine Ted Bowman helped design can make water from the air, and in parched California, some homeowners are already buying the expensive devices.
Air-to-water systems work like air conditioners by using coils to cool the air and then collect the water drops in a basin.
“Our motto is that the water in the air isn’t magic, it’s science, and that’s really what we do with these machines,†said Ted Bowman, Design Engineer at Tsunami Products. , based in Washington State.
The system is one of many systems developed in recent years to extract water from moisture. Other inventions include mesh nets, solar panels, and shipping containers that collect moisture from the air.
Bowman said his company’s machines – designed for use in homes, offices, ranches and elsewhere – dehumidify the air and, in so doing, create water that is filtered to make it drinkable.
The technology works particularly well in foggy areas and, depending on the size, can produce between 200 and 1,900 gallons (900 and 8,600 liters) of water per day. The machines also work efficiently in all areas with high humidity, including the California coastline, he said.
But they don’t come cheap, with prices ranging from $ 30,000 to $ 200,000. Yet in California, where residents have been urged to conserve water because one of the worst droughts in recent history depleted reservoirs, some homeowners are buying them to meet their water needs.
