Water goes off the grid [update]

The escalating cost of electricity has sent a growing number of consumers in search of ways to generate electricity at home. Element Four, based in Kelowna, B.C., Canada, is betting that with bottled-water consumption increasing and aging water distribution systems, water will be the next commodity consumers will want to produce at home. The company has done what it says is a top-to-bottom reinvention of the atmospheric-water generator-a device that pulls water from the air by cooling it to the point that condensation forms and then keeps it sterile for drinking.