Stop Washing Dishes by Hand
Great news for people who hate to wash dishes if you have a dishwasher, washing dishes by hand – it is a colossal waste of water, energy, time and money, and you can prove it with the help of mathematics.
Most people grossly underestimate how much water their taps fill. Energy Star certified dishwashers should consume less than 270 kWh per year and 3.5 gallons per cycle , but most kitchen faucets move between one and two gallons per minute. In other words, if you only run the tap for four or five minutes, you can use more water than the entire dishwasher cycle. Older dishwashers do use more water, but still probably less than you think; If your child is over 10 years old (and is still working somehow), there is a good chance it is still more effective than hand-washing the dishes.
The exact amount of water and energy you can save depends on a number of factors, so whoever pays for utilities should probably look at the usage statistics of your dishwasher and faucet to see what they work with. What they find may be the push they need to finally tackle a new dishwasher.
Switching to a fully automated dishwashing lifestyle can reduce the strain on your energy bills, not to mention your legs, back and cuticles , especially now that you probably eat more at home and cook more meals, but that won’t happen. save the world. Some things always need to be washed by hand, and in any case, the shower and washing machine require more water than everything in the kitchen. However, this is an easy way to save water with little or no downside. I think they call it “win-win.” This post was originally published in November 2018 and was updated in October 2020 to add additional context and a new header image, as well as align content with the current style of Lifehacker.