Water
Here's a washing machine that filters its own water
When it comes to washing machines, even the most efficient ones are exceedingly wasteful. In fact, it takes more than 20 gallons of water to remove just 1 tablespoon of dirt from a batch of laundry. Thankfully a group of students from MIT have invented the AquaFresco, a new washing machine filter Read More...
This smart sprinkler system checks the weather forecast to avoid wasting water
Keeping your sprinkler on a timer can be a convenient way to keep your lawn watered, but it can also be horribly wasteful. If you’re not around to switch the timer off during, say, a rain storm, you could end up running your sprinkler for no reason at all. With California and many other Read More...
MIT develops new technology that shocks the salt out of water
The bright minds at MIT have developed a way to separate salt from water that is easy, cheap, and effective. Using an electrical current, the team discovered how to quite literally shock the salt out of water, a technique designed to aid disaster-stricken areas needing fresh drinking water. This Read More...
15 billion gallons of water could be saved by solar power In Arizona
A research study has found that using more solar power in Arizona could save 15 billion gallons of water annually. Most of the water used in Arizona is for agriculture, but another common usage is for cooling natural gas, coal, and nuclear power plants. Obviously, operating rooftop solar power does Read More...
How salt and a car battery are bringing clean water to the developing world
Though it looks and operates more like a kid’s science-fair project than a solution to the global water crisis, a new device created through a partnership between an outdoor-equipment manufacturer and a nonprofit global-health organization could give remote communities around the world a Read More...
3D printing could transform water desalination
The roots of 3D printing have been traced back to 1980, but only within the last couple of years has the technolgy flowered in a thousand different directions. In the latest development, engineers at GE Global Research are exploring a low cost way to desalinate water with a miniature 3D-printed Read More...
This swimming robot powers itself by cleaning polluted water
Meet the Row-Bot, an ingenious tiny boat that can clean a body of water by eating the bacteria and “digesting” it in its artificial stomach. The mechanism has a remarkable ability to depollute water. What’s even more impressive is the way it powers itself. The Row-Bot gulps in water, consumes Read More...
If the rains won't bring water to Los Angeles, new treatment plant will
In the midst of the worst drought in California history, officials at the Water Replenishment District of Southern California have announced they are finalizing plans to construct a $95 million water purification plant that would make the district entirely self-reliant on local water. The district Read More...
Improved polymer membranes may simplify desalination, reduce cost
With worries about a worldwide water crisis looming, the process of turning salty water into drinking water, long regarded as expensive, is looking up. A University of Virginia engineering professor is exploring ways to improve polymer membranes to make desalination simpler and less expensive. Read More...
Why a man who hates plastic water bottles is making plastic water bottles
Donald Thomson's water bottle solution? Throw them on the roof. Donald Thomson, a 56-year-old, Canadian-born builder, entrepreneur and self-taught designer, launched ‘A’Gua-brand water bottles in Costa Rica earlier this year. But he sees no contradiction in his current endeavor: Read More...