Thirty years ago, as businesses worldwide were reeling from high-energy costs not unlike those we’re seeing today, European textile service companies were pioneering innovative conservation efforts.
 
In February 1978, Philip Garner, European correspondent for the Linen Supply News (renamed Textile Rental in 1979) outlined a number of innovations launched in Sweden and Germany to reclaim heat in water and air used by or near laundry equipment. 
 
Examples shown above include a heat-reclamation system in which hot air accumulated in an insulated duct, heat-recycling equipment from a continuous-batch drying system and a unit that collected ...