How Water From Air Could Reshape Water Security

Infrastructure for utilities like power and energy in general is progressively moving from a centralized model (one large power plant, tens of thousands of customers) to a decentralized one, where technologies like photovoltaics and small wind turbines help small producers take into their own hands energy independence.

A similar process could occur with water, as the production of water from atmospheric moisture is becoming an increasingly economically viable option. This is not going to replace municipal systems for large cities, but could radically change the equation for water security, especially in remote areas or countries in development, in the very same way decentralized electricity production with solar panels did. So it makes it a more credible complementary technology for resilient, off-grid, and building-integrated water supply.

The potential of this technology was analyzed recently in a study by researchers at the BRAC University (Bangladesh) and the Swinburne University of Technology (Australia). They published their findings in Applied Thermal Engineering¹, under the title “From air to water: science, technology, and future of atmospheric water harvesting (AWH)”.

Water From Thin Air?

In general, freshwater is a rare resource on Earth, with the immense majority of water locked in oceans in the form of seawater, and most of the freshwater locked in glaciers, mostly over Greenland and Antarctica.

Source: OpenEdu

This issue is, of course, most acute in desert and arid regions, but not only.

“Water scarcity is not only a problem in arid regions; even water-rich areas are experiencing seasonal shortages due to poor water management and climate variations. The situation is expected to worsen due to climate change, population growth, industrial expansion, and over extraction of groundwater.”

Currently, more than 1.6 billion people live in cities facing water shortages, and this number is set to double within the next three decades, as pollution and over-exploitation of groundwater resources make it worth.

“Regions such as India, the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of the United States are witnessing alarming declines in groundwater levels due to overuse. In many cases, aquifers cannot recover, leading to permanent freshwater loss.”

Water desalination is an option for coastal regions, but this is a very energy-intensive process that can also damage maritime ecosystems. Some innovations around solar energy and hydrogen co-generation with freshwater could help, but this is still a work in progress.

Desalinated water also often retains concentrations of boron, chloride, and sodium that can exceed crop tolerance levels for agriculture. And desalination is necessarily a very centralized, infrastructure-heavy process.

Source: Applied Thermal Engineering

This is why Atmospheric Water Generation (AWG) is considered, instead, a technology that extracts moisture from the air and converts it into usable water, as the atmospheric water is already freshwater.

This is not a fully new technology, as civilizations in arid regions used rudimentary methods such as dew collection, fog harvesting, and passive condensation techniques. And methods relying on compression and electricity exist, although they have not been effectively deployed at scale. But new methods are emerging.

Overall, this technology is not limited by geography or existing water sources, making it ideal for:

• Desert regions where rainfall is scarce.
• Isolated communities without water infrastructure.
• Disaster-stricken areas where the water supply has been disrupted.

How Does Atmospheric Water Harvesting Work?

Atmospheric Water Harvesting (AWH) operates primarily through two mechanisms: cooling-based condensation and sorption-based water extraction.

Condensation-based methods are similar to how a heat pump works, except the focus of the design is on maximizing water condensation:

“Humid ambient air is cooled to a temperature below its dew point, causing water vapor to condense into liquid droplets on a cooled surface, which are then collected as potable water.”

Source: Applied Thermal Engineering

In sorption-based water extraction, a desiccant materials that capture vapor is used, and the water is released through natural temperature fluctuations.

Among other systems can also be mentioned Radiative Dew Collection, where specialized panels facilitate water condensation via passive radiative cooling, and Fog Harvesting utilizes mesh-framed structures to capture and coalesce water droplets suspended in the fog.

Sorption, radiative, and fog harvesting are all passive methods exploiting natural phenomena like direct solar radiation or thermal gradients and do not require high-grade power.

Hybrid systems also exist, mixing passive methods with active Vapor Compression Refrigeration Cycle (VCRC) or thermoelectric cooling.

What The Study Found

First, the study analyzed the geographical potential of AWH, finding that moisture concentration can vary from fractions of a gram of water in polar regions to tens of grams per cubic meter in hot, humid climates.

However, relative humidity alone is insufficient and not the only determining metric, especially for passive systems. Temperature, absolute moisture content, solar availability, and local energy costs determine the technical and economic viability of the AWH system.

The cost of the system itself can also be a determining factor for adoption rates, especially in regions with poor access to capital.

Sorption Water Harvesting

Sorption-based systems use certain materials, such as silica gel, zeolites, and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), that can efficiently absorb water vapor from the air even in low-humidity conditions.

By being more cost and energy-efficient than the condensation-based method, sorption gave new wind to the concept of atmospheric water harvesting.

