<commit_before>---
layout: null
section-type: faq
title: FAQ
---
# General FAQ
If you want more meat, the Technical FAQ is further down.

## Who are we?

We are a group of artists, engineers, and activists.

## What are we doing?

openAWG is an open source project that focuses on atmospheric water generation (AWG). Water is essential to life and economy, yet most people on Earth don't readily have access to clean water. We want to help solve that problem by building an open source AWG system that is designed to pull water from the air in dry environments so it can provide drinking water for communities all over the world.

## When are things happening?

Right now. But more specifically, we are targeting the first large-scale deployment of openAWG v1 for Burning Man 2016: DaVinci’s Workshop. This model is projected to generate 1000L, literally a metric fucktonne of water per day.

## Where are we located?

Our workspace is at NIMBY in Oakland, California and we plan to test our prototypes at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada before Burning Man 2016.

## Why are we doing this?

Everyone should have access to clean drinking water without having to depend on expensive and closed systems designed to make a profit.

## How do we make air water?

Condensation! Water has three forms: ice, liquid, and gas. Water vapor is always present in the air around us, and because cold air can't carry as much vapor as warmer air, humidity levels depend on the weather. When temperatures reach the “dew point”, water vapor condenses into liquid and leaves the air. This is why you see dew on morning grass, or ‘sweat’ on a cold glass of beer.

The openAWG machine works similarly to an air conditioner or dehumidifier. The working prototype we built, Blueice Alpha, is in fact a modified dehumidifier! It cools air, collects condensed water vapor on the evaporator coil, and the condensation is then pumped into the filtration and remineralization systems to produce drinking water!

## AWG systems are not new, how is openAWG special?

openAWG is different in two ways - the first being that it is designed for arid environments. We can predict that an AWG built to operate in extreme conditions will perform solidly anywhere on Earth. Experiments will be conducted at the Black Rock Desert to reflect this goal.

Second - it is part of a modular system of technologies that we call “civilization-in-a-box”. We hope to help communities become self-sufficient by designing an open system that will allow people to recycle biomass and produce essential resources like water, power, industrial gases, biofuels, cryogenic liquids, and Internet access.

# Technical FAQ

## How can you calculate the mass of water in the air?
This NASA technical note<sup>0</sup> describes how to derive absolute humidity from TMP C and DWP C:

<pre><code data-trim class="ruby">=((0.21668*((TMPC+273)^-1))*((DWPC+273)^-4.9283)*(10^(23.5518+(-2937.4/(DWPC+273)))))*1000
</code></pre>

We calculate the dewpoint from the temperature and relative humidity with this equation<sup>1,2</sup>:
<pre><code data-trim class="ruby">=243.04*(LN(RH/100)+((17.625*TMPC)/(243.04+TMPC)))/(17.625-LN(RH/100)-((17.625*TMPC)/(243.04+TMPC)))
</code></pre>
<small>
  \[0\]: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/pdf/87878main_H-937.pdf">NASA TN D-8401 Equations for the Determination of Humidity From Dewpoint and Psychrometric Data</a>
  <br>
  \[1\]: <a href="http://andrew.rsmas.miami.edu/bmcnoldy/Humidity.html">Temperature, Dewpoint, and Relative Humidity Calculator</a>
  <br>
  \[2\]: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clausius%E2%80%93Clapeyron_relation#Meteorology_and_climatology">Wikipedia - Clausius–Clapeyron relation</a>
</small><commit_msg>clarified wording and fixed weird copypasta quotes<commit_after>---
layout: null
section-type: faq
title: FAQ
---
# General FAQ
If you want more meat, the Technical FAQ is further down.

## Who are we?

We are a group of artists, engineers, and activists.

## What are we doing?

openAWG is an open source project that focuses on atmospheric water generation (AWG). Water is essential to life and economy, yet 663 million people on this planet don't readily have access to clean water. We want to help solve that problem by building an open source AWG system that is designed to pull water from the air in dry environments so it can provide drinking water for communities all over the world.

## When are things happening?

Right now. But more specifically, we are targeting the first large-scale deployment of openAWG v1 for Burning Man 2016: DaVinci’s Workshop. This model is projected to generate 1000L, literally a metric fucktonne of water per day.

## Where are we located?

Our workspace is at NIMBY in Oakland, California and we plan to test our prototypes at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada before Burning Man 2016.

## Why are we doing this?

Everyone should have access to clean drinking water without having to depend on expensive and closed systems designed to make a profit.

## How do we make air water?

Condensation! Water has three forms: ice, liquid, and gas. Water vapor is always present in the air around us, and because cold air can't carry as much vapor as warmer air, humidity levels depend on the weather. When temperatures reach the "dew point", water vapor condenses into liquid and leaves the air. This is why you see dew on morning grass, or "sweat" on a cold glass of beer.

The openAWG machine works similarly to an air conditioner or dehumidifier. The working prototype we built, Blueice Alpha, is in fact a modified dehumidifier! It cools air, collects condensed water vapor on the evaporator coil, and the condensation is then pumped into the filtration and remineralization systems to produce drinking water!

## AWG systems are not new, how is openAWG special?

openAWG is different in two ways - the first being that it is designed for arid environments. We can predict that an AWG built to operate in extreme conditions will perform solidly anywhere on Earth. Experiments will be conducted at the Black Rock Desert to reflect this goal.

Second - it is part of a modular system of technologies that we call "civilization-in-a-box". We hope to help communities become self-sufficient by designing an open system that will allow people to recycle biomass and produce essential resources like water, power, industrial gases, biofuels, cryogenic liquids, and Internet access.

# Technical FAQ

## How can you calculate the mass of water in the air?
This NASA technical note<sup>0</sup> describes how to derive absolute humidity from TMP C and DWP C:

<pre><code data-trim class="ruby">=((0.21668*((TMPC+273)^-1))*((DWPC+273)^-4.9283)*(10^(23.5518+(-2937.4/(DWPC+273)))))*1000
</code></pre>

We calculate the dewpoint from the temperature and relative humidity with this equation<sup>1,2</sup>:
<pre><code data-trim class="ruby">=243.04*(LN(RH/100)+((17.625*TMPC)/(243.04+TMPC)))/(17.625-LN(RH/100)-((17.625*TMPC)/(243.04+TMPC)))
</code></pre>
<small>
  \[0\]: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/pdf/87878main_H-937.pdf">NASA TN D-8401 Equations for the Determination of Humidity From Dewpoint and Psychrometric Data</a>
  <br>
  \[1\]: <a href="http://andrew.rsmas.miami.edu/bmcnoldy/Humidity.html">Temperature, Dewpoint, and Relative Humidity Calculator</a>
  <br>
  \[2\]: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clausius%E2%80%93Clapeyron_relation#Meteorology_and_climatology">Wikipedia - Clausius–Clapeyron relation</a>
</small>
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