For a 10 year equipment lifetime, cost of water (USD) is $0.41 per gallon. For 15 years it is $0.28 per gallon and for 20 years it is $0.21 per gallon.
Recently, the magazine, Inc., published an article about the Source Hydropanel manufactured by Zero Mass Water. A sidebar in the article said the device produces 5 litres per day of clean water and that the cost for each panel is USD 2000. A link to the article was posted on LinkedIn. A LinkedIn member wondered what would be the "levelized" cost of water per gallon. This blog post shows one method for answering the question. The spreadsheet shows that direct capital cost is only part of the equation. But, for a quick analysis let us proceed with the bare bones information in the Inc. article.
For a 10 year equipment lifetime, cost of water (USD) is $0.41 per gallon. For 15 years it is $0.28 per gallon and for 20 years it is $0.21 per gallon.
3 Comments
Michael
7/3/2019 04:57:01 pm
Your analysis is understating the capital cost and also the cost of the water. It requires 2 panels to operate - $4,000 total - plus installation - stated at $500 which is next to impossible to achieve. First, it is usually placed on the roof and then plumbed to a dispenser in the building. Second, you will need a permit and you will need a licensed contractor(s) to install it - there is no way that any professional(s) will do this for $500 - if they will even bother attempting it at all. Roofs are tricky to work with and leaks may easily occur. And you will have to rent a crane to get this 750 pound unit up to roof. The true cost is closer to, if not higher than, $6,000 for from 2 to 5 liters per day. If you use the average of 3.5 liters per day, the cost per gallon is closer to $1.19 each. And when you take into account the time value of money over 15 years (the amortization period), the price per gallon is much higher. In short, this is a very expensive solution that is impractical for anyone but the 1% folks.
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Ahmed
13/5/2020 07:15:31 pm
Michael thank you for saving me time on this product and you are 100% correct.
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Bob
25/7/2023 06:36:34 am
I don't believe anyone is advocating this as an alternative to municipal water systems in developed communities, but where there is no supply of potable water.
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Roland Wahlgren
I have been researching and developing drinking-water-from-air technologies since 1984. As a physical geographer, I strive to contribute an accurate, scientific point-of-view to the field. Archives
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