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Max Hidalgo has developed technology to extract water from the air.
UNEP
Max Hidalgo has developed technology to extract water from the air.

Young Champions of the Earth: Peru’s elemental innovator

28 December 2020
Climate and Environment

A Peruvian biologist and inventor who is turning wind into water has been named as a winner of an annual UN environmental award.

Max Hidalgo is a recipient of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Young Champions of the Earth award for 2020.
Max Hidalgo is a recipient of UNEP’s Young Champions of the Earth award for 2020.UNEP

Max Hidalgo has adapted a wind turbine to condense vapour from air to produce water for vulnerable communities affected by climate change in Peru.

The technology he has developed at a cost of $70,000 per unit can provide a village of a hundred people with the water they need to survive; it’s estimated that establishing a piped supply to the same community would cost up to $1 million.

Max Hidalgo is one of seven innovators who have been recognized as United Nations Environment Programme’s Young Champions of the Earth for 2020.

 

 

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Young Champions of the Earth prize

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Young Champions of the Earth: trashing barriers to boost recycling in Kuwait

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Young Champions of the Earth: turning plastics into paving in Kenya

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A Kenyan entrepreneur is being lauded by the UN for developing a machine that recycles discarded plastic into paving stones for use in construction projects.

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