Showering has long been touted as a good way to save water and energy in comparison to soaking in a bath. While this may be true in some respects, standard shower heads still use about 9-10 litres of warm water per minute, meaning that during an 8 minute shower, about 80 litres of that water goes to waste down the drain. A Copenhagen based company called Flow Loop has designed a sustainable showering system that they claim can counter this wasteful process.
In what they’ve termed a ‘circulating loop’, Flow Loop’s shower system prevents all that warm water from going to waste by recovering it from the floor and passing it through a specially designed filtration system. It’s then recirculated to the shower head, cleaner than it was before. A little bit of warm water is also added to keep the temperature constant.
“Because our system creates a circulating loop and adds only 1L of warm water per minute during the same showering time, you use as little as 8 litres of water,” the company states. “This can make an enormous difference for both the environment and your utility bills!”
The energy consumption of showering is also addressed by the system. According to Flow Loop, the heating of shower water accounts for 25 per cent of all a household's heating costs, and that same water accounts for 80 per cent of all of the hot water consumption.
In an effort to reduce this energy waste and introduce a new level of efficiency in household bathrooms, the Flow Loop shower system provides water at a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius from its shower head while the filtered, recirculated floor water re-emerges at a slightly cooler 38 degrees Celsius. Compare this to an ordinary shower, which provides water at 38 degrees Celsius from the shower head, most of which ends up in the drain still at a temperature of 35 degrees Celsius.
All about making sustainability accessible, affordable and attractive, Flow Loop also boasts a superior water quality thanks to the system’s micro filters, ultrasonic removal of scales, and UV light. If you’re interested in learning more about this exciting development in sustainability, you can visit their website here.
