A company called Zero Mass Water has created a special solar-like panel that creates clean, drinkable water from the air. You can now install them on your home or office.
I’ve drank a lot of water from bottles, but it was never created like this.
I’m on the rooftop of a building in Santa Monica on an overcast day, checking out solar panels from a company called Zero Mass Water. These are not just your typical energy creating panels – they are busy pulling water out of the air.
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“It turns out there is more water in the air than all the fresh water in the planet,” explains Zero Mass Water CEO Cody Friesen.
Friesen says he’s installed his special form of solar panels in seven countries. The panels are self-contained – with everything they need to generate clean drinking water inside. Solar cells power the device, a special membrane inside absorbs water molecules, which is then treated with minerals for a fresh taste before being stored in on-board reservoirs.
“What these panels do is very similar to the ocean, sun, rain cycle,” says Friesen.
You can hear cooling fans whirring as the panels do their job on the rooftop. Each panel costs about $2,900 and that does not include installation costs. A panel produces about ten small water bottles daily and is expected to last for about ten years. A simple water line carries the drinking water inside the building, your home or into your kitchen.
We head downstairs to a drinking fountain supplied by Zero Mass Water’s panels. As I fill up a water bottle, a digital counter says the system has filled the equivalent of 5,862 plastic water bottles so far.
The water looks and smells clean. I take a sip and am pleasantly surprised by the taste. It’s fresh, crisp and doesn’t have the flat taste I had imagined.
Zero Mass Water has managed to create a green source of water and their panels are now available to homeowners in California and Arizona, although the company says they will work anywhere in the world.
Although their current price is prohibitively expensive for many homeowners, they practically pay for themselves in about 4 years if you’re currently buying bottled water. It also just feels neat knowing that you’re going green and creating your own water supply, seemingly from thin air.
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