Green Tech: Washing Machine Uses Only 1 Cup Of Water!
Now here's something really awesome: a washing machine that uses only one cup of water and a pinch of detergent to get your clothes as clean as a regular washing machine!
Scientists at Leeds University in the UK have designed a nearly waterless washing machine that uses only 2% of the water and energy that a typical washing machine uses to get the cigarette smell out of your club clothes.
How does it work? The secret is in a 20kg (45 lbs.) of special reusable absorbent plastic chips - when you load your clothes into the washer, it dumps the chips in, along with the cup of water and pinch of detergent. The water dissolves the dirt and the chips absorb the dirty water, with no rinse or spin cycle needed. The plastic chips can be reused about 100 times.
Xeros, the spin-off company that will be selling these new machines, hasn't commented on whether these plastic chips are recyclable, but given the environmentally conscious design of the washer itself, I would hope so.
The best part? The price for all this green tech is "not expected to be dramatically different from (conventional) washing machines."
Same price, better for the Earth? Sign me up!
Nearly Waterless Washing Machine to Debut in 2009 [PhysOrg]
Den Den Boy
Posted to Hot Stuff, In Your House on 30 July 2008
· Comments (6)
Other stuff like this: efficient, environmentally friendly, green, washing machine, Xeros
Cool idea but it sounds like no matter what, some detergent residue will be left on your clothes.
Totally skeptical about the plastic chips. This just sounds like another way to contribute to the already massive amount of plastic swirling around the Pacific ocean.
... because the 50 cents worth of water used by conventional washers is such a problem? That water gets treated then recycled by your local water treatment plant (the cost is already included in your water bill) and ... those chips?
HEATING water is the largest cost when washing clothes, and that's easily eliminated by turning a switch already on every washer ("Cold Water").
Those chips would end up all over the place when you take your clothes out, I can already imagine it lol. Seems like it'd only be handy on simple washes like on a few t-shirts or something.
Water-Saving? Yes.
Green?
How much oil is drilled up and processed to make this plastic?
There's no way a traditional drum design could drain clothing of plastic "chips." They'd be caught inside everything. The only hope would be to pick up the clothes and shake them out, piece by piece, and then again inside-out.
If our skepticism is misplaced and plastic chips aren't the most impractical idea of all time, then this sounds great for the Virgin Islands and other places with no freshwater, but in most areas both populated and sufficiently developed to own washing machines, water is cheap, plentiful, and easily recycled.