Feeling guilty about your bottled water? Or worried that it is not as pure as the pastoral scene on the label implies? Your worries are justified. Bottled water is unregulated in the US, and often as not, it is just filtered tap water – with a heavier carbon footprint thanks to the requisite plastic container and the shipping.
Luckily, just as you’re re-evaluating this resource-intensive habit, so is everyone else, from the cities that have passed bottled water taxes (hello Chicago) to the bottled water companies themselves, to entrepreneurs trying to figure a better way.
Culligan, the big kahuna of bottled water service companies now makes a cooler that hooks up to your tap – an apparent concession that the days of carting around those big blue bottles are numbered.
But one of the most unique solutions to filling your cup without filling the landfill may be generating your own purified water. You can do that by tapping into the humidity in the air with an Atmospheric Water Generator, which pulls water from “thin air,” as long as that air registers at least 35 percent humidity.
We tested such a water generator, called the Ecoloblue 28 (see photo, right). At first, it was hard to believe that this water was just materializing in our kitchen. It tasted fresh, crisp and cool, outperforming the stuff that came through our refrigerator’s charcoal filter.
We just loved that we were generating our own water, like being off-grid with the electricity. Not being dependent on the tap, we had no worries about fluctuations in the local water supply and the additives you can’t turn down, like the fluoride and chlorine in so many city systems. Nor did we have to worry that our water contained traces of medications, like those found in tap water tested during an AP investigation last year. Tap water, for the record, is still considered basically safe, but it varies, by city, region and within time frames. Same for bottled water; it varies by label but largely comes from tap water, and can be contaminated too as tests by the Environmental Working Group found. Or it might be pure as the snow — in the Alps; so add a jet ride to its carbon footprint.
The Natural Resources Defense Council’s report, Tap Water Quality and Safety, endorses tap water, but with caveats for pregnant women and older people and people with special conditions. Makes you wonder.
But we wanted to know more about the Ecoloblue water, and what it did or did not contain. Is pulling water from air a perfectly pure proposition? Our home water tests showed that the water generated was free of chlorine, nitrates/nitrates, sediment, suggesting that the machine’s multiple filter system was doing its job. At one point, there was a buildup in the intake area, the result of one filter that hadn’t been prepared properly at the factory. That problem has since been fixed. New tech sometimes needs tweaking. (For more on our personal take on using the Ecoloblue machine, see Ecoloblue: Testing Atmospheric-Generated Water.)
HOW IT WORKS
So how do these AWGs produce water? It’s simple de-humidification, followed by complex filtration. The reason the water generated tasted so pure — and professional tests show that it meets or beats water compliance standards in several countries — is no mystery. After the machine condenses the water from the air, it runs it through a sophisticated system of three carbon filters, one reverse-osmosis filter and three UV lights to kill or trap any germs, dust, pollen or air pollutants that might float in or build up in the storage tanks.
“The object is to make sure everybody can use the water regardless of the environment they’re living in,” says Ecoloblue CEO Henri-James Tieleman. So if you have cat dander floating around, or Uncle Joe is standing nearby with a cigar or you happen to live in a high air pollution area, the Ecoloblue will be impervious. Even in Shanghai, where the machine was deliberately tested outdoors, it produced pure water, according to one of several water tests the company has commissioned in the US, China, Australia and the UK.
“We are complying even with polluted air in Shanghai, what else (other proof) do we need to get?” asks Tieleman.
But are four filters and three UV lights, and all that, really necessary?
“Do you like the water you’re drinking?” asks Tieleman, a native of The Netherlands and apparent master of the non-rhetorical question. “I would say this is why you like it, because it went through all this process” in which the filters, lights and collection uptake are engineered, timed and strategically placed to work together.
“You can’t just run it through a humidifier and get this quality water,” he says. “People say they can do the same with 
their dehumidifier…I can guarantee you can put all the filters you want on your (home) dehumidifier and you’re not going to get the water you want.”
For all this technology, you’ll pay $1,350 for a machine capable of generating 9 liters of water a day if the local humidity is at 35 percent (rising to 17 liters at 50 percent and so on). Back out the cost of several dozen flats of bottled water and factor in the machine’s estimated 10-year life, and the ROI is reasonable for people who are picky (or worried) about their water; small offices that want to go green and perhaps environmentalists who are keen on water conservation.
A home user may or may not find the machine to be within their budget. There are other AWGs, such as one made by Planets Water that sells for less, and another by Dewpoint, which sells for more. We didn’t test those, but you can review their features and compare them with Ecoloblue at The Find. The units share a similar look, but Ecoloblue has proprietary inside workings, a spokeswoman said.
