No matter how you wash dishes, energy is needed to heat and pump the water you use. A dishwasher also needs electricity to run the machine.
What You Should Know
- A dishwasher uses the same amount of water and electricity whether it's half full or completely full, and 80% of the energy consumed by your dishwasher is used to heat water..
- If you use two side-by-side sinks to wash your dishes by hand (one filled with hot, soapy water for washing and the other with cold water for rinsing), you'll use one-half as much water as you would using a dishwasher.
- Be careful though. Letting the water run continuously while you wash dishes by hand for seven minutes uses approximately 17.5 gallons of water. Meanwhile, even the oldest, most inefficient dishwashers use only 15 gallons per load.
Easy Things You Can Do
- Use the "energy saver" or "light wash" option.
This option uses less water, a shorter rinse cycle, and cold air to dry
the dishes. If your machine doesn't have one of these switches, use the
shortest cycle possible to get your dishes clean.
- Select the air-dry option,
which is sometimes separate from the energy saver switch. Federal law
requires that all new dishwasher have this option, which circulates air
with the help of an internal fan to dry the dishes instead of pumping
in new, hot air. It takes a little longer, but it can reduce your
energy usage by 40%. If your older machine doesn't have this option,
stop the machine before the drying cycle begins and open the door to
let the dishes air-dry. Make a note of the time the first time you do
this so you know exactly when to stop in in future.
- Always run your dishwasher with a full load.
- Don't pre-rinse dishes
before putting them in the dishwasher! Today's detergents are designed
to clean the dirtiest of plates. Scrape (don't rinse) off large pieces
of food from your dishes, and experiment with your dishwasher to find
out how much you really need to pre-rinse your dishes and still have
them come out clean--you may be surprised!
- Always run your garbage disposal with cold water.
Source: 51 Easy Ways You Can Prevent Global Warming (and save money!), by Jeffrey Langholz, Ph.D., and Kelly Turner