😮 This Startup Can Solve Bangalore’s Water Crisis?
The clock is ticking by. Can we "manufacture" water before it's too late?
Making water out of thin air.
A dream come true for Bangaloreans?
Well, Uravu Labs has made this a reality too!
It uses atmospheric pressure and 100% renewable energy to produce drinking water.
How?
They've developed a technology that works like a sponge - it absorbs moisture from the air and converts it into water.
What really makes the brand different from its competitors is its sustainability.
Most competitors use electricity in the heating stage.
Uravu, on the other hand, uses renewable energy sources like solar, waste-heat or biomass to produce 100% renewable water.
The brand's co-founder claims that the company uses 40% less power than more conventional condensing systems to produce the same number of litres per day.
Uravu Lab’s current capacity is 1,000 litres per day at a cost of production of Rs. 4-5 per litre.
It is aiming to scale up to 1,00,000 litres at lower costs within two years.
Within 5 years, it wants to reach 10 lakh litres per day - that's saving more than 25 lakh litres of groundwater and 15-20 tonnes of CO2.
But why has this tech not changed the world yet?
Well, the traditional approach (used by most competitors) uses a lot of electricity.
This makes these units expensive (and non-scalable) to run.
Due to such large up-front investments, not a lot of companies have replicated this tech.
Plus, science needs to become more mature to make this economically viable…
According to Swee Ching Tan, an assistant professor of materials science and technology at the National University of Singapore (NUS), the desiccants (water-absorbing materials) should be able to hold more water and release it at lower temperatures.
Currently, Uravu Labs uses calcium chloride due to low cost and easy availability.
While Uravu Labs currently delivers packaged water to the hospitality industry, premium cafes, and beverages industry, it could also explore a ‘premium water’ service for end customers.
It could probably launch water purifiers to offer 100% renewable water to high-paying customers.
Something Bangalore could really use right now amidst its water shortage.
Demand by 14 million people of Bangalore: 2 billion litres of water daily.
Supply: Half of this.
Making this breakthrough technology available for the masses would be a dream come true.
But in a country where water from conventional sources is available at 1 cent per litre, Uravu is super expensive.
If you are in Bangalore, how are you managing this water crisis? 👇🏼
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And what about the side effects of removing moisture from the air? Once you scale up this process, it will reduce the air moisture significantly. And moisture in the air has some importance, it's not there just out of coincidence! Problem with Indian startups is they don't do complete research and are focused only on making profits. And making profits is why Bangalore landed in so many issues.
Being a start-up, the technology improves gradually with time. But the govt doesn't seem to have an inkling of desalination plants that converts sea water to potable water. What could be the cause of this amnesia on the part of the decision makers ?