Monaco Prince installs Israeli air-to-water technology in palace
The country's princes have lived in the palace where Watergen was installed for over 700 years.
By TAMAR URIEL-BEERIMonaco's Prince Albert II and Dr. Michael Mirilashvili drinking water-from-air last Monday.(photo credit: WATERGEN)
Monaco's Prince Albert II has installed an Israeli-made Watergen machine, which turns air into water, in his family's 700-year-old legendary palace. The prince is known for his efforts to combat plastic pollution and global warming, and was therefore presented with the technology by WaterGen's chairman, Israeli-Georgian businessman and philanthropist Mikhael Mirilashvili.The two met at an event organized by Tel Aviv University together with investor and philanthropist Aaron Frenkel that marked the launching of the "Combat Pollution Initiative," which aims to use various Israeli technologies to battle pollution in the Mediterranean region.The event was held at the Hermitage Hotel in Monaco, where several leaders in the fields of energy and the environment signed the Principality's National Energy Transition Pact to mark their support for the actions of the Principality of Monaco in the field of energy efficiency and the promotion of renewable energies.The Monaco princes have lived in the palace where Watergen was installed for over 700 years."One million plastic bottles are used every minute around the world," said WaterGen executive chairman Maxim Pasik. "More than half a trillion bottles are used every year. In thirty years we are going to have another two billion people around the planet."He added that "we are moving towards astronomical numbers of plastic waste and a significant amount of environmental pollution as a result. Our technology completely solves this problem."Watergen was created in Rishon Lezion in 2009 and has developed technology that can turn atmospheric water into safe water. GEN-350, the water generator created by the company, can produce up to 900 liters of water per day. It weighs a mere 800 kilograms, making the system transportable and easily installable.Advertisement"Our main target is to save and improve people's lives all around the world," Mirilashvili told The Jerusalem Post in March. "We also aim to remove plastic from earth, to reduce the global carbon footprint, and of course make our planet cleaner and safer."“We created a product that can really be the next source of drinking water,” Pasik told the Post in 2017.“All these countries that have the water shortages have a humid and hot climate,” Pasik said. “We take all the humidity from the air and extract the water.”The technology has since been brought to the places most lacking in clean water throughout the world, including South Africa, Vietnam, Sierra Leone and Uzbekistan.Watergen additionally partnered with the community of Flint, Michigan, in the hopes of helping out with the Flint water crisis, where the city's water was polluted with lead.The company developed a disaster response vehicle in January for providing fresh water to disaster zones in a partnership with the Red Cross.
