Global potential for harvesting drinking water from air using solar energy

Access to safely managed drinking water (SMDW) remains a global challenge, and affects 2.2 billion people(1,2). Solar-driven atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) devices with continuous cycling may accelerate progress by enabling decentralized extraction of water from air(3–6), but low specific yields (SY) and low daytime relative humidity (RH) have raised questions about their performance (in litres of water output per day)(7–11). However, to our knowledge, no analysis has mapped the global potential of AWH(12) despite favourable conditions in tropical regions, where two-thirds of people without SMDW live(2). Here we show that AWH could provide SMDW for a billion people. Our assessment—using Google Earth Engine(13)—introduces a hypothetical 1-metre-square device with a SY profile of 0.2 to 2.5 litres per kilowatt-hour (0.1 to 1.25 litres per kilowatt-hour for a 2-metre-square device) at 30% to 90% RH, respectively. Such a device could meet a target average daily drinking water requirement of 5 litres per day per person(14). We plot the impact potential of existing devices and new sorbent classes, which suggests that these targets could be met with continued technological development, and well within thermodynamic limits. Indeed, these performance targets have been achieved experimentally in demonstrations of sorbent materials(15–17). Our tools can inform design trade-offs for atmospheric water harvesting devices that maximize global impact, alongside ongoing efforts to meet Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with existing technologies.