Fogate, where fog turns into water
More than 2 billion people around the world still need access to water. So says the Unesco World Water Development Report. Therefore, Any help to curb this problem is more than welcome, such as that proposed by a multidisciplinary team of six young people in developing the Fogate project. This technology captures water droplets present in fog.
Their project received one of the two second prizes in the fourth edition of the Terra Creative Jam, the entrepreneurship program promoted by Campus Terra through the Area of Valorization, Transfer and Entrepreneurship of the USC (AVTE) in collaboration with the incubator Lug Open Factory.
The Fogate project is a technological initiative based on sustainability and care for water resources. Fogate transforms fog into a source of water and energy from specific climatic conditions, such as those found in coastal or high mountain areas.
The creators of this technology have manufactured specially designed meshes to capture the water droplets present in the fog. The prototype designed and manufactured by the promoters of Fogate is capable of collecting fog water, filtering it and, from this resource, producing energy to bring water to undersupplied areas.
The Terra Creative Jam award-winning project has the potential to help agricultural and rural communities that, despite the recurrent presence of fog, face a shortage of water resources at certain times of the year.
A self-sufficient and environmentally friendly future
Fogate's promoters explain it in detail: «Many of these areas, such as coastal and mountainous regions, have plenty of fog, but lack stable water resources for agricultural development. Realizing that fog could be an untapped water source, we decided to develop an efficient system to collect and use it, offering a sustainable solution to improve these communities' lives and contribute to a more self-sufficient and environmentally friendly future.»
Behind this project is a multidisciplinary team of six young people who have put their skills and knowledge at the service of an initiative with a more obvious potential economic and social impact.
Iheb Fendri, with a degree in Interior Design and in Personal and Corporate Image Consulting; Michael Gerges, with a degree in Computer Science and specializing in Software Engineering; Nerea Otero, with a degree in Early Childhood Education; Pablo Ramírez, a student of the degree in Labor Relations and Human Resources; Eladio Pomares, about to finish his degree in Teaching; and Karla Soto Wipplinger, currently doing an exchange program in Agricultural Engineering, are the six promoters of the Fogate project.
As for the future, the six of them hope to bring their technology to the maximum number of communities and territories needing water resources. «We plan to optimize fog capture and filtration technology, making it even more efficient and economically accessible. We are also exploring the possibility of integrating into collaborative networks with NGOs and local governments to implement Fogate in more rural areas and agricultural communities.»
In this process of improvement and innovation, they also aim to optimize energy generation processes.
Their goal? To make Fogate a standard solution for all those places that need a constant water supply.