The Electrolux Design Laboratory 2004 event was held in New York City on November18^th. The event was the culmination of a competition whose purpose was to solicit innovative appliance concepts for the year 2015. First prize was won by a team from the University of NSW in Australia, for their Rockpool waterless dishwasher.

The Rockpool uses supercritical carbon dioxide as a solvent. The good part is that SCCO₂ eliminates the need for water and detergent, and thus leaves a smaller ecological footprint.

Some concerns are that SCCO₂ is not so good at removing inorganic materials, and then there’s the matter of the energy needed to compress the CO₂ enough to reach its critical pressure of about 1,070 psi or 72 atmospheres.

Following are losing entries from other countries:

Brazil: Mobile refrigerator that eliminates trips to the kitchen.
China: Hot-Pot Party a movable and multifunctional kitchen.
Czech: Washman scans fabric type, selects wash cycle & dries clothes
Portugal: NFridge uses magnetic refrigeration
Sweden: FooZoo intelligent fruit bowl that controls humidity & temperature

UK: Ceramic Cooking tablet that uses induction-heating

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