Dr. Vishwa Narayan, BE(Hons)EEE, MSEE, Ph.D. EE, CEO, Theertham - NGO, registered in Texas, USA, operating out of Bangalore and Chennai, India.
Goal: To design, manufacture, distribute and tech transfer very very low cost (Rs 5000) solar powered water distiller capable of distilling up to 20 liters of water per day, from dirty raw water including salt water.
Goal: To have atleast 100 million units in service across all continents, within 10 years
Making potable water under 2 paise per liter (i.e., 0.00044 US cents) with 50 years of device usage
Without chemicals or consumables such as replaceable filters
Show me a developing economy and I'll show you people who are dying for lack of clean, potable water
Show me a developed economy and I'll show you people who are supplied water in an extravagantly expensive manner (e.g., after hurricane Katrina)
High level specifications:
- Consistently sate thirst
- Be very very affordable – costing no more than 100 USD or 5000 INR
- Must purify salt water and all kinds of dirty water
- Must produce 15-20 litres (~3-4 gallons) of drinking water per sunny day
- Must be totally solar powered, not requiring wall or battery power sources
- Must be portable, weighing no more than 50 pounds (~23 Kg)
- Must work in all climates and latitudes, year round
- Must be rugged and trouble free, working for a minimum of 50 trouble free years
- Must be very simple to set up and use by people of all ages, from all cultures
For more details: http://nandiththeertham.wordpress.com/