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Traditional washing machines suck up a lot of water. An old-school top-loader can chug down 40 gallons of water for a full load, newer models still run through use 27 gallons per load, and even Energy Star washers can use up to 14 gallons per wash.
But there's a new washing machine that cleans clothes with 80 percent less water than most washers. It uses less detergent. And in the end, the clothes come out cleaner. It does this through the use of recyclable plastic beads.
...
The washing machine utilizes a cold water cycle and detergent mixture to activate the beads, which are charged to statically latch on to dirt as it works against the fibers, opening them up. At the end of the cycle, the beads are weighted to drop to the bottom of the washer, where the release their grime. The beads are good for about 500 to 1000 cycles, then are 100 percent recyclable. (Benjamin says they mostly become dashboards in new cars.)
Sounds good on the face of it. On the other hand, there has been recent press about pollution from plastic beads.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Francis on Saturday August 08 2015, @09:42PM
I always think it's funny when people not from the US seem to require this sort of thing posted. But, not quite as funny as the Europeans that simultaneously suggest that Americans are stupid and that our units of measure are too hard to use.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2015, @12:44AM
The units are not convenient for conversions. How many teaspoons are in 27 gallons and how much does that weigh?
The US education system fails to teach math effectively to a large number of students and the fact that the units make it harder on them doesn't help.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2015, @05:14AM
Indeed. Sounds like it's time to post a link to this https://i1.wp.com/letterstosg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/united-states-vs-the-rest-of-the-world.jpg [wp.com]
Think about it Francis.
(Score: 1) by mechanicjay on Sunday August 09 2015, @07:22AM
How many teaspoons are in 27 gallons and how much does that weigh?
More importantly, when in the course of my daily (non-scientific) life would I ever care?
My VMS box beat up your Windows box.
(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Sunday August 09 2015, @01:03PM
In case you do stuff like baking, tending to sensitive plants, washing sensitive fabrics, brewing (beer, coffee, tea), making chocolate and similar it is _very_ useful do be able to do that kind of things in your head.
But in case you always get things storebought and settle for the mainstream-choices the it is of no use whatsoever.
Or put another way - no use for the normal citydwelling consumer but very useful as soon as you deviate.
(Score: 1) by mechanicjay on Sunday August 09 2015, @04:56PM
I brew coffee, tea and wash sensitive fabrics all without using the metric system. In fact, I'd say anyone who brews their coffee and tea down to the mg and ml gradations has far too much time on their hands. As with most stuff in life, after doing it for a while, you get a feel for it and exact measurements become a waste of time.
My VMS box beat up your Windows box.
(Score: 1) by mechanicjay on Sunday August 09 2015, @04:58PM
Right, we also do a crap-ton of baking and cooking around here, hardly anything comes out of a package.
My VMS box beat up your Windows box.
(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Monday August 10 2015, @10:25AM
Funny, I actually use the precision to save time as well - for instance it is a lot faster to just use a syringe (and good selfhealing tape) to get nutrients for the plants than having to pour it.
When if comes to tea I also save time with the precision (using a half dozen gaiwans in sequence is _very_ fast when trying different ways to brew a new tea), incidently - a new tea you can't really eyeball properly (and you need to use a scale) at first. (I try some 20-30 different teas each year, each kind needs about 30-40 different brewings in order to find its sweetspot in terms of time, temperature and strength. By using the setup I have it takes me about an hour to try most brewings (I also do a few below 10c, those can take a day or more)).
I have ruined a couple of pices of clothing by overusing detergents (they are harsh when you get down to handprinted linnen).
With baking it more is the "knowing the fractions of everything" that matters more. For instance I know most of my recipies in ratios only, and this allows me to scale up to big loaves from small soufflé-forms (again, allows me to try 6-20 different things at once).
And getting stuff in metric also reduces confusion - for instance I have cookbooks from india, canada, australia, us and uk - now tell me how many cups of flour it takes to make up two pounds of flour.
(Heck, I even have had problems fitting a pint of beer into a pint due to that - since the glasses was labeled "pint" and not "us pint" nor "wet pint")