Efficiency Mapping and Determination of Reliability, Resiliency and Vulnerability of Atmospheric Water Generators in the US.

Atmospheric Water Generators (AWG) extract water from the air using one of three available technologies: refrigeration, sorption, and fog harvesting. In this research, we analyze refrigeration-based devices and their efficacy in providing supplemental water supply. An AWG can supply potable water to remote and austere locations where clean drinking water might otherwise be unavailable. With the increase in water scarcity on the global stage, new methods to provide potable water become increasingly more important and viable. With an estimated 37.5 million-billion gallons of water in the earths atmosphere at any moment, AWG can be used in water-stressed areas, remote military bases, and disaster areas. However, due to climatological and technological constraints, not all regions in the world would see the same water production from an AWG as production is driven by high relative humidity and temperature. This climatological reliance also subjects them to dramatic changes in performance depending on the season. By using published performance indexes and weather data for the United States, we determine the year-round efficiency metrics of the typical residential-sized refrigeration AWG. Using these efficiency metrics, we also determined the reliability, resiliency and vulnerability of the AWG to produce potable water by season across the United States. By evaluating several different devices and mapping the efficiency on the county-scale, this research determines the regional efficacy in adopting AWG technology to supplement potable water supply.