Oct 13 2008

I Just Want to Say One Word to You . . . Plastics

Last Friday's Green Inc. blog offered advice on ways to save money and energy while washing clothes, like using cold water and cleaning the dryer's lint trap after every load.

How 20th century.

xeros washing machineComing soon, the greenest way to clean up grease and grime may be with plastic, not water and detergent or dry-cleaning solvents.

You read that white.

Professor Stephen Burkinshaw at Leeds University in England claims that he has invented a method of washing an ordinary load of laundry with only one cup of water--using thousands of reusable plastic chips to scrub away dirt. Clothes emerge all but dry in the process.

A story in the London Independent quotes him as saying, "We've shown that it can remove all sorts of everyday stains including coffee and lipstick while using a tiny fraction of the water used by conventional machines."

Drought-stricken California residents would certainly welcome such a technology. And besides saving millions of gallons of precious water, they would also save huge amounts of energy now used to heat water in traditional washers and driers.

Xeros, Ltd. is commercializing the technology and says it may have a product to market as early as 2009.

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall | Comments (0) digg delicioussend to a friendprint entry

 

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Efficiency

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Recent Comments

  • This is being rather generous to Lutz. 1. The "Volt", in no small part, will be targeted as a product to people who care about energy and environmental issues. These people don't embrace Lutz' antideluvian concepts of rejecting science. How responsible is it for a GM executive to be rejecting the science? 2. As well, Lutz didn't exactly sound too enthusiastic about the Volt itself. 3. And, GM public communications has 'defended' Lutz in rather absurd ways. -A Siegel
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  • This article is right on - small businesses have a huge role to play in sustainability. Not only do they add up in aggregate, but many small businesses operate in industries that can have a significant environmental impact depending on the exact practices, like dry cleaners, auto repair shops, etc. Green is also starting to affect the bottom line more and more, customers are increasingly voting with their feet for more sustainable businesses as can be seen from the growth of sites like http://www.ecovian.com. This is also a huge opportunity for small businesses to leapfrog their bigger brothers by being more agile in adopting these measures. -Emily
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  • Great entry, Katie. Love the level of detail you managed to get in there! Probably won't be able to compete with coal and oil any time the next decade, but definitely a great technology to look into! Keep it up :) -Rune (Norway)
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