OP Cleaning

I makes no difference what method you use, as long as the customer is delighted with the results, pays you with a smile every year and refers you to family and friends. Some carpets and some stains respond better to certain types of cleaning and having a debate about whichever one is best for everything is a pointless waste of time. Some customers only want HWE, others may only want dry cleaning/VLM. Who cares, give 'em what they want and they'll give you want you want. Repeat business.

I agree with RIP IT from a profit and time standpoint. But, on the other hand as professionals in this world that are on the fast-track of turning green should we not take it upon ourselves to knowingly remove the maximum soil and contaminates on each and every job we attempt to do?

Can this turn into a conscience issue? Now we can debate which system actually and truly removes max soil.

If you are truly looking at environmental impact and "being green", OP wins hands down.

It does drag out a lot of dirt - obviously not as much as HWE at the outset but over time is far more effective than any other system. But the disadvantage with HWE is having a relatively inefficient power system burning fossil fuels and using massive amounts of water sitting out in the driveway, costing you money and damaging the environment through pollution of both air and water.

Here in Australia we have had severe water restrictions over the last few years to the point where in some outlying areas, HWE was banned due to  the fact that not enough water was available. Encapsulation however was, due to the minimal amount of water used. So, little water = negligible environmental impact, no impact on the air quality as no engine was running (and the power was already available through the power point of the property) - which system is truly greener then?

encap is green??? it may say so on the bottle

Fresh, You are surrounded by water! Why dont they convert the sea water into

Steamer, that's pretty much the point I was making. Anything we get cannot be "green", just some are "greener" than others. I love the way so many things get marketed as "TOTALLY NATURAL"... truth is to be totally natural we'd find it lying on the ground anywhere we walk. And just because it is natural, doesn't necessarily mean that it's healthy. Get a teaspoonful of Bubonic Plague and you'll wipe out New York in one hit - totally natural, but do you wanna be anywhere near it.

But as far as our society goes, we can't simply say "oh none of it's green so it doesn't matter!" Quite the contrary, we need to look at the overall environmental impact and base our choices on that - at least if you give a damn about the environment you should.

As for the question on desalination - we have a plant up and running now already. Problem is the horrendous expense of both setting up and running said plant, and it's only possible for coastal areas. It is inland where the greater problem lies and as some of you may know, a lot of Australia is somewhat arid... desalinated seawater simply isn't an option!

There is no clear definition of "green" in this industry, just like there's no clear definition of "clean." As a marketing tool, I mostly relate "green" to indoor air quality: green chemistry and practices that enhance the customer's perception of a comfortable and safe indoor environment. A proper hwe will leave fewer nasties in the carpet than "dry" cleaning. A leave-in leaves more stuff in there. Duh. For those who see excessive moisture as a detriment to their indoor environment, however, I'm proud to offer a quick-dry alternative to assuage their concerns.