Atmospheric Water Generation (AWG): Performance Model and Economic Analysis

United Nation's 2018 Water Development Report estimated that more than 2 Billion people all around the world lack access to clean drinking water. In addition, many of our freshwater sources are declining. Therefore, exploring new methods of collecting clean drinking water is vital. Use of Atmospheric Water Generators (AWG) is one of these methods with the potential to contribute towards the salvation of our water problems. However, AWG's performance is quite volatile in different environmental conditions and its economic feasibility is questionable. In this paper, an indicator model is developed to predict AWG's performance in different conditions. This model is then used to examine the performance of AWG in Austin, Texas during a 4 year period. An economic analysis is carried out on the performance of the AWG system for a 4 year period from a single users' perspective that exhibited an NPV value of $5964. This analysis showed that AWGs may indeed be financially feasible when utilized in Austin's environment.