Abstract
Fog harvesting is a technique used to collect water from the fog. This technique became widely used around the world due to the lack of fresh water, as fog harvesting is considered to represent an economical and a reliable source of water. On that sense, fog collecting methods are mostly implemented in areas that lack access to fresh water and is mostly used for agricultural purposes and, in some cases, also for providing clean drinking water. The basic idea of harvesting the fog was first developed by farmers when some types of adjoining cavities and containers were put around plants to collect water from humid air, after that those techniques were turned into fog harvesting structures. The introduction of fog harvesting techniques was accompanied with the introduction of new materials and different structures, providing a range of options in regards to the meshes and to the harvesting methods. In this paper, a practical and theoretical assessment of existing fog harvesting meshes is performed in order to characterize their economic and physical characteristics. The final objective is to provide information about their ability to perform in different conditions which is to be added to an environmental conditioning structure for exterior spaces.
Highlights
According to WHO, in 2019 around 785 million people lacked basic drinking water service, including 144 million people who mostly depend on surface water
The physical characteristics of those meshes were considered in the decision to evaluate them on-site, where they could show that the ability to retain water is related to their open areas ratio and water vapor and air permeability
Jute meshes appear to have lower Fog Collection Efficiencies η than other studied meshes such as PVCPE1, 2 and 3, they present significantly lower levels of embodied carbon and embodied energy, compared to most of the other meshes, and are more effective regarding the coating options. Meshes such as PVCPE1, 2 and 3 present similar embodied energy levels to the PE 1 mesh, and higher possibility of functioning as a fog harvesting mesh, providing an alternative without the anticipated environmental damage linked to the production of the material
Summary
According to WHO, in 2019 around 785 million people lacked basic drinking water service, including 144 million people who mostly depend on surface water. Whereas globally it is estimated that about two thousand million people use a contaminated drinking source, it is estimated that about 485,000 diarrheal deaths per year are caused by contaminated drinking water. It is forecasted that by 2025 more than half of the world population would be living in a water stressed area. The lack of water affects all living creatures, the lack of clean water affects the type of vegetation and the bio diversity in the area [1]. Fog harvesting is based on the physical principle that when humid air encounters a cold solid surface, the water molecules disposed in the air will adhere to that surface. This work has the financial support of 2C2T- Science Center of Textile
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