"Every great movement must experience three stages "ridicule, discussion, and adoption". And right now, when it comes to harvesting invisible water from the sky, we are at the early stage"
What if we could harvest an unlimited supply of water from the sky itself, then purify and recycle it in a constant loop? On this mind-expanding episode of Liquid Assets, Professor Jeffrey Langholz shares his radical vision for solving the global water crisis through the ultimate decentralized system.
Langholz is a professor at the Middlebury Institute who has spent over 20 years studying sustainable management of precious natural resources like water, forests and fisheries worldwide. He paints a compelling picture of why our current centralized, pipeline-based model of water distribution is unsustainable across economic, environmental and social dimensions. But a local, circular model of pulling water from the air and continuously recycling it could mitigate crises like scarcity, pollution and climate impacts.
His bold four-part framework revolves around the Passive collection from rain, fog and dew, Active harvesting using atmospheric generators, Purifying graywater from sinks and laundry and Recycling blackwater from toilets. Langholz details cutting-edge examples of these technologies being piloted globally, from solar-powered generators to office towers recycling their wastewater.
He draws insightful parallels to how other utilities like electricity, telecoms and entertainment inevitably transitioned from centralized to decentralized, consumer-level systems. Is water simply the next utility ripe for that disruptive shift? While the idea may sound far-fetched today, so did concepts like streaming movies or ordering an Uber from your phone not long ago.
Whether you find Langholz's ideas ridiculous or inspiring, this fascinating discussion will make you rethink humanity's ancient relationship with our most precious resource. Join us for a glimpse of a future where households and businesses could be self-sustaining water microgrids - a bold new paradigm as revolutionary as any other game-changing technology.
What you'll learn in this episode:
Jeff recommends you read The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman
Follow Liquid Assets on:
Subscribe at LiquidAssets.cc to follow the larger conversation and never miss an episode.
Sponsored Amazon Affiliate links.
