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As household budgets get squeezed and environmental concerns play a bigger part in our future purchases an increasing focus is being thrown on our daily carbon footprint and resource consumption.
Water is increasingly supplied via a water meter in the UK and so many are charged in direct relation to usage (In Australia water consumption is already rationed due to long drought periods).
Washing machines are another household item whose water usage has come increasingly under the spotlight and next year Britain will see the introduction of a washing machine that only needs around a cup of water to clean clothes.A project that came out of the University of Leeds intends to bring the near waterless washing machine to market. It uses plastic chips to clean the clothes and no drying will be required after the cleaning cycle.
Washing the Statistics
Washing machine usage in the UK has risen by 23% over the past 15 years. The average daily consumption of water used for clothes washing amounts to 21 litres, some 13% of the total average daily water consumption.
The typical washing machine uses 35 Kg of water for every kilogram of clothes washed and consumes electricity to heat the water and operate the cycle program.
Annually Britain buys around 2 million washing machines a year with market market value of around 1 billion pounds.
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