Students Challenged to Address Global Energy Needs
Global Venture Challenge 2008 (GVC) is an educational event designed to foster entrepreneurial spirit by engaging students, industry, government and the investment community in the discovery and development of innovative ideas. This year’s event focused on one of the world’s most critical issues—energy. Semi-finalists from 14 teams competed for a top award of $25,000 by submitting technology-based business plans specific to meeting the needs of bioenergy, energy efficiency and renewable fuels.
Team: TS Hydro
Team Members: Trevor B. Wirsig, Sasikrishnan Kalyanaramasubramanian
School: Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
Faculty Advisor: A.M. Center
Topic: Renewable Energy
Product or Service: An energy efficient water generating unit that produces clean water from humid air using an ammonia refrigeration system to condense water.
Pictured (L to R) are Sasikrishnan Kalyanaramasubramanian and Trevor Wirsig of the Cornell University “TS Hydro” team. High-resolution version of photo
If Trevor Wirsig and Sasikrishnan Kalyanaramasubramanian ever heard the saying, “You can’t pull something out of thin air,” they were only partially listening. The two engineering students from Cornell University argue that pulling something out of the air is completely plausible—so long as the air is thick.
Wirsig and Kalyanaramasubramanian are working to develop a water generator called AquaGen1 that extracts drinkable water from humid air. Based on a common ammonia refrigerator, the modified generator condenses water from humid air by cooling the air below its dew point and then collecting the condensate in a reservoir.
The generator has a low cost of production, and if fueled using biomass, the generator can provide water to the user with no additional operational costs, such as electricity. In fact, with no moveable parts, the water generator is virtually maintenance free.
Today, the need for easy access to clean drinking water has never been greater. Water-related diseases are among the most common causes of illness and death, affecting mainly the poor in developing countries.
In 2003, the United Nation’s World Water Report noted that just three years prior, the estimated mortality rate due to “water sanitation hygiene-associated diarrheas and some other water/sanitation associated diseases,” was more than 2.2 million.
If brought to market and made readily available to non-profits and government relief organizations, AquaGen1 could help meet the hydration needs of hundreds of thousands of poverty-stricken families.