The Shower of the Future is a smart technology, which lets you spend as much time as you need under running water, yet limits your water use to only five liters and saves energy.
Fresh water shortage is quite a pressing issue these days, but regardless of how much effort we all put to save the precious drops, not many of us are willing to sacrifice that sacred moment under the shower. Yes, there are quite a few gadgets that can be put in place to help reduce water and energy waste in the shower, like Spikey– the evicting shower curtain, and of course the numerous low pressure, low volume shower heads that are around.
But all of them somehow make the shower experience that much less comfortable, which in turns might result in quite a number of grumpy people, who believe that the morning shower sets their mood of the day. I know, if we look at the big picture, this sounds quite selfish and unreasonable, but unfortunately many people put themselves first and only then the environment.
Now, a new technology by the talented designer Mehrdad Mahdjoubi, from Orbital Systems. might actually provide the solution to the dilemma personal “pleasure vs environment”. Meet the Shower of the Future.
This shower, which works similarly to the technologies used on spacecrafts, takes only five liters of water, which circulate in a closed loop- from the shower head, to the drain, through a filter, to a tank, and back to the shower head. Not only that the water is recycled, but it is already heated as well, resulting in, what the makers claim, as much as 80% saving in energy efficiency.
If you are concerned because you are one of the people, who followed the advice of the British scientists to pee in the shower to save water, worry no more. The system has detectors, which indicate that this should be flushed down the drain, and in that case you will use that little bit more water. Same applies for cases, in which someone has used too much shampoo or shower gel.
The initial price of the technology is quite steep- € 3995 (US$ 4412), but it can save as much as US $1,100 per year in electricity and water. And these are only the financial savings, imagine how much good it does to the environment.
Image (c) Orbital Systems
I retired from water engineering (Central Valley Project California), before that I was a builder of new homes. I toyed with the idea of a standard residential shower enclosure that would perform the same task as above.
Problem is that water, just like oil, has been in such plentiful supply that purveyors of existing technologies are already making scads of money – and if it ain’t broke, don’t change a thing. If the Big Boys aren’t interested, good luck with the working class.
How’s this one: Most municipalities charge for residential water with a component charge for sewer. The sewer portion, in most cases, doubles the overall cost of water to the resident. The thinking is that it costs to run the sewer system as well as to pump residential water. Though that’s fair, isn’t it silly to flush your toilet, with treated and fluoridated water – Yes, we flush with better water than some countries have to drink – but water’s so plentiful, why not.