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A washing machine using as little as a cup of water for each
washing cycle could go on sale to environmentally conscious
Britons next year.
Xeros Ltd - which has been spun out of the University
of Leeds to commercialise the technology - said that the new
machines would use less than 2 percent of the water and energy
of a conventional washing machine.
Plastic chips are used to remove dirt and stains from clothes,
leaving them dry and reducing energy consumption as there
is no need to use a dryer after the washing cycle, Xeros said
in a statement.
The firm - which recently secured investment of almost £500,000
from IP Group Plc - told Reuters that the price of the new
machines was - "not expected to be dramatically different
from (conventional) washing machines."
Washing machine usage has risen by 23 percent in the past
15 years. The average UK household uses almost 21 liters of
water daily on clothes washing - 13 percent of daily household
water consumption - according to Waterwise, a non-government
organisation focused on decreasing water wastage in Britain.
A typical washing machine uses about 35 kilograms of water
for every kilogram of clothes, in addition to the power needed
to heat the water and dry the clothes.
There are more than two million washing machines sold in
Britain annually, with a value of about £1 billion,
Xeros said.
For more information on Xeros Ltd - Click
Here
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