Yup and it&#x27;s only &quot;free energy&quot; if you would do exactly the same exercise but waste the energy as heat. Otherwise you&#x27;re going to need a lot more calories in your diet, which I bet alone are more expensive than more traditional solutions. And that assuming the cost of the machine is also lower than those solutions.<p>None of the projects seem so innovative or compelling; save perhaps for the geothermal concept. I particularly don&#x27;t think a bunch of guys fooling around with tools can come up with great solutions for those basic problems (energy, desalination); the disregard for scientific more basic research seems myopic. That approach works best for niche problems that were overlooked. If there were a silver bullet of energy or a simple way to desalinate I&#x27;m pretty sure we&#x27;d have found it already. Just looking at the basic physics (thermodynamics, minimum energy to overcome osmotic potential) would give a hint. If they do come up with something useful though, all the better.