Describe the critical need your solution addresses.

According to the United Nations, over 1.3 billion people (one in four) lack access to clean drinking water, and about half of all human disease is linked to problems with water supply. Our solar water collector has the potential to eliminate this shortage of access to safe water.

Explain your initiative in more depth and its stage of development.

Shining Rock Technologies, in collaboration with Energy Wall Corporation, recently developed a powerful new composite desiccant material for use in HVAC applications. The composite desiccant is a breakthrough material, with unprecedented ability to absorb and release water. A heat exchanger using this material was recently tested by the Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), and was found to be the most efficient ever tested. The material is made using standard paper making techniques and requires no exotic or expensive materials, making large scale production simple.

Our objective is to leverage this recent development into an energy efficient system for providing potable water in areas with limited access. This material can become saturated with many times its weight in water minutes after exposure to airborne moisture, even in very low humidity environments. To recover this water, the material is heated to about 150 degrees Fahrenheit. We plan to build a system that cycles between absorbing moisture from the air and recovering it by heating with solar energy. This system can provide potable water with no electricity and a small amount of solar energy input, making it ideal for developing areas and disaster relief efforts.

How does your strategy and approach respond creatively and comprehensively to key issues?

We want to use a simple, new technology to develop a reliable, scalable device for producing potable water. Every method of providing clean, drinkable water is a step toward the preferred state model in which all of mankind has access to safe water.

Our first step in providing water to all mankind is developing a solar water collector targeted at consumers in the Western world in areas with water shortages, such as the American west. These units will be a new household appliance costing $200-400, which will meet the water needs of single family.

Our second step is developing a fully passive solar water collector for use in developing regions with a cost goal of $10. We plan to use at least half of the purchase price of the consumer unit to fund the production of the low cost unit.

Approximately 500 million low cost solar water collectors would be required to provide potable water to every human that currently lacks access. If we meet our cost goal of $10 per unit, we could eliminate the largest human health issue for 5 billion dollars, or about one week of the Iraq war.

In addition, this technology could mitigate the enormous environmental stress placed on natural water sources by human needs, energy production, and industrial activities. This technology is a breakthrough in allowing a simple, sustainable, scalable method for providing safe water. This is unprecedented.