Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Don't Wash Your Clothes

Water is a scarce nonrenewable resource.  Much of the developing world does not have access to clean water, a resource that the developed world takes for granted.  I’d like to share some infographics from Water.org that illustrate how dire the water situation is.



After seeing this I began to wonder what could be done to help conserve clean water.  An idea I explored in an earlier blog was the waterless washing machine, and the machine is certainly one thing that can be done to help water usage, but what if clothing didn’t have to be washed at all?

Scientists working for the United States Air Force have developed a finishing process that allows clothing to be worn for weeks without washing that remains hygienic. The new technology attaches nanoparticles to clothing fibers using microwaves. Then, chemicals that can repel water, oil and bacteria are directly bound to the nanoparticles. These two elements combine to create a protective coating on the fibers of the material.



This coating kills bacteria and forces liquids to bead and run off.  

The coating is already being applied to t-shirts and underwear that soldiers wear, but there are many other useful applications including biological and chemical protective clothing for healthcare, food processing, and farm workers.



Another finishing process is being developed by US scientists at the University of California.  The procedure would be simple enough that it can be applied during the dyeing process and would bond to the cellulose group in cotton.

If the clothing we wore did not have to be washed as often we would be able to save approximately 40 gallons of water per load of laundry that did not have to be washed.  If you normally wash a load of laundry a week you would be conserving 120 gallons of water each month by buying clothes that don’t require frequent laundering.

Sources:
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2011/September/01091103.asp
http://www.livescience.com/9497-cleaning-underwear-weeks-washing.html

-William Diak

No comments:

Post a Comment