This could be the water bottle that changes the world
Fontus, a start-up company based in Vienna, has designed two self-filling water bottles called Airo and Ryde. Given the right climatic conditions, which are 30 to 40 degrees Celsius and 80 to 90 per cent humidity, these bottles take one hour to produce 500 ml of water (the same amount in your average plastic water bottle).
[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]…a long way from becoming affordable…[/pullquote]
The Airo is designed for backpacks while the Ryde is designed as an attachment for bicycles. The Airo uses solar cells to power the bottle through a USB cord. The bottle collects humid air and then cools it to produce condensation, which is then collected in the bottle. The Ryde functions in a similar way but collects humid air through the forward motion created when riding a bicycle. The bottles’ inventor Kristof Retezár is also considering adding a carbon filter for use in cities or areas where the air may be contaminated due to pollution. The bottles harvest water from the Earth’s atmosphere, which contains around 13,000 cubic kilometers of mostly unexploited fresh water. Compare this to the 93,113 cubic kilometers of fresh water that makes up all the lakes and rivers on Earth. Now, you can begin to imagine the enormous benefit of being able to harvest 14 per cent of that water regardless of geographic location.
Fontus explains that their invention not only makes life easier for extreme athletes it has the greater benefit of “bring[ing] an alternative way of collecting safe drinking water to regions where drought and unclean water are a big issue.” Currently, that includes more than 2 billion people in more than 40 countries for whom water scarcity is a reality. Moreover, Retezár explains that by 2030, 47 per cent of the world will be living in areas with high water stress.
The company aims to bring the Fontus bottles to market at under $100 within the next 10 months. The product’s current marketing seems to emphasize its use by extreme athletes and, given the price point, it seems a long way from becoming affordable enough for children who are riding their bikes to school in regions suffering from high water stress. Only time will tell how efficient and affordable this product will be but, right now, it has the potential to become the water bottle that changes our world for the better of us all.