Virtually waterless washing machine edges closer to production

You can find a washer just about anywhere that promises to consume less water than most of its rivals, but finding one that's "virtually waterless" is still a chore. Yeah, there was that one contraption from Singapore a few years back, but c'mon, it's no bona fide washing machine. Nevertheless, a University of Leeds spin-out company -- dubbed Xeros -- has already received £500,000 in order to commercialize a device that "uses less than 2% of the water and energy of a conventional washing machine." Instead, it relies on a plethora of plastic chips that are tumbled with the clothes to remove stains. We're not sure how comfortable we really are with the thought of that, but folks that have already warmed to the idea can look for these things to hit the UK market in 2009.

[Via MetaEfficient]

[Josh @ Jun 10th 2008 9:51PM]

"what's that on your back?"

"that? Oh it's just part of my washing machine."

[Flashpoint @ Jun 10th 2008 10:51PM]

poker chips

[Secret Squirrel @ Jun 11th 2008 9:25AM]

Wake me up when they invent a washing machine that doesn't destroy anything left in your pockets... they manage to sneak their way into laundry despite checking pockets! ;)

[Cody @ Jun 10th 2008 9:52PM]

For me it depends on whether the chips have sharp edges or not...I wouldn't want holes in new shirts. I'd be better off buying a new shirt every time one was dirty, if that was the case. :P

[Bill @ Jun 11th 2008 11:04PM]

Yes, I'm sure the chips all have sharp edges. I read about the machine and it is engineered by the 3 stooges. The prototype tumbled razor blades and fuzzy yellow chicken peeps around to clean your clothes, but focus groups found it much too noisy.

But when the peeping ended, you knew the cycle was done.

[zach rattner @ Jun 10th 2008 10:06PM]

I was a member of one of those focus groups, and my particular group didn't have a problem with the noise. Personally, I thought it made my home feel more "earthy". What really bugged me was the chicken droppings in my clean laundry.

[Juaquin @ Jun 10th 2008 11:21PM]

Really? I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who would buy a washing machine that used sharp pieces of plastic that would totally shred clothes. Sign me up, I'm down.

[k @ Jun 10th 2008 9:57PM]

Interesting choice of picture

[BobfromVegas @ Jun 10th 2008 10:01PM]

Sounds great, I wonder how big these plastic things will be?

[zach rattner @ Jun 10th 2008 10:07PM]

Maybe if the quote was 3% of that length I would consider reading it.

[why not the LS2LS7? @ Jun 10th 2008 10:11PM]

That's great. He's talking about front loaders, which have been on laundromats since before Jobs was born and Maytag has offered made in America for almost 10 years now.

Never underestimate a rich person's ability to romanticize countries other than their own.

[Dave @ Jun 10th 2008 10:24PM]

Sharp edges, or not ... it's gotta beat the hell out of your clothes.

[Gregory Pierce @ Jun 10th 2008 10:26PM]

Hopefully its quieter than the last batch of "uses less water" machines, because all the front loading low use machines sound like jet turbines and vibrate the crap out of your house even when calibrated.

[BlissX @ Jun 10th 2008 10:33PM]

My LG washer utilizes minimal water as it uses "Steam" technology to clean my clothes.

As great as it is to save water, the perception on how clean your clothes come out will either make or break this technology. I'm sure the typical consumer would think more water = more clean. Using only 2% of what current machines use makes it sound as if your clothes are going to come out musty after a wash. Hell, even I decided to sit for an hour staring at the LG washer to see how clean my clothes would get for only using 25% water than a normal wash.

[Keith @ Jun 10th 2008 10:36PM]

Great, another use for plastic. I'd rather use more water than have to consume more plastic.

[acme @ Jun 10th 2008 10:38PM]

ditto

[Nick Carchidi @ Jun 10th 2008 10:38PM]

No water? How the heck do you wash soiled clothes ie; dirt, blood, other, without hot water and soap?

I don't like the sound of this.

Oh.. and Clak, give it up already my friend.

[Reader @ Jun 10th 2008 10:49PM]

As long as he gets attention, he'll keep posting.

[Suyog @ Jun 22nd 2008 10:37AM]

Blood..? scary thing.. instead of washing, think on getting rid of such evidences... mean cloths..

[SOOPERGOOMAN @ Jun 10th 2008 10:39PM]

How does it work on shit stains?

[Bob @ Jun 10th 2008 11:07PM]

It beats the shit out of them.

[Rynth @ Jun 11th 2008 4:40AM]

Da-bum-tish.

[Bob @ Jun 10th 2008 11:06PM]

Yeah, and it comes with a vacuum so you can vacuum up all the plastic balls that fall off your clothes onto the floor. "Dude, you got dandruff?" - "No, that's just my washing machine's plastic balls."

[Decoy @ Jun 10th 2008 11:08PM]

Way to sneak the Steve Jobs in there Clak!



Bible: In the beginning was the word...

Clak: Um, no, actually you'll find APPLE was first. Why do I have to keep pointing this out to these morons...


[Fara @ Jun 10th 2008 11:10PM]

I read that you had to add 20Kg of these chips to each washing load. These chips could be used up to 100 washes before replacing. Depending on how many washes you do a month, that could be anywhere from 240Kg upwards of plastic chips per annum that would need disposing of.

You can't tell me *that's* a fair trade to the environment over a couple of cups of water.

Besides, how big would the machine have to be to fit 20Kg of plastic chips, plus washing?

[Beau @ Jun 10th 2008 11:44PM]

You do over 3 loads/day, _every_ day?

