Seriously, I could see some emergency applications. A truck with some of these and some frigging big solar panels might be worth its weight in gold in a remote disaster area.

Not sure it has much other application. I get a gallon or so of distilled water as a byproduct from my little portable AC out here in my garage office (from the same process), but I generally dump it in the fishpond or on plants.

The place that does some of my graphic printing actually has a "water cooler" that distills--with heat--the drinking water. Who's that weird about their water?

I'm guessing condensation is less energy-intensive than distillation per gallon. You only have to haul the H2O through one phase change instead of two, unless we're talking passive heat radiation like a backwoods still. I'm thinking of a system that would use solar for both heat and electricity to do both things at once...

My wife drinks bottled water or water from my refrigerator's filter (often used to refill bottles). Me, tap water is fine, thanks.

-- TB