50 Acts of Green: Day Ten - Timed Showers
Don't you just love a nice long hot water shower, especially when you've been not feeling so well. It perks you up immediately, makes you feel more relaxed and able to handle your life. Hot showers really are an amazing convenience of first world technology. I love a nice hot shower in the morning, its part of my regular routine designed to set me up for a good day.
However, the top three residential water consumers are toilets, clothes washers, and showers. The average American showers for 8.2 minutes and uses 17.2 gallons of water. Not only do showers consume a huge amount of water, showers use a large amount of energy in heating up the water for showers. Average hot water usage in American households is 45 gallons, which means showering takes up most of the daily total of hot water usage. Even though water is a renewable resource, as it can be cleaned and reused, most water treatment facilities also consume a good deal of energy (between 20-45 kWh). So the best way to cut down on water usage and the energy usage around hot water is to cut down on showering time.
I have found that it is hard to simply say to yourself, I'm going to take a short shower. Time seems to go all wobbly and differently when I am in the shower. What I think is short one day isn't short another day. In my quest to shorten my showering time, I did two things. I bought myself a simple kitchen timer which can get wet and I thought out a schedule for things I do in the shower. Everyday the kitchen timer gets set at 5 minutes (perhaps someday it will be shorter...) and that is how long I have to shower. I don't need to wash my hair everyday, nor do I need to shave everyday (and I'll be talking about both those items in particular later), so I can put those items on a rotation which helps me get cleaned up in a shorter amount of time.
One small act of green, water and energy saved!
However, the top three residential water consumers are toilets, clothes washers, and showers. The average American showers for 8.2 minutes and uses 17.2 gallons of water. Not only do showers consume a huge amount of water, showers use a large amount of energy in heating up the water for showers. Average hot water usage in American households is 45 gallons, which means showering takes up most of the daily total of hot water usage. Even though water is a renewable resource, as it can be cleaned and reused, most water treatment facilities also consume a good deal of energy (between 20-45 kWh). So the best way to cut down on water usage and the energy usage around hot water is to cut down on showering time.
I have found that it is hard to simply say to yourself, I'm going to take a short shower. Time seems to go all wobbly and differently when I am in the shower. What I think is short one day isn't short another day. In my quest to shorten my showering time, I did two things. I bought myself a simple kitchen timer which can get wet and I thought out a schedule for things I do in the shower. Everyday the kitchen timer gets set at 5 minutes (perhaps someday it will be shorter...) and that is how long I have to shower. I don't need to wash my hair everyday, nor do I need to shave everyday (and I'll be talking about both those items in particular later), so I can put those items on a rotation which helps me get cleaned up in a shorter amount of time.
One small act of green, water and energy saved!
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