Universal access to clean water is vital to the XPRIZE mission of creating an abundant, equitable world by 2040. Yet 1 in 4 people around the world lack access to safe drinking water and 80% of the global population suffers from serious threats to water security.
That’s why in 2016, the Water Abundance XPRIZE was launched. This $1.75M competition drove the development of energy-efficient technologies that harvest fresh water from thin air.
When the prize concluded in 2018, Water Abundance judges selected Skysource (part of the Skywater Alliance) as the grand prize winner. Its WEDEW (Wood to Energy Deployed Water) system successfully met the competition's criteria by using renewable energy to extract over 2,000 liters of water per day from the atmosphere at a cost of no more than 2 cents per liter.
Skysource, an environmental services company that creates point-of-use atmospheric water solutions for self-reliance, climate resilience, and disaster relief, was founded by architect David Hertz and inventor Rich Groden to compete in Water Abundance XPRIZE. Hertz is known for his work in sustainable architecture and had already collaborated with Groden to create another device to siphon water from the air before entering the XPRIZE competition. This initial invention was mounted on his roof and produced around 150 gallons of water a day, which he then bottled and gave away for free near their home in Venice, California. Developing this first innovation and performing this act of service for his community inspired Hertz to take the next step toward developing his idea further and enter the Water Abundance XPRIZE.
Over the 2-year competition, Skysource developed the WEDEW machine: a self-contained and sustainable energy-water generator. Housed within a shipping container, the innovation can be easily transported at low cost. Most ingeniously, the machine mimics the water cycle.
Discarded plant and animal biomass is burned in a controlled environment to generate heat to warm air within the system. As the air heats, it becomes capable of carrying more moisture and–simultaneously–water vapor is released from the burning biomass, humidifying the air further. This warm, moist air is then directed to a cooling chamber. As the air cools, it loses its ability to carry moisture, condenses, and is released as liquid water. WEDEW can produce as much as 2,000 liters (528 gallons) of water a day for about 2 cents a liter (8 cents a gallon). That’s enough water for more than 600 people a day.
By 2030, it’s estimated that we will lack 40% of the water needed to meet our needs. Companies like Skysource are critical for alleviating the threat of global water scarcity, providing climate resilience, self-reliance, and emergency response options to empower communities and enable water self-reliance at all levels of society.
Since the end of the Water Abundance XPRIZE, Skysource has won numerous awards including Winner of the 2022 Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s National Design Award; Winner of the 2020 Time’s The Best Inventions of 2020; Winner of the 2019 Fast Company‘s World Changing Ideas Awards; and Winner of the 2018 World Technology Network’s World Technology Award.
Watch Skysource share their story in our XPRIZE Innovators series, and discover how you can get involved in competitions that change the world at xprize.org, such as the $119M XPRIZE Water Scarcity prize launched in 2024.