[Fara @ Jun 11th 2008 4:26AM]

I take it you live alone, don't have kids or babies around, or know someone who works in the automotive industry... It's a GOOD day when there are less than 3 loads of washing to be done.

[Andrew @ Jun 11th 2008 4:03PM]

You do know that some plastic types are biodegradable?

[Juaquin @ Jun 10th 2008 11:24PM]

I don't see the problem with using water. It is a completely recyclable resource. Treat it a little in a sewage plant, wait a few years for it to re-enter the water supply (ocean, evaporation, river, whatever), then use it again. Plastic - toxic chemicals used to make and recycle it, gets less and less usable every time it is recycled. Sure, being more water efficient would be nice. But replacing it with plastic is not a solution.

[Andrew @ Jun 11th 2008 4:03PM]

The plastic could very well be the *biodegradable* type.

[Juaquin @ Jun 11th 2008 8:12PM]

I said nothing about it's degradation - I even mentioned recycling (I assumed that all of it was recycled and not ending up in landfills). It still takes gallons of oil and a lot of energy to make plastic, even if it is biodegradable. Whereas it only takes a tiny amount of power and chemicals to clean water (by volume).

[Juaquin @ Jun 10th 2008 11:26PM]

Clak: Hole. Deeper. Stop digging.

[corgilabsG @ Jun 10th 2008 11:35PM]

wash your clothes by hand. use a clothes line. :) works for me.

[ghaarnok @ Jun 11th 2008 12:10AM]

Argh, itchy ... where did all these rashes come from?

"Oh, that's just the biological bleach based microchips"

Can't see this product going down well with my fellow Brits.

[Juaquin @ Jun 11th 2008 12:20AM]

I hear 4chan is looking for talent

[Teazo @ Jun 11th 2008 12:27AM]

WOW, the first time I've ever agreed with jobs. The Euro washers are great and are front loading, but the nice part is many of them have built in water heaters, which is kinda neat since you could avoid using a water heater. Then on top of all that they have the dryer as the same unit, not on top, but the same drum, so when the wash is done, you don't need to be there to put your rags into the dryer it just cycles to dry. The biggest issue is it does take plenty of time to wash clothes, waaaay more than twice as long as ours. I hand wash and line dry most of my stuff here, just makes more sense to me and when i line dry I never need to iron.

[Ashoro @ Jun 11th 2008 12:47AM]

why not the LS2LS7?:
except the interview was 12 years ago...

[jordan @ Jun 11th 2008 12:47AM]

Cost of electricity > cost of water

It uses 75% less water, but runs twice as long...is that water savings equal to, or greater than, the extra cost of power? Where I live (US), I believe the power cost would GREATLY outweigh the water cost (as, IIRC, we get 25,000gals/month as the base amount before they start charging for overages).

[collegekid13 @ Jun 11th 2008 1:58AM]

so this is basically my water softner minus the salt??

or is it with the salt?

[Anthony @ Jun 11th 2008 2:16AM]

lol ... and the story goes...

Dude? what the hell happened to your shirt?!?!
uhh... it was Wolverine !
seriously dude, wtf?
idk my washing machine ate it ?

[Xepol @ Jun 11th 2008 2:58AM]

Makes you wonder if people have any actually appreciation for the manafacture of plastic.

Just use the water. People act like its gone forever or something. Trust me, the water will come back in something called the water cycle that involves evaporation, rain etc.

If you are worried about the detergent - don't use any, its still a far sign better than all those chemically treated plastic chips that are made from oil and contaminate a fair amount of water in their manufacture (and yes, the water WILL come back that way too, but the chemicals that get released are a hell of a lot more nasty any detergent you are likely to buy)

[Ulle @ Jun 11th 2008 3:05AM]

make nudity legal in public and we wouldn't have as many clothes to wash, therefore saving on electricity and water bills

[Juaquin @ Jun 11th 2008 3:56AM]

At first that would seem like a good idea. But have you seen the average person lately?

[boxface @ Jun 11th 2008 7:19AM]

@jordan:

bear in mind it's HOT water we're talking about. heating appliances are about as expensive to run as electricity consumption gets, so the cost of heating the greater volume of water probably well outweighs that of intermittently running the motor for longer.

[itlnstln @ Jun 11th 2008 8:09AM]

So... Can I use this to give my counterfiet money that "used" look?

[neofolklore @ Jun 11th 2008 8:33AM]

so what happens when you play hide and seek in the washer nowadays?

[KM @ Jun 11th 2008 8:57AM]

@jordan

I have family in Europe who moved there from the US with their appliances. They tell me when they switched to European appliances the primary savings was not in water, it was in energy efficiency. Of course they replaced older American made appliances (GE) with newer European ones so the caveat is that it is possible the American made appliances they replaced were less efficient than today's American made appliances as well.

[james @ Jun 11th 2008 8:59AM]

Great, more plastic. What's better than water? Why, plastic, of course!

[Jeff Lewis @ Jun 11th 2008 2:08PM]

Let's do some math.

You 'save' water because it only uses a cup rather than the huge amount we currently 'waste'. I put it that way because, as I'm sure you know, water is neither created nor destroyed in the washing process, it gets dirty and then is returned to the ecosystem after being processed...

BUT... here's the part people seem to be missing... this thing needs 47 lbs (or around 20Kg) of *plastic* which is only good for around 100 uses - or about 6 months of use (by their own reckoning).

And there's no indication what happens to the plastic when it's used up - or what pollution gets created when this plastic is made or disposed.

This is a great example of 'front-loaded green' - something that seems green at the consumer end, but ends up being worse than the original problem when you factor everything from start to end.

[Andrew @ Jun 11th 2008 4:05PM]

Third time I have to say this: biodegradable plastics.