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"It's a heat exchanger. We're making it possible for the 'gray water,'" the used hot water, "to come close to the cold water in such a way that the cold water will be heated but not mixed with the gray water.

"There are certain details about it which enhance the performance. But part of the challenge here is designing a heat exchanger that's compact, that's cost-effective for the average homeowner, that also doesn't cause a significant pressure loss.

"It's the interplay of these variables in the right mix that make the product useful in this application."

In many parts of the world, water -- its management, its conservation, its essential value to everything we know, and its seriously uneven distribution among populations -- is a major topic.  INDEX: Design to Improve Life, in fact, is participating in a groundbreaking challenge to young designers in association with AIGA, the Aspen Institute, Circle of Blue, Collins, Cumulus and JL Fondet. Click here to read more information about it.

As the global water crisis draws more and more focus, many designers like Montreal's Velan are turning their attention to the problem and looking for things that could be done in the developed world to help water consumers more easily save water.

Ecodrain, Velan says, is based in the dual possibility to reheat used water. "You can send it back to the water heater," he says, "so you're sending pre-heated water and the heater has to do less work. The other thing you can do is send it right back into the same shower you're having.

"Typically a shower mixes water from the water heater with cold water from your supply so the shower won't be too hot. What we're doing is pre-heating the cold water supply. When you do that, then, you need less of the hot water from the water heater to have your shower. That happens right away."

So the elegance of the Ecodrain approach is that you're lightening the load of heated water needed for the shower you're taking with the very water you've just used.

"I have a background in industrial manufacturing. It was actually my grandfather who asked, can't we can save heat from the shower. I had a discussion with him and said this is really interesting, I'd like to take on the project.

"We were successful in getting a small grant from the local gas utility, which accelerated us, and that was the growth of the product. And I've always had an interest in developing environmental design."

Like so many gifted designers who have significant, substantive concepts prepared, Velan is looking for implementation. When the phone does ring, he's ready for just about any application needed.

"There are varying configurations -- some will work only in an upright installation, for example. There's not just one universal form, and we wanted to make it easy for everybody to do it. So we have different versions and we're hoping to release one, ideally in eight to 12 weeks.

"We're in the process of setting up distribution. We'll probably have it available first in the United States, then we'll figure out how to get it to Europe. There are issues of certification, of course, in each market, and you also have to be sure in each market that you don't infringe on someone else's intellectual property. So it's a step-by-step process" to roll it out.

"We're working with a couple of builders. And also we're in discussion with a utility about a rebate program in a city."

Clearly a chance to demonstrate Ecodrain's effectiveness in a major installation as proof of performance would be useful.

"But you know, the reality is that most of the interest comes from people who see the Web site and say, 'Hey, where can I buy one of these?' It's not the big developer who's going to rush out and be the first customer. It would be great if one customer would buy all our units, but what's more likely is that the early adaptors are looking at the Web site, they drop me an e-mail and say, 'Where can I buy this?'"

Velan points out that while he's based in Montreal, Ecodrain is being developed more for other markets -- the United States, Europe and elsewhere -- at least initially.

And he says he's impressed that people looking at the product "are doing the cost-budget analysis, they're not just saying, 'I just want to be green,' they're saying, 'how much does it cost, what's the payback?'

"And that works for me, too."

Designed by:
David Velan (project manager); Rana Bose (engineering consultant and design manager), Steeltek International (prototype fabricator), Canada.

www.ecodrain.ca

Written by Porter Anderson