Waste Not, Want Not: Peak Bath Concept by Lyndon Craig
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 12.18.07
Not to be confused with peak oil, peak copper, peak coal, peak natural gas or even
Peak beer (wha?) comes Peak Bath. A finalist for this year's Bathroom Innovation Award in Australia, the design heeds the bent-knee convention of most bath users to cut down on the volume of water needed to fill 'er up.
This design is smart because it doesn't require a change in behavior to create a meaningful, positive impact (and less water use); combine this with something like The Ban Beater and we'll really have something. See more examples of "Waste not, want not," and click on over to see the finalists and winner of the design competition. ::Reece Design Bathroom Innovation Award via ::Core77
I love it, so simple yet functional.
I do however see two minor problems, I imagine it only seats one person now ;) and also the elderly may trip and slip over the hump in the middle, since most don't wear eyeglasses in the tub and are often less balanced than us youngsters.
Overall, a good idea!
A new tub is nice and all, but it would be trivial to create a product that serves the same purpose for existing tubs.
All you need is a triangular, non-buoyant object, that can be placed in the center of the tub. Displaces all the water... consider your tub retrofitted.
A bigger problem might come at the moment where you try to lie down in the bath to get your hair wet so you can wash it.
The only reason I bend my knees is the tub is too short! Make a longer tub, and it would take less water to cover my body.
I have some objections to the sentence:
"This design is smart because it doesn't require a change in behavior to create a meaningful, positive impact (and less water use);".
Do we really need to buy or install new products to create change? How "smart" is a product designed so that people do not have to change their attitude towards the waste of water and energy, while at the same time removing JUST ONE symptom of their habits? Maybe smart from a business point of view: You can advertise the product as a water saver and sell better right now. Much "smarter" and truly with a "meaningful, positive impact" from an ecological point of view would be a product that makes pollution, and the waste of energy and resources painfully obvious and results in a change of attitude and habits.
If people want to take baths they will have to accept that it wastes water and energy in comparison to a 5 minute shower. Products like the one above are feel-good solutions that result in no change for practical purposes. Maybe even the opposite if the owners now feel encouraged to take more baths. Our habits, not the individual symptoms, are the root of the problem.
Nevertheless, it looks comfortable. It made me laugh to imagine people trying to get their hair wet like JC says. But there are better, cheaper ways to pollute less or waste fewer resources.
Karsten
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http://www.polluteless.com
Practical Advice to Pollute Less
Alternative -
Install a wedge the size of a few gallons either permanently or temporarily (oops might float) in your existing tub or just calculate using less water keeping the water level a little lower.
Collect rainwater for flushes which would save as well.
vsk
What a totally bizzare idea.
First, the statement that most bath users sit with their knees bent up. I've never done that, I'm yet to use a bath where I can't stretch my normal length legs. And who would want to have their knees above the water line? It makes them cold!
Secondly, isn't the whole point of having a bath tub a possibility to immerse oneself in water? This idea makes the immersing bit impossible since now a person can't lower down or lie on the stomach in the bath.
Sorry, I'd rather not be forced into a foetal position everytime I take a bath! Maybe they'll sell 2 of them. One to the designer, and one to the author who seems so enamoured of it.