A GREENER, CLEANER WATER
Tieleman says that Ecoloblue’s biggest challenge is working out shipping issues. The machine is necessarily large (counter height). It’s due for a retrofit, with a new lighter compressor that will make shipping easier, increase energy efficiency and reduce the weight.
Some buyers, Tieleman says, have been ruffled trying to get the thing set up, but no one has complained about the water quality.
The early adopters of this new equipment do tend to gush about it.
“The water is outstanding. That’s a universal response to it. It’s amazing technology,” says Daniel Wallach, executive director of Green Town in Greensburg Kansas, which promotes the town’s reincarnation as a model of eco-living.
Greensburg, nearly wiped out by a tornado in May 2007, is being rebuilt with energy-efficient homes and offices. Wallach has installed a large Ecoloblue system at the town’s new Visitor’s Center so that all who pass through can refill their reusable water bottles with free, local water. Wallach says the program is a great fit for Greensburg, which is becoming a laboratory for all things green (there’s a wind farm, green housing, a nascent farmer’s market). Generating water in Western Kansas, he says, is not a problem. The humidity remaind at or above 35 percent and jumps to 75 or 80 percent during afternoon thunderstorms, producing copious water – a nice perk for a town once victimized by the weather.
Ecoloblue has other fans, such as Robson Mello, secretary general for the Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization (IREO), based at the United Nations. Ecoloblue, he says, “is one of the most innovative technologies we have come across. It’s completely amazing how well they put the unit together to create clean, drinkable water.”
The IREO envisions helping water-strapped nations with the Eco water generators, in home and commercial sizes. His group plans to “deploy” about 20 smaller units to test around the world. The first three are headed to Honduras, Grenada and Kenya, nations where disadvantaged populations face water shortages or difficult access to potable water. Advocates from those nations have pledged to follow through and develop ongoing water programs around Ecoloblue. Mello hopes the technology can ease the burden of finding water, which is worsening with climate change.
The cost of the equipment will be a factor for these developing nations. Groups will have to find ways to buy or lease large machines for community use, which means they’ll have to raise funds and, in some cases, find off-grid power sources, such as solar panels to generate the electricity the machines use, Mello said. But once the logistics are worked out, the region will have eco-friendly hydration that doesn’t generate trash.
“It’s clean, good and healthy water,” Mello said. “The (water quality) tests have been done already. It’s just a matter of making sure that the governments are open to the idea and making sure people know what the machines are all about.”
The same could be said for markets in industrialized nations. Ecoloblue does not fit every household budget, though Tieleman says the Miami-based company is working hard to keep margins tight and enhance the machine’s value. Newer models will be able to make sparkling water and possibly later, include a built-in coffee maker. Already the “28″ model chills and heats the water, making it appealing to tea and cocoa drinkers.
Believe it or not. one criticism of this pure water is that it’s too pure; that it is effectively just like distilled water because it lacks minerals and fails to give us the trace minerals we get from tap water. The Ecoloblue solution has been to offer a filter that adds back beneficial calcium and magnesium, and to point to experts who note that tap water provides only a tiny fraction of these daily mineral needs; most comes from food.
“You have two schools of thought with mineral water. The first is that you have to drink mineral water or you’re going to be depleted of minerals. The second is that you can drink pure water and be fine, and that the intake from your food is more important,” said Tieleman, who notes that some people are “aggressive” in their views.
Our friendly neighborhood vitamin store specialist confirmed that magnesium is vital because it helps the body absorb calcium, and calcium, of course, is critical for strong bones. But, she said, you get most of what you need from food and you can take supplements to get more. Tap water would not su
ffice, especially for women who want to assure they’re getting adequate calcium.)
Aside from the health benefits of the Ecoloblue water, there’s a green factor that’s difficult to gauge precisely. Yes, the machine uses electricity to heat and cool the water it dispenses and to pull the water from the air. But water treatment plants also expend energy.
Tieleman says the machine uses no more electricity than a standard coffee pot, and notes that neither the existing or new compressor (which drives the de-humidification process) is an energy hog.
AWGs might play a role in water conservation. As the Pacific Institute has warned industrialized nations need to become more water efficient, especially in their business practices: “…we are approaching the limits of our resources in some places. And to complicate matters, climate change, aging infrastructure, watershed modification, chemical pollution, and population growth also threaten water supplies- even in the United States.”
Certainly, self-generated water presents a lower footprint compared with bottled water, which produces trash (less than 20 percent of which is recycled) and burns fossil fuels at two junctures, when bottled and then again, in transport.
Our take: This could be the water equivalent of local food. It’s definitely not part of the problem, and for those who can afford it, and place a high priority on quality water, it can be a slick solution. It goes on the positive side of the green ledger.
Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media
Tags: Atmospheric-generated water, Businesses, Ecoloblue, Restaurants
