A French inventor has found a potential solution to the global water crisis: wind turbines that draw fresh water out of the air. Called the WMS1000, these wind turbines use the electricity they generate to collect and treat moisture pulled from the air.
Each turbine can make 1,000 gallons of drinking water using only the wind, ABC News reports. The technology is currently being tested in France and Abu Dhabi.
Inventor Marc Parent brainstormed the idea while coping with water shortages during a stint in the Caribbean.
“The WMS1000 can create water when there is no existing source available,” Thibault Janin, marketing director of Eole Water, the company that makes the turbines, said in an interview with ABC News. “That makes a difference. Our technology integrates water creation, water collection, water treatment and water local distribution. The WMS1000 can produce and distribute water everywhere.”
The turbines cost $600,000 each and last for about 20 years. They require little maintenance, as they are created specifically for rural areas with limited access to clean drinking water.
The biggest hurdle for this new technology is affordability, Janin told ABC.
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