Cody Friesen, founder of SOURCE Global, discusses whether atmospheric water harvesting can be used for agricultural production alongside hyper-efficient farming methods.
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Friesen: Hydropanels can eventually provide the lowest-cost potable water on Earth
“There's no Physical reason, this is a big statement, why these source hydropanels can't eventually be the lowest cost delivered potable water on the planet. Lower cost than what you flush toilets with at home, what you consider sort of free water, which of cou…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Friesen: Renewable water hydropanels will follow exponential cost-reduction curves
“Where exponentiality has enabled solar to be really cheap, has enabled DNA testing, that's a minuscule fraction of what it was 20 years ago. Smartphones, et cetera. And the same thing is true when we started talking about renewable water. We started talking ab…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Friesen: Source hydropanels generate similar water output in Dubai and Manila
“And so you'll see that, for example, in Dubai, we create a very similar amount of water as in Manila, as an example. And so, yes, there are places and times of the year where the amount of water we produce is minimized, but on sort of an average, those places …”
Assertion Partly supported
Friesen: Source hydropanels cost $2,000 and produce water cheaper than bottled water
“So if you buy source hydropanel online, which is the way that Americans can get our hydropanels directly, they're about 2000 dollars a piece. And so, and of course you have to ship them and install them. So when you amortize that cost out, right, that's alread…”
Assertion Supported
Friesen: Central Valley farmworker communities have pesticide-contaminated groundwater
“The farm workers that live in the Central Valley today live in communities where the groundwater has been poisoned by generations. Of pesticides and fertilizer and so on.”
Assertion Supported
Friesen: Roughly 2.4 billion people lack access to safe water at home
“We're talking about approximately a third of humanity does not have access to safe water at home, right? And so it's a, it's something like 2.4 billion people, and that's the official number.”