IKEA ÅBÄCKEN – An innovative nozzle to help save water at home
The initial draft of a shower is often cold water, and many of us allow it to go into the drain before stepping in for a warm drizzle. But in Rene's home, this cold water is collected in a bucket for use later. He also has a fish tank. While it is soothing to see the colourful fishes do their business, these glass aquariums tend to hold several litres of water and require regular cleaning, including water change. René does not waste the aquarium's water and uses it to water plants.
A few things are different at René Marienfeld's home, and there is a lot of mindfulness regarding water usage. Though René is not a water conservationist, he is one at heart. At IKEA, he works on things that help conserve water. René is a product design engineer and works with water-related products from a technical point of view, including the likes of taps, showers, washbasins, kitchen sinks and accessories, among others.
Over the last two years, he and his team have been working on the latest water-efficient solution - the ÅBÄCKEN water nozzle for the bathroom.
"We want to enable as many people as possible to reduce their water consumption in the home," says René.
And the ÅBÄCKEN water nozzle does just that. The black-coloured ÅBÄCKEN is a small sized nozzle that can fit most standard bathroom taps available in the market and help customers reduce water usage. The nozzle has two modes – mist and spray. These modes help reduce the amount of water used for the most common and frequent activities in the bathroom, such as washing hands, face and brushing teeth.
How does the nozzle work? When fitted to a tap, the ÅBÄCKEN water nozzle can lower the water flow to 0.25L per minute in mist mode and up to 1.9L in spray mode. On the other hand, the regular taps have a water flow of about 5.7L per minute. In simple words, the ÅBÄCKEN water nozzle can save up to 95 per cent water in mist mode and 66 per cent in spray mode.
"When you think about what you do most in the bathroom, it's mainly things like washing your hands, your face or brushing your teeth. You are not filling any vessels, so you do not need a high amount or flow rate for the water. We evaluated this and saw the need for something that delivers just the right amount of water for the right application," says René.
And that is where the idea of having mist and spray modes came in. The spray mode provides water at a specific flow rate and force and is quite handy when it comes to, say, cleaning the toothbrush after one has used it. Or, one may have a little dirt on their hands and need to spray the water.
"The nozzle increases the speed of the water by pushing it through very small holes, creating tiny droplets that clean your hands or your tooth brush just like a regular tap but with less water," says René.
Inspiration from another nozzle
The idea of the ÅBÄCKEN water nozzle came about from an inspiration. With an eye on battling water scarcity, in 2018, IKEA joined hands with Altered, a Swedish innovation company that provides low-effort but high-impact solutions for making life more sustainable for the many people. Altered has a brass nozzle that offers water saving solution through spray and mist modes.
The agreement allowed IKEA to use Altered's patented technique and jointly develop an affordable water-saving nozzle that can be fitted to all standard taps, enabling customers to reduce water use by over 90 per cent. At that time, the still-in-the-works nozzle was called MISTELN and could be fitted to all traditional taps.
One of the main aims of this partnership was to create a nozzle at a price point that would make it accessible to the many people. Typically, such nozzles are made of metal and could cost upwards of 30 Euros. But IKEA wanted it available for everyone across the globe.
So, the team looked at various materials to create this nozzle and zeroed down on plastic to create what is now called the ÅBÄCKEN water nozzle. But it was not as easy as it seemed.
"It was a logical step to try to do it in plastic because if we could use a certain amount of recycled plastics, we could achieve a low cost, with the right functionality. However, due to the model's size, it is extremely compact. It has a lot of technology inside. We ended up with a quite difficult and complex construction, and after we got the first prototypes, we were not happy with things like the spray pattern," says Rene.
So, the team had to start again and re-evaluate the construction of the nozzle.
For this, they connected with an IKEA supplier in Spain, who has a long history of providing taps’ parts. This supplier specializes in ceramic cartridges for the taps. So, it became a three partners alliance, and the latest nozzle was created. IKEA has patented the ÅBÄCKEN nozzle.
The water nozzle uses approximately 40 per cent recycled plastic material and 60 per cent virgin materials (mainly ceramic materials and engineered plastics) for all parts, including the five adapters and the aerator key tool.
The water nozzle's design enables a long life span, with a 3-year guarantee, in-line with the guarantee on IKEA hand and head showers. Also, engineered plastic tend to be cheaper, more suitable for mass production and often more environmentally friendly than, say, stainless steel options.
Innovative, accessible water saving at home
Four billion people – almost two thirds of the world’s population – experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year. Approximately 10 per cent of the world’s fresh water supply is used in households. Hence, IKEA is committed to help people to save water in their homes.
The small ÅBÄCKEN water nozzle is a big step by IKEA to help conserve water at home while doing the daily chores in the bathroom.
Also, it has been observed world over that while people want to be sustainable, they don't want to change their routines and habits to accommodate products that require any adjustments in terms of the ease of application and use.
Hence, IKEA wanted a nozzle that could fit almost any bathroom taps and a user would not feel much difference in their experience while using it.
The other reason is the growing concern regarding the availability of drinking water globally. So, IKEA wants to inspire and enable people to save water at home with minor changes.
"ÅBÄCKEN would be a game changer in starting the conversation around saving water at home. Water shortage is a problem, but there are people around us who do not face water shortage today. With ÅBÄCKEN, we believe we can start the thought process of being conscious about water usage," says Hanna Carleke, Business Leader for the IKEA Bathroom range.
What is next for IKEA after ÅBÄCKEN?
Hanna says the team will continue to develop products that can help create behaviour changes at home around water use. IKEA will also continue focusing on creating water-saving products, such as the water recycling shower solution it is creating.
In fact, last year IKEA joined the 50L Home Coalition with the vision to make 50 litres of daily water use per person an aspiration for all. The coalition brings together companies, policymakers, innovators, researchers, and communities to develop and scale innovations for efficient water use at home. Currently, the average daily water use per person in Europe is 150 litres, and elsewhere much more.