Solar Panel Company Helping to Democratize Clean Water

Zero Mass Water Inc., an Arizona State University spin-off company, sells solar panels that make pure water from vapor in the air.

A Scottsdale-based company providing clean drinking water to communities around the globe is launching its online sales today in the Phoenix metro area for its solar panels.

The company has been delivering its solar panels and clean water for the past year and a half in three continents, including in Jordan, Dubai, Ecuador, Mexico, Philippines, Indonesia and the U.S., said CEO and founder Cody Friesen.

“We started this company to democratize water for everyone everywhere,” said Friesen, who is also an ASU innovation professor. “Our panels enable people to own luxury, quality water.”

Everyone either gets their water from a government source or from bottled water.

This is a way for people to own their own water “like you own your air,” Friesen said.

“Water is as important to life as the air you breathe,” he said. “We’re the Uber of water. We’re democratizing water.”

Each Source panel costs $4,800, which includes the $3,200 panel and $1,600 for an additional panel. When people purchase a solar panel, they’re sharing the cost of another panel with Zero Mass Water to be installed for a family with no access to safe water who can't afford a panel on their own.

“We want our customers to be water democratizers,” Friesen said. “We’re requiring people to split another panel with us and choose amongst our partners where that panel goes in an area that doesn’t have good water. Every customer has to do this.”

The recipient family is required to pay the cost of installing that panel and the cost to deliver the panel to their home, he added.

“The opportunity here is to solve humanity’s greatest challenge,” Friesen said. “We are asking our customers to be participants in solving this problem.”

A Source purchase will pay for itself in bottled water savings over two to four years, according to the company.

Zero Mass Water’s Source solar panels water flows through a mineral block to add calcium and magnesium to make the water “taste great,” he said.

The water source is installed to dispense directly into the home’s kitchen, providing families with clean, drinking water.

Read more at: Phoenix Business Journal