Laundering dirty clothes is definitely a part of our lives, or at least it is supposed to be. We do it practically every week, since who would want to wear filthy clothes. But have you ever wondered how many liters of water a single use of a washing machine can possibly consume? Let me quickly give you the answer. On average, one laundry can use from 60 to even 140 liters of water. We don’t really realize this on a daily basis, but when we think about it, it’s a lot, especially taking into account the number of loads of laundry we have to do in a single session. But what would you think if instead of using water in a washing machine we would use carbon dioxide…?
I know it sounds very weird. We would probably never think of carbon dioxide as a replacement for water in washing machines. But such an idea came from South Korean technology giant LG Electronics Inc. We will probably not see these washing machines on store shelves in the near future, but the company has recently received permission from The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy to test this new, innovative technology.
So perhaps we should start by explaining how such a technology would even work, after all, carbon dioxide is not water. Such a washing machine, instead of using water, transforms carbon dioxide from a state of gas into a liquid by cooling and compressing, and then use it to clean our clothes. This washing machine can remove dirt using the viscosity and surface tension of carbon dioxide, without using water, detergent or oil. What is also important is that after the operation is over, the washing machine changes the carbon dioxide back from liquid to gas and can use it in the next wash. It sounds out of this world.
What is the greatest advantage of this revolutionary technology is the fact that it does not consume any water. This makes it very eco-friendly. As I mentioned earlier one wash can use from 60 to up to 140 liters of water and on average we do 3 loadings a week. This is a great water saving especially in a world where huge amounts of water are wasted at every step.
Sources:I am really curious how this technology will develop in the nearest future. Unfortunately, we will not see these washing machines in stores in at least 2 or 3 years, since LG takes 2 periods of time to test such a solution. However, I think it is worth waiting for. We can simultaneously lower our water bills and help the planet by reducing our water consumption.
http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=85191