\nThere’s a lot of water in the air. It rises from the surface of the oceans to a height of almost 100 kilometres. You feel it in high humidity, but there’s almost as much invisible moisture in the air above the Sahara or the Nullarbor as there is in the steamy tropics.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The design involves a very efficient windmill.<\/p>\n
\nUsually a windmill has three blades facing into the wind. But Whisson’s design has many blades, each as aerodynamic as an aircraft wing, and each employing “lift” to get the device spinning. I’ve watched them whirr into action in Whisson’s wind tunnel at the most minimal settings.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The windmill includes a water condenser system based on an African insect’s method of obtaining water - it just presents its body head-down into the wind and water runs right off its body into its mouth.<\/p>\n
From the journal Nature<\/i>:<\/p>\n
\nThis insect has a tailor-made covering for collecting water from early-morning fog. Some beetles in the Namib Desert collect drinking water from fog-laden wind on their backs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nA stenocara beetle.<\/p>\nGovernments should make huge investments into this kind of technology. Already there is a vital need in many countries to extract clean water using sustainable (that is, not using fossil fuels) energy.<\/p>\n
Max Whisson has such a solution.<\/p>\n
\nMax Whisson on a dried out lake bed in Western Australia. Image source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\nHere’s a brief animation showing the concept. (There is no sound.)<\/p>\n
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![\"Stenocara](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2008\/02\/stenocara-beetle.jpg\")
![\"Max](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/images\/2008\/02\/max-whisson.jpg\")