As global warming intensifies, the world is turning to large-scale environmental technologies like electric cars and solar power.

But so far, innovations that transform resource use inside people's homes have been few and far between.

Swedish startup Scandinavian Water Technologies, or Swatab, wants to change that: the company's patented filter system helps clean clothes with nothing but cold water.

The idea was born three years ago on a small-town farmyard in southern Sweden, where entrepreneur Per Hansson and his wife Katarina Klöfverskjöld ran their painting firm.

"We had bought a system for cleaning building facades in an environmentally friendly way. Seeing how efficient it was in removing algae and dirt, I realized that the same method could be applied to washing machines," says Hansson.

With a burning passion for molecules and chemistry, Hansson ran with his idea; and only two years after the founding of Swatab, he and his wife had received a Europe-wide patent for their water filtration system.

"Water in itself is highly soluble. For example, if you get a blood stain on your clothes, you can remove it with cold water," Hansson explains.

"Our filter makes tap water super clean, and by de-ionizing it, we can do away with the last remains of salts and contaminants. This super clean water is not in a balanced chemical state, and to become so again, the water will attach itself to stains and dirt and absorb them."

Swatab's filter system removes the need for laundry detergents and warm water.

Swatab’s filter system, Diro, is a closet-sized module that sits between the water pipes and the washing machine. Diro has cleared extensive testing done by Swedish research institute Swerea IVF as well as the European Union's research center in Sevilla, Spain.

"These [tests] show that we can meet the requirements. We have achieved an acceptable cleansing effect according to EU-standards that normally apply on tests involving laundry detergents."

averagejane/Flickr Swatab is now working to prove that its solution can save money and emissions for businesses and consumers alike.

"It looks very promising. For every 5 kilograms of laundry, our technology saves one kilogram of carbon emissions," says Hansson, referring to tests done over the past year with MKB, a housing association in Malmö that makes six million laundry washes per year.

Swatab’s first foreign expansion takes place in the U.K., where the company has garnered interest from several major companies.

However, Hansson’s long-term dream is to get Diro into millions of homes. To this end, he and his wife are developing a solution aimed for the consumer markets, due for launch next year.

At the annual Cleantech Forum Europe in May in Helsinki, organized by San Francisco-based Cleantech Group, Swatab was among six Nordic companies recognized as a WWF "Climate Solver" — an annual award "for enterprises that can lead the way to a sustainable economy with zero emissions and energy access to all."

Put together, the winning companies' solutions could reduce global carbon emissions by more than 300 million tons by 2027, according to WWF. That is more than the entire Nordic region’s CO2-emissions each year.