A Sustainable Solution to Water Scarcity

My name is Louisa and I am the founder and CEO of Earth Angels, a sustainable design and build company first incorporated in the UK. Recently I moved to Southern Portugal and quickly realised there is a huge drought problem here that has been getting worse, certainly over the last 10 years and, experts agree, it is likely to be catastrophic within the next 10 years. 

Although I came to Portugal to start a Sustainable Wellness Resort brand, through my work and experience of Sustainability I have very specialist knowledge that can be an important part of a solution to water 'stress' within 2 years. 

How? By the development of a Water from Air product that will help the community in Portugal and eventually any drought prone region.

In fact, on the 22nd of March 2023 the EU issued a warning that the South of Europe was facing a severe Drought this year.  This was followed, on the 11th April 2023, by a report from the Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere that there was an increase in the intensity of Drought conditions. It's official....the Algarve is facing severe drought this year.

We are raising $35,000 seed funding to facilitate the company’s legal structure in Portugal and the capitalisation requirements for Government and EU Grant funding.  This will enable an Innovative Research & Development  programme to produce a product for the harvesting of Water from the atmosphere, providing water at the Point of Use for commercial and domestic requirements.

Traditional Bank or Venture Capital seed funding is not an option for us at this early stage of our startup, but I cannot standby and do nothing when I know how to improve the situation. As a community We can fix this and if you care about water scarcity you can help us, yourself and the Environment by helping us to bridge the gap to available funding. 

Any contribution is a huge help and for anyone, or any Company, who may be concerned about their own Water Security, and who is willing to make a bigger contribution, can be rewarded with being one of the first to own and evaluate our solutions (Domestic or Small Commercial). Please do check the Rewards section for more details. Here's a little more about what I stand for;

Our Mission … Sustainable Water Security. 

We will be developing two solutions, one  for Agriculture and commercial use who have a high dependency on water and may face restrictions which will impact their economic future. The second solution will be for Households to ensure security of supply for personal use.

Earth Angels will deliver;

• a Research and Development program that will focus on the application of scientific advancements in carbon nano-materials technology to deliver new or improved outcomes in terms of volume of water produced at a lower cost* of harvesting water from the air. [* in both Energy per ltr and capital cost]

• a fast track program to manufacture Commercial/Agricultural and Domestic products, demonstrate their effectiveness and deliver a real, available and affordable solution within the next 2 years.

The Problems we seek to address …

Drought conditions leading to Water Shortages & a threat to the Security of Water Supply for people and businesses.

In California during 2022, some farmers of water intensive crops (particularly Sushi Rice producers) were paid NOT to plant their crops in order to safeguard the environment.

In Portugal, severe drought conditions in February 2022 led to several dangerous wild fires in the Southern Algarve region during the summer.

In Portugal, The Algarve region is reported to have the highest annual water usage per capita, standing at 138,000 m3 per person. This usage includes water for Agriculture, which is estimated to be between 60 < 80% of consumption.

Every crop has its individual requirement for water and many are vulnerable due to high water consumption per Kg of product produced. For example; Avocado’s require 278 ltrs per Kg produced. In 2019 Avocado production in the Algarve was above 13,000 tons and rising. This means that 3.5 + Billion litres of water are required for that one crop alone. 

Portugal's traditional cultivation of Grapes and Citrus in the Southern Regions are also at risk.

To offer a comparison, the UN calculates that the Basic Daily need per person is 110 litres per day. Developed nations report an average use of c. 140 litres per day.

Our Approach …

Earth Angels focused Research and Development programme will perfect the process of extracting water from air using the science behind the 'Dew Effect'.

The underlying science of this approach has already been proven commercially, but existing solutions are expensive to buy and run and are limited from a sustainability point of view.

The Earth Angels solution will be more advanced and more efficient, take less energy per litre produced, can be produced at a lower cost and will be significantly more sustainable.

This is a ‘Low Risk’ program based on proven science combined with commercial knowledge to develop and manufacture disruptive green technology solutions.

