A Swedish industrial designer has devised a shower that cleans and recirculates water as it’s being used, drastically reducing water consumption and cutting energy use by as much as 80%, according to a report by CNN.
The OrbSys Shower uses just 5 liters of water, collecting and purifying it in the shower base and piping it back to the showerhead as the shower is running. When the bather is finished with the shower, the water is discarded.
“With my shower, which is constantly recycling water, you’d use only about 5 liters of water for a 10-minute shower,” inventor Mehrdad Mahdjoubi told CNN. “In a regular shower, you would use 150 liters of water–30 times as much. It’s a lot of savings.”
There is virtually no technical information available on the company’s website that would explain how the device works. The CNN report includes a link to a video in which Mahdjoubi is interviewed on a program called “Blue Print” in which he is shown handling a filter that’s housed in the base of the shower. Mahdjoubi says the filter returns the water to drinking-water purity, but he doesn’t explain how the filter works or how long it lasts.
The showers were installed in a seaside bathing house in Sweden this year. It’s not clear whether the showers are available commercially in the United States or Europe, or how much they would cost.
Mahdjoubi graduated from university just two years ago and has since formed a startup company to develop the idea.
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This shower, developed by a Swedish entrepreneur, filters and recirculates shower water to cut water and energy use, according to a CNN report.