Life Coach - Kaikaku - 4 - Washing without water

I came across this machine is one of my research projects. I hate cleaning though I love cleanliness. Everything should be clean, have its own place and be ready to use. Things deteriorate with time and need to be spruced again. As a MTO CEME inspection was a necessary pain. It was the only time we focused on the priority of maintaining the vehicles. It is a shame when fear of inspection becomes the way to ensure what we should do otherwise. And one of the most difficult thing during vehicle inspection is repainting the vehicles and pontoons. Using spray guns is easier, the difficult thing is removing the earlier paint. And rarely did we ever scrub the earlier paint, it was just one coat over another and I know that a rust will spread internally even when newly painted on the outside.

My research was on identifying a mechanism to scrape the paint of the vehicles. Consider the impact for all vehicles in the Indian Army, the amount of time save that could be used productively, the value add, blah blah blah. Where else could I use the machine, how about scraping walls during annual adm inspection.

My search is still on - I came across sand blasting techniques, using explosive paint to remove old paint - paint explosive as a thin film on the walls and blow it up. And usually my search leads to new paths that I had not planned on. I came across this washing machine. Imagine its potential, we could use the machine in our field stations and use it to wash the laundry. Every company could have one or two. It not only saves time, but also water. Connect it to the vehicle and run it and presto you have a washing machine in field - does not depend on where you are - desert, mountains or forests.

Someday one of you will be in a position where such decisions could be made and I hope you make a Kaikaku decision. Think big and achieve it.

http://www.gizmag.com/xeros-washing-machine/12088/

A washing machine that cuts water usage by 90% is due to hit American shores next year. The Xeros washing machine, which takes its name from the Greek word for “dry”, cleans clothes using reusable nylon polymer beads with an inherent polarity that attracts stains.

The beads are added to the wash along with as little as a cup of water and a drop of detergent. After the water dissolves the stains, the beads, which become absorbent under humid conditions, soak up the water along with the dirt. The dirt is not just attracted to the surface, but is absorbed into the center of the beads.

The beads are removed automatically within the machine at the end of the load so there’s no need for the user to worry about separating the beads themselves. They also don’t require cleaning and can last for about 100 loads or laundry, or about six months of average family usage.

Since the Xeros doesn’t require a rinse or spin cycle the it uses just 2% of the energy of conventional washing machines, cutting CO2 emissions on top of the water savings. The energy savings are further enhanced by the fact that the clothes come out nearly dry, meaning no power-hungry clothes dryer is required. Xeros claims that, taking all these factors into account, its machine achieves a 40% reduction in carbon emissions over conventional washing and drying.