Source: Applied Thermal Engineering

Modern iterations of these systems now incorporate high-temperature air delivery mechanisms capable of reaching up to 128°C through double-ended vacuum tube collectors, ensuring efficient desiccant regeneration even under erratic solar irradiance. Some designs reached yields of 4.40 L/day at a reduced cost of 0.092 $/L.

“Hydratable core-shell polymer networks, which could harvest 6.5 liters of water per kilogram of material per day under sunlight, even in low-humidity conditions.”

The passive nature of these systems, which can be entirely solar powered, makes it easy to deploy, especially as they also require low maintenance and little technical skills.

Measuring Pollution Is Crucial

Like with any water source, making sure no bacterial contamination occurs is important. But as the water is harvested from the air, air pollution can also be collected.

This is especially an issue for the uptake of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Here, salt-based sorption (SAWH) achieves superior water quality with significantly lower VOC concentrations than traditional condensation-based atmospheric water generators (AWGs).

Other potential metals, dissolved contaminants, and system-derived contamination also need to be measured and monitored for the water harvesting system to be trusted and widely used safely.

Adopting An Integrated Approach

A hybrid system can also integrate phase change materials (PCM) to improve thermal management and operational stability. PCM can store excess thermal energy during periods of high solar radiation and release it during periods of low radiation, enabling extended operation and improved energy utilization.

For example, a system achieved a maximum water yield of 4.25 L/day and a production cost of approximately 0.11 $/L.

The authors of the study recommend a more holistic approach than focusing on a specific technology.

For example, especially in more developed regions, by extracting moisture from intake or recirculated air, AWH systems can act as active dehumidification modules, which substantially reduce the latent heat load on primary air conditioning systems. By doing so, not only do they produce freshwater, but they also reduce the energy consumption of HVAC systems.

Such dual output can drastically improve the Levelized Cost of Water (LCW) and change the economic equation beyond use cases in remote or poor regions.

Recommendations For AWH Adoption

Condensation-based AWH systems achieve the highest water yield, making them attractive for applications where high water output is essential, such as residential or industrial use.

Sorption-based AWH systems are particularly useful in low-humidity climates, where traditional condensation methods fail. However, expensive sorbent materials (like MOFs or desiccant composites) can increase operational costs. More advanced materials like hydrogels carry more potential, but research only started in 2023.

Hybrid AWH systems show high scores in water yield and climate adaptability, making them versatile solutions suitable for varying environmental conditions. But they require careful integration of multiple components (e.g., sorbents, cooling units, control systems), which increases their design and maintenance costs.

AWH Market & Future

The near-term opportunity for atmospheric water harvesting systems is likely remote facilities, disaster response, islanded infrastructure, and military/logistics, as these use cases are the most likely to have dire, unmet water needs that are not easily solved by either desalination, long pipeline, or groundwater. In these cases, the cost of building alternative infrastructures or the lower concern for cost optimization can help AWH systems be built in larger amounts, helping scale up and the maturation of this technology

In the longer term, industrial sites and high-humidity urban buildings are likely to provide a much larger market, especially as advanced sorbents like hydrogel and hybrid systems bring additional efficiency by combining with the existing HVAC systems. This can provide additional low-cost water supply, but will also not represent a mass replacement of centralized water networks, more of a very useful complement.to already rare and strained resources.

Investing In Water Harvesting

Carrier Global

Carrier is a leader in HVAC (commercial and residential), cold chain, and fire & security, with 58,000+ employees. It was founded in 1915, acquired by United Technologies in 1979, and spun off again in 2020, prior to United Technologies’ merger with Raytheon.

While not selling only heat pumps, it is a product category that is the focus of the company and that it sees as the future of the industry. It includes the Carrier brand, but also other major brands like Toshiba’s HVAC business (acquired in 2022) and Viessmann.

It is mostly focused on the Americas, with HVAC making more than half of its sales.

It has an installed base of 330,000+ commercial HVAC, 33 million residential HVAC, 1.8 million refrigeration equipment, and 90+ million fire and security systems. It is also expanding into battery storage, under the Viessmann brand.

Carrier is not a direct atmospheric water harvesting pure play. But as a leader in HVAC systems, it would directly benefit from markets moving toward building-integrated systems where water harvesting can offset latent cooling loads, recover waste heat, and become part of intelligent building infrastructure.

The company is also determined to drastically reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030, making it a good stock for investors looking for exposure to climate control and sustainable development.

Latest Carrier Global (CARR) Stock News and Developments

Study Referenced

^{1. Gourab Saha. From air to water: science, technology, and future of atmospheric water harvesting (AWH). Applied Thermal Engineering. Date: August 2026. Article: 132073. Volume: Volume 302, Part 5. 10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2026.132073}