fog harp

Water is essential for life - yet today more than 4 billion people face water scarcity at least one month peryear.Fog harvesting is an emerging approach to obtaining fresh water from moving fog using mesh materials which gather droplets as fog passes through them. Fog harvesting can provide clean, essential drinking and agricultural water to communities around the world, especially some of the most vulnerable. As promising as the technology is, the design of fog harvesting materials has advanced little during the intervening decades since they were first used. Fog Harp reinvents fog harvesting by drawing inspiration from trees and plants which collect fog and thrive in some of the driest regions on earth. The patent pending design can gather 3-8 times more water than the current mesh based harvesters. Passive, simple and robust, the technology is resistant to strong winds and requires no energy to work.

Fog Harp was created by a team of scientists, designers and engineers at Virginia Tech, in the USA. Together we aim to help mitigate catastrophic water shortages for some of the most vulnerable populations on earth. We are currently seeking partners to advance the project in two areas: 1) Testing the technology in different fog zones and 2) working with local user groups to understand how to successfully integrate the technology into these communities for their benefit.