Comparing the Shower Magic system and a regular shower with MIPS

Katariina HirvonenHilla KyröLinda AnttilaMatias Toivanen

The idea

0As long a shower as you want with 10 litres of water

0Normally enough for one minute

0Also saves heating energy

0Recycles and cleans the water in real time

0The ShowerMagic guys calculated the 10 liters/minute average themselves in their thesis, so we used their value0 It could be a little lower, but using 10 litres creates nice round

numbers and is easy to use0We also used their values of how much regular and

ShoerMagic -shower use eletricity energy

They could directly see and use our values, because they are calculated from theirso We used their thesis and its facts and assumptions basis for the

whole MIPS-calculation

Of course, if their values aren’t correct, there is a serious problem with our calculations, but let’s believe they have it right!

The idea

0 Sand and activated coal filters to

remove particles

0 UV irradiator to kill microbes

0 Can be installed in any normal

shower or shower stall

0 Works outside infrastucture

networks

0 Also works on boats and other

vehicles

The prototype(Picture: Jason Selvarajan, Keiran Holland)

Current situation

0 Prototype tested in laboratory settings

0 Able to clean out common particles and microbes

0 Soaps are still problematic, could be used at the beginning or

end of showering

0 Pesticides and other harmful chemicals are not necessarily

cleaned by the filters

0 Farm and industry workers would need to pre-wash without

ShowerMagic

What we have been doing:A comparison between an average shower and

ShowerMagic

0MI calculations 0 different parts of showers

0shower stall, faucet, water, electricity, filters etc.

0contents of different parts0weight for components: research or

estimation0 MI factors

0Resource productivity in 7 steps, SLL0 calculating MI values with Excel

0MIPS calculations0 calculating MI values of different parts all together

0e.g. shower stall, filters0 defining the service unit

020 years, 3640 showering times0 calculating MIPS with Excel

0During the calculation process• Estimations• missing information

0e.g. UV lamp

0Because there was some missing information, the material MIPS isn’t very precise0 weight of materials would often have to be guessed0 some components had to replaced with another because there

wasn’t any MI-values of them (the UV-lamp -> regural lamp)0We made assumptions concerning also the amount of

showering (that person showers every other day), but the result of MIPS-calculation would change dramatically if it’s calculated with other assumptions (eg. person showers every day)

0We also made our own estimate of how long the average shower would last in use (20 years), so the results would again change with different assumption0 We asked person who works in kiinteistöala

0We didn’t take account other part changes that those what we knew had to be changed (eg. the sand filter, twice in year)

0We highlighed the red parts, because they shower the most significant water inputs in the chart

Charts comparing ShowerMagic and an average shower

Comparing different electricity MI-factors

0Electricity MI-factors differ in different regions0We used values from Finland 0 If we used for example EU- or OECD- values

0 Water input would be smaller (especially if EU-values are used)

0 But the air input would be bigger

-> The MIPS-results differ in different regions, and that should be taken into consideration

Options and scenarios for improvement and their effects

Developing the system further Using soap products during the shower? Requires

changes to the filter system. → increases the MIPS-value How the water is kept warm? Is the heat generated

by the UV-lamp and the pump enough? If it isn't, the extra heating would greatly increase the amount of energy used.

→ increases the MIPS-value Are material choices ideal? Could the MIPS-value be

decreased with other material options?

Conclusions and recommendations

Great idea! It does decrease the water and energy input. But there are a few problems that need solving.

To get the system accepted, using soap products during the shower should be possible.

How the system can be used in regular homes? Is it easy to install, use and maintain?

Could be used especially in areas that have shortage of water.

0Could also be used in countries like Finland to reduce the usage of water and especially energy – could create significant energy savings

0Other systems with the same idea are being developed, but they have the same problems with soap products – solving this could create opportunities in business

0The system parts MIPS-value is very small compared to water and energy MIPS-value – so even if the system has to be changed and it would increase the MIPS-value (Look slide 11: ”Options and scenarios…”), it wouldn’t probably effect the overall MIPS-value much

0But if there is a need for extra water heating, it would consume energy and increase the MIPS-value more than just the extra materials

0 It is hard to say how the final products’ MIPS-value would differ from the prototype so further development is needed that one could make further assumptions

Thank you!

Photo source: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/