[jryan49]

I think the key difference is that "Skywater machines use a patented Adiabatic Distillation Process, where water vapor is reduced to liquid without a gain or loss of heat." so it's a little different than just a regular dehumidifier.

It also seems to be able to pull a lot more water than a normal dehumifiier? "Skywater machines are ranging from Skywater 30 (up to 30 gallons of water each day) to Skywater 300 (up to 300 gallons of water a day)."

You are right we should be more skeptical though. Like how much energy does this thing use?

[sdenton4]

The prize requirements limits costs to two cents a gallon, it looked like, so can't be all that bad in the energy front.

[tejohnso]

"Because the process uses a large amount of electricity, designers paired it with a biomass gassifier, a low-cost source of energy. When the gassifier is filled with wood chips, coconut shells, or whatever biomass is locally available, a process calls pyrolysis vaporizes that material. That makes the system hot and humid, the ideal environment to run the air-to-water machine. Because the process uses a large amount of electricity, designers paired it with a biomass gassifier, a low-cost source of energy. When the gassifier is filled with wood chips, coconut shells, or whatever biomass is locally available, a process calls pyrolysis vaporizes that material. That makes the system hot and humid, the ideal environment to run the air-to-water machine. "

https://www.fastcompany.com/90253718/a-device-that-can-pull-...

[dang]

That link looks more informative than the original press release, so we changed the URL from https://water.xprize.org/prizes/water-abundance/articles/wax.... Thanks!