It looks like soon we may be able to rid ourselves of the water-guzzling washing machines in our homes. The Waterless Washing Machine takes "dry-cleaning" to a new level. Instead of immersing clothing items in water it cleans clothes using negative ions, compressed air and deodorants to clean clothes.



What is not clear is how honey dropped on my tie is going to be cleaned. I suppose there will still be times when I will have to spot clean a clothing item to get rid of organic materials.

However, in the "smart" (read that as "green" or environmentally friendly) home, any appliance that can be used to reduce the use of water in a household is to be welcomed. I can see a Waterless Washing Machine installed in my bedroom, but other items will still need to be cleaned in the washing machine. Perhaps it could really cut the amount of "water washing" I do in half; that would still be a great saving.

This Waterless Washing Machine is not available so we will have to wait a little longer before we see this in reality in our bedrooms.

Also, when I moved into my new house recently, we also purchased the high-efficiency washer and dryer that was here already. Considering we previously had a 10 year old washer and dryer, both of which had issues, this was quite a step up. I like the fact they use less resources to get the job done. And they're quiet.

When I ran across a certain washing machine, I was-and still am-a bit skeptical. How well can a washing machine get clothes clean without any detergent? Supposedly, the machine breaks water is broken down into OH- and H+ ions. Stains are "attracted and retained by ions of OH-, while the clothes are sterilized by the H+ ions."

The machine is available in France. I would love to see this or a similar detergent-free model show up in the US. Detergent companies won't be happy with that, but then again, companies aren't happy when their livelihood is threatened.

Another one is the Mobile Washing Machine, a cool product. If you live in a tiny apartment this is certainly the best washing machine you could have, not only is it small and light, 2Kgs, which makes it easy to carry around, but it can also handle 6.5L of water. This is more appropriate for people that tend to go out a lot in trips and don't have a way to wash the stinky clothes.