The Product

We aim to ultimately produce 4 products but are focusing on 1 & 2 below;

1. Domestic - yield < 1,000 ltrs water per day (An average household of 4 people would consume c.600 Ltrs per day, not including gardens etc)

2. Small Commercial - yield < 10,000 ltrs per day (For example; This would likely be a small-hold farmer)

3. Medium Commercial - yield < 50,000 ltrs per day (this could be a small hotel or a medium sized farm)

4. Large Commercial - yield < 100,000 ltrs per day (this could be a large hotel or a large farm)

All of our products will be powered by renewable energy. 

We are addressing the problem by replacing some, if not all, of our customers reliance on water from nature. Our units can run year round, with the excess water produced stored for use when needed. 

(Note 1 ltr is the equivalent of 0.264 US Gallon)

What Impact will we have on the Problem?

We are determined to make a meaningful difference by giving an extra, tactical, level of action to reduce water stress in Drought zones. Having the ability to generate water from the atmosphere at point of need, alongside water efficiency programs and 'grey' (treated) water recycling for public amenity irrigation, gives planners an extra tool that will make a difference.  

The impact on personal usage is more immediate. Water is becoming more expensive in drought regions like the Algarve and the risk of restriction on personal use is high. Irrigation of gardens and even the amenity of a personal pool are both at risk. Having an independent source of water alongside solar power, even if supplementing public supply, is a sensible choice.    

For some individual companies the impact could be huge. In Portugal, there is a clear trend in press articles over the last 2 months questioning the operations of water intensive crops and calling for change and restrictions. Government has acknowledged that there is a real and present danger and have already started to order restrictions in the worse affected areas.  For these companies, the development of a truly independent source of water, free from outside control and regulation, may be the difference between success or failure. 

In numbers, we project that we can be providing at least 10.5 billion litres of water per year within 8 years, the sky is the limit!   

The Market - Clean Technologies

Algarve & the rest of Portugal has 4.15m households, 75 Golf Courses. 60 < 80%+ of water is used for Agriculture

Southern Spain & rest of Spain  has 18.4m households, 398 Golf Courses and has a similar profile in relation to water used for Agriculture.

We will be analysing the SOM in further detail as part of the development programme but we know it is significant.

Our Funding Strategy

There are multiple options for assistance with funding here in Portugal and accessing Grant funds from the European Union.

This project benefits from funds assigned for the development of  technological uses of Nano Materials science and also benefits from addressing a Strategically important issue thats is a priority for Government.

As such, we (and our advisors) are confident that the company will be able to access initial development funds of 250,000 and above (euros), however we need to incur Legal and Accounting costs as well as a proportion of available capital to be able to apply. This is the purpose of our raise. One such 'Call' is currently open and is our immediate target, made possible by the $35,000 we are seeking to raise, but this is time sensitive, hence the need to secure these funds quickly. If we miss this call we will be frustratingly delayed but we would be able to apply for new calls when they open in the near future.  At this point, any delay is detrimental.

Further funds are available for field testing and the scaling up to manufacture, in year 2 of our program.

Our Team

The Team has deep knowledge & experience in their related fields and we have known and worked together over the years.

We have expertise in Sustainable Technologies, Advanced material science technologies and developments using eco & sustainable models. Our COO has recent and very relevant experience in setting up and working with Sustainability technology research programmes. We know how to address the water scarcity problem facing us now and the future generations.

We are already working with UALG (The University of the Algarve) and we are also looking to work closely with a research group at the Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory in Northern Portugal. 

To finish, here is an Interesting fact for you gleaned from a recent article;  Only 1% of companies founded by a woman receive traditional startup funding from banks or VC's.  51% of Science based PhD graduates in Portugal are women and yet Women are unrepresented in Portugal, and throughout the EU, in both Scientific and Senior Management roles. So much so that there are bonus grants available for companies who have a female CEO. 

Together we can make a real difference to a real problem.

Thank you so much for your time, support and help. Rest assured, We will pay it forward.