Israel’s Water-from-Air Technology Wins ‘Product of the Year’ Award

Watergen’s GENNY brings fresh drinking water inexpensively worldwide, including combating the Flint, Michigan polluted water crisis.

By United with Israel Staff

Israeli company Watergen’s GENNY, a new water-from-air appliance, was named winner of the Energy Efficiency Product of the Year in the 2020 Smart Home Mark of Excellence Awards at CES in Las Vegas. The annual award, presented Wednesday by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), recognizes the industry’s top smart home innovations.

“Our company’s mission is to eliminate the need to rely on outside sources for life necessities and to help people become more environmentally friendly,” Dan Clifford, president of Watergen North America, said in a statement. “We are especially honored to be named Energy Efficiency Product of the Year at this year’s CES show because this award directly supports one of the top values Watergen stands for.”

The company, founded in 2009 by Israeli entrepreneur and former combat reconnaissance commander Arye Kohavi and a team of engineers, launched its first atmospheric generator in 2012. Its GENNY creates water-from-air through a patented GENius heat-exchange technology that extracts humidity from the environment and converts it to fresh water.

The award-winning innovation generates up to eight gallons of water per day, according to the company website. The system saves time, money and the environment as it eliminates the need for purchasing water in plastic bottles. Additionally, it purifies inside air by circulating clean air back into a room.

The company’s device supplies fresh drinking water for homes, offices, schools, villages and hospitals worldwide. It strives to “provide humanity with safe drinking water anywhere, on demand, and at a reasonable cost,” according to its website.

Water produced through the Watergen system is “purified using a physical, chemical, microbiological and mineral treatment, [making it] higher quality than that provided by municipal water pipes,” the company said. It also eliminates concerns of corroded water pipes that could lead to higher-than-normal levels of lead in drinking water,” as what happened in Flint, Michigan, where thousands were poisoned with lead from their drinking water.

Watergen announced the launch of its new application at CES 2020 Solar GENNY. While the original system runs on electricity, this next-generation is powered by solar panels, making it ideally suited for use in remote locations, parks, or during disasters when electricity is unreliable or unavailable. Solar GENNY can generate up to 3.5 gallons of water a day, according to the website.

“More and more, we are seeing people empowering themselves to be self-sufficient, whether by using solar power or growing their own food, so that they don’t need to rely on outside sources for necessities,” Clifford said. “GENNY now gives consumers access to their own fresh, clean water source right in their home.”

Company chairman Mikhael Mirilashvili, an Israeli-Georgian businessman and philanthropist, plans to resolve the lack of safe drinking water for 2.1 billion people worldwide by spreading Watergen’s technology, according to the Jerusalem Post. In line with its mission, Watergen has donated its large-scale system, called Gen-L, which can produce up to 5,000 liters of clean water a day without infrastructure, other than a standard electricity supply, to several countries, including Brazil, Vietnam and India.

During the 2018 California wildfires, Watergen assisted rescue and recovery efforts by providing clean water in the ravaged area. It also helped residents of Texas and Florida in the aftermath of hurricanes Harvey and Irma.