Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Waterless Washing Machine

Well... not exactly.

While watching a video by Natalia Allen about sustainable fashion she mentioned somethign very interesting to me: a washing machine that does not use water.  While doing independent research I was not able to find an existing washing machine that uses no water, but there was one that uses very little water, and only 2% of the energy that a conventional washing machine uses.  

 

This machine is named Xeros after the Greek work for dry.  It uses a just cup of water, 90% less than a conventional machine. It also requires a drop of detergent and reusable nylon polymer beads to clean clothing.  The beads are added to the wash and after the water and detergent dissolve the stains, the beads soak up the water and dirt.  The dirt is absorbed into the core of the nylon polymer beads and is trapped so it does not get the clothes dirty again.


The machine automatically separates the beads from the laundry to save the user the trouble of separating them out on their own, and the beads can be used for about 100 washes.  Since this process does not have a spin cycle or rinse cycle it uses much less energy, and because the beads absorb most of the water from the clothing, using a dryer is not necessary.  Overall Xeros estimates a 40% reduction in carbon emission over a conventional washing machine.
This innovation is invaluable to saving the world's clean water supply since only 2% of the water on earth is drinkable.  Conserving water during the care of a garment is critical because the care of the garment accounts for a large percentage of the total water that goes into a garment's lifecycle.  Hopefully the Xeros machine will be available for purchase soon.
Sources:

1 comment:

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