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To: Willie Green
Cool. I'm kinda into "air wells" right now because many places (including Afghanistan) are too far from the ocean for desalination. But I'm definitely pro-nuclear and desalination. Here's an article about "air well"

Another interesting invention that has never been implemented on a large scale was designed in 1931 by M. Achille Knapen. He succeeded in condensing and extracting water from warm air to irrigate fields and vineyards in southern France with what he called, an "air well" (See U.S. patent no. 1,816,592). Looking like a 40-foot concrete beehive, it was possible to produce as much as 6,000 gallons of water daily for every 1,000 square feet of condensing surface. An airwell can be built on practically any scale, and the wall materials can be concrete blocks, bricks or concentric hollow shells filled with sand or earth. A small airwell 12 feet high and 12 feet across with walls 2 feet thick can supply a generous output of daily water. It can be fitted with top and bottom air pipes, and a multitude of condensing plates on the inside. Warm air circulates and gives up moisture on the cool inside condensing plates angled downward toward a catch basin at the bottom were it is collected. Using scrap and local materials, makeshift air wells could help solve many water problems in drought ridden areas of the world, especially in Third World countries. """

What's great about these is that water vapor is one of the greatest "global warming" gasses. What could be better than to extract water vapor so that is usable by humans. Take it easy.

6 posted on 04/05/2002 1:35:39 PM PST by techcor
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To: techcor
Interesting information about the "air well."

I've read that something similiar is done in the Andes Mountains, only it is called "fog farming." Sheets of plastic are staked and the fog passing through every morning condenses underneath.

Cool, huh ?

9 posted on 05/23/2002 5:04:54 PM PDT by happygrl
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To: techcor
Do you know if the interior surfaces should be moist to begin with or does the air well dry start itself?
11 posted on 12/11/2002 4:33:44 PM PST by RightWhale
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