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by joshe 2799 days ago
I don't know why this is attracting so much bitterness.

If anyone is informed about water, it would be great to get a little more context, for example what other solutions like desalinization and other dehumidifiers cost in energy and dollars. (Yes, obviously nothing is going to be as cheap as putting a pipe in a river.)

For example their FAQ says they use less than half the power of their competitors. That seems like a huge advance. And is $.02/liter amazing or just slightly better?
2 comments
hindsightbias 2799 days ago
There used to be a time when extraordinary claims required extraordinary evidence - particularly when thermodynamics is involved. The dehumidifier business is a multi-billion industry. Why would they need an X-Prize when they're extraordinarily better than the state-of-the-art?

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170927005546/en/3-B...

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mchannon 2799 days ago
If you remember back to the perpetual motion machine, that was supposed to produce more electricity than it consumed, you'll capture the mindset detractors like myself have.

But look, our PMM is producing this many volts! And it works great on paper too!

I haven't seen any data or reports to show this competition actually tested built units and measured both their water output and energy consumed, and did so in a variety of climates. In areas where the mercury has gotten below freezing, for instance, there is no water in the air, and yet, we're supposed to believe these snake oil machines are producing 2000gal/day for $0.02 each, even there.

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drewm1980 2799 days ago
RE "no water in the air blow freezing", that's not true. In the mountains you can hang your towel up to dry at night. It freezes, then dries through sublimation. Ever seen funny smooth ice formations?
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mchannon 2799 days ago
This sounds like a koan:

"If there is a frozen towel in the mountains, is there water in the air if there is no one there to measure the humidity it produces?"

Assuming there were millions of frozen wet towels in such conditions, any sublimated towel ice would rapidly drop back out of the air as frost.

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