Yesterday, a shower was given a prize. Okay, let me explain. Nick Christy’s invention for a shower that recycles hot water won the Dutch Postcode Lottery Green Challenge, which netted him $684,000 to refine the invention.

From Venture Beat:

Most of the energy in your hot water system is lost. It’s never used.’ says Christy. A typical shower uses at least 3 litres of drinking water, and 22-48 percent of the energy used to heat a shower is lost in storing warm water which then goes cold in tanks and pipes within a household.

Christy’s idea captures the water from your shower, cleans it, then sends it right back to your shower head (still hot). The whole process takes about 25 seconds.