In the arid deserts of Saudi Arabia, engineers at the King Abdullah Univ. of Science and Technology (KAUST) have developed a solar panel system that condenses water to grow crops while producing renewable energy.
The sustainable technology could help improve water security for the 2 billion people globally who do not have access to clean water (according to data from the World Health Organization). The system could also provide power for those who do not have access to a reliable source of electricity. The KAUST design is particularly useful for dry ecosystems, where it could pull water from air to grow food using abundant sunlight.
The integrated water-electricity-crop co-production (WEC2P) system is also low-cost. The design relies on two materials: an atmospheric-water-harvesting (AWH) material to capture water vapor from the air, typically at night, and photovoltaic (PV) panels, which convert 80% of...
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