# HIBT Lab! SOURCE Global: Cody Friesen

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2022-09-15
- Length: 38m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-09-15-hibt-lab-source-global-cody-friesen

## Summary

Cody Friesen, founder and CEO of SOURCE Global, explains how his Arizona-based company uses hygroscopic nanomaterials and solar energy to extract drinking water from atmospheric humidity, creating 'hydropanels' that produce up to 5 liters per day. Friesen details the thermodynamic principles behind the device, the choice of materials that concentrate vapor 10,000 times, and the company's strategy to become the world's first renewable, fully-digitized drinking water utility. He discusses the business model, which includes selling panels directly for around $2,000 and offering water-as-a-service contracts to institutions like the Navajo Nation, while addressing the challenge of high initial costs against the long-term value of decentralized water access.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-09-15-hibt-lab-source-global-cody-friesen#t=0) Introduction: Cody Friesen and the Hydropanel Concept
- [2:22](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-09-15-hibt-lab-source-global-cody-friesen#t=142) Water Scarcity and the Global Water Crisis
- [5:50](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-09-15-hibt-lab-source-global-cody-friesen#t=350) The Thermodynamics of Atmospheric Water
- [11:38](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-09-15-hibt-lab-source-global-cody-friesen#t=698) Material Science: Hygroscopic Nanomaterials
- [15:29](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-09-15-hibt-lab-source-global-cody-friesen#t=929) Engineering the Hydropanel Device
- [21:35](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-09-15-hibt-lab-source-global-cody-friesen#t=1295) Performance in Varying Climates
- [26:05](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-09-15-hibt-lab-source-global-cody-friesen#t=1565) Deployment on the Navajo Nation
- [28:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-09-15-hibt-lab-source-global-cody-friesen#t=1724) Water Quality, Mineralization, and IoT
- [31:58](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-09-15-hibt-lab-source-global-cody-friesen#t=1918) Business Model: Panels and Water-as-a-Service
- [35:49](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-09-15-hibt-lab-source-global-cody-friesen#t=2149) Future Outlook and Market Potential

## Topics

- [Materials & manufacturing processes](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/materials-and-processes)
- [Energy & climate tech](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/energy-and-climate-tech)
- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Connected products & IoT](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/connected-products-and-iot)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- SOURCE Global (company)
- hydropanel (product)
- Cody Friesen (other)
- Navajo Nation (other)
- Bill Gates (other)
- Breakthrough Energy Ventures (company)
- Fifth Wall (company)
- Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund (company)

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- [Tackling Environmental Issues Through Revolutionary Air Conditioning Technology with Daniel Betts, CEO & Founder of Blue Frontier](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2022-08-04-tackling-environmental-issues-through-revolutionary-air-conditioning-technology) (Hardware to Save a Planet)
- [The Three Buckets of Water Conservation with Kim Baker, Senior Director of Innovation at Elemental Excelerator](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2023-03-02-the-three-buckets-of-water-conservation-with-kim-baker-senior-director-of-innova) (Hardware to Save a Planet)
- [182 - FREE WATER with Founder, Josh Cliffords](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2023-02-27-182-free-water-with-founder-josh-cliffords) (People of Packaging)
- [Solving the Hydrogen Storage and Transport Challenge with Natasha Kostenuk, Founder and CEO of Ayrton Energy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2024-07-04-solving-the-hydrogen-storage-and-transport-challenge-with-natasha-kostenuk-found) (Hardware to Save a Planet)

## Citing this page

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