Fighting Climate Change, One Laundry Load at a Time<br />Every material gets reused.”<br />In 2009, Novozymes scientists teamed up with Procter & Gamble to develop an enzyme that could be used in liquid detergents for cold-water washes.<br />Their work is helping the company develop enzymes for laundry and dishwasher detergents<br />that would require less water, or that would work just as effectively at lower temperatures.<br />Lowering the temperature on a washing machine cycle to cold water from 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) reduces energy consumption<br />by at least half, according to the International Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products, an industry group.<br />As a result of that low natural temperature, they do not require the heat and pressure typically used in washing machines and other laundry processes.<br />“We think there are a lot of systems and processes in nature<br />that are extremely resource efficient,” said Gerard Bos, director of the global business and biodiversity program at the International Union for Conservation of Nature in Switzerland.<br />In the quest for a more environmentally friendly detergent, two scientists at the company, Novozymes, regularly trudge through the mud, hunting for oyster mushrooms<br />that protrude from a fallen beech or bracken fungi that feast on tough plant fibers.<br />But in China, members of the growing middle class like Shen Hang are upgrading washing machines<br />and turning to more expensive, higher-quality detergents.
