My opinion is that the ...
Published by Roland Wahlgren, Owner at Atmoswater Research
My opinion is that the direct environmental impact of widespread use of water-from-air machines is negligible.
I have done a couple of quantitative analyses.
(1) Even if all 7.9 x 10^9 people on Earth used water from water vapour processors at the rate of 50 litres per day, they would consume temporarily only 0.0025% of the available atmospheric water. For details please visit https://www.atmoswater.com/atmoswater-blog-by-roland-wahlgren/impact-on-the-atmospheric-water-reservoir-from-using-water-from-air-systems-an-update
(2) A recent analysis by me about the direct environmental impact of widespread use of dehumidifiers and air-conditioners dripping condensate from more than a billion machines since about 1950 showed that the specific humidity field at Earth's surface has been remarkably stable over the past 70 years (see the figure above and the associated earlier blog post). In fact, Wikipedia: Air Conditioning stated, "According to the IEA [International Energy Agency], as of 2018, 1.6 billion air conditioning units were installed,...". For details please visit https://www.atmoswater.com/atmoswater-blog-by-roland-wahlgren/direct-environmental-impact-of-water-from-air-systems
However, along the lines of what Steven Cooke said, there can be indirect consequences of the widespread use of water-from-air systems. Using a new technology such as atmospheric water vapour processing in drinking-water-from-air machines may have other impacts on Nature. These include
- possibility for more people to live in a region, increasing the population density;
- increased sewage and other waste (including material waste from machines which have reached the end of their operational life);
- increased energy use (to operate the machines); and
- increased material use (to build the machines).
Some research has been about the sustainability of water-from-air systems. for example:
Any disadvantages of water-from-air technologies (which are continually evolving with much peer-reviewed research ongoing -see recent articles listed at Water-from-Air Article Links - Atmoswater Research) must be balanced against the huge number of drinking water distribution gaps that exist today affecting millions of people. See the discussions at:
- https://www.atmoswater.com/atmoswater-blog-by-roland-wahlgren/atmospheric-water-generators-could-be-a-gap-filler-for-californias-water-supply-strategy
- https://www.atmoswater.com/atmoswater-blog-by-roland-wahlgren/water-from-air-market-analyses-using-data-from-documents-about-the-uns-sustainable-development-goal-6-clean-water-and-sanitation-part-1-of-7
- https://www.atmoswater.com/atmoswater-blog-by-roland-wahlgren/need-for-water-from-air-technologies-stated-by-university-of-illinois-researchers
1 Comment
Thank you for your complete explanation. Of course, I think this subject should be evaluated and researched by other experts and researchers to get a more reliable result.
Published by alireza makvandi