Green Living Blog: On long, hot showers and eco sins
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I have a confession. While I consider myself pretty environmentally minded, I have a weakness for long, hot showers that I just can't give up, no matter how many times I hear – and acknowledge – that even 10 minutes is too much.
I know that many communities in Canada face water shortages every year. I know that here in Toronto, piping water up from the lake to my house is a drain on our already taxed electricity supplies. And in every other aspect of my life, I'm hyper conscious of wasting water – you could almost say I'm allergic to the sound of an unnecessarily running tap. But... well, for one thing, I'm often half asleep during my morning shower, so it takes me longer. I have long hair – it takes time to wash it. I exercise a lot, so skipping showers isn't generally an option (so long as I want to maintain my popularity at home, that is). Plus, showers are a little bit of easy luxury to start my day with. So what do I do to lessen the impact of my shower habit and alleviate my guilt?
• I try to make them shorter. I really do. It doesn't always work, but the effort's there.
• I try to turn the shower off the second the conditioner's rinsed out of my hair, rather than lingering.
• On days when I have a second shower (again, the exercise thing), I make it really quick and don't wash my hair.
• Some days, I just stay dirty.
It's not perfect, but it's a start. And maybe one of these days I'll learn to shower faster.
What's your eco sin? And do you have any advice for me on making my showers shorter? Share your thoughts in the comments below, or to enter our contest, send your story to greenchallenge@canadianliving.com – if we choose to feature it in the blog, you'll win one of our 30 daily prizes.
Today's code word: water.
Read more tips on saving water, and other ways you can go green in your home, in our guide to greener living.
March 23rd, 2008 at 10:15 pm
For many years now our family have been evironmentally conscious.From changing to CF lightbulbs to composting most of our vegetable waste.Our blue box is set out every week and we lower our thermostat to 15 degrees at bedtime.We try to gauge the traffic flow so we don't need to waste fuel and of course,when possible we take turns with our friends so we save fuel.Also we do have fairly new windows,but come fall we put plastic film so that it will keep in the heat.This is all helping to save the environment and saving dollars for us.
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:39 pm
my boyfriend and i shower together to save water; its doesnt just save water it makes for a fun showering experience as well
March 24th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Kat
I am so with you on this one - long hot showers are what I need to wake up properly in the morning and they are definitely a luxury. One way to help is by making the shower a little less pleasurable -turn your hot water heater down so the shower cannot get to the luxurious hot stage, or just don't make it so hot -make it a little less comfortable and you're bound to skip shaving your legs with the water running! I use all of your other techniques, and try to be green in every other way.
March 24th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
I have begun to use a ols solar garden light to charge re-chargable AA abatteries on a sunny day.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
When I shower, at home or at the gym, the water only runs for about a minute in total.
I rinse myself down, turn off the water, shampoo and soap myself all over, then turn on the water and rinse off. Frankly I find this so much better in my small showeer at home because it's actually hard to soap myself down with the water stream immediately rinsing the soap suds off.
March 25th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Living in a community where you pay for your water usage and it is over $3.00 a cubic meter, we are learning to conserve on water. Five years ago we switched to a front load washing machine, (which at the time there was five of us living in the house), it has saved us an enormous amount of money. We have gone from approx. 35 gals of water per load to approx. 7. We have used cold water wash for many years saving power costs. Our toilets are 6 litre and we have reduced our shower times. We do not water the lawn or flower beds, instead we have three large barrels to catch the rain water and this year we are looking at more drought tolerant plants. We are still looking into better ways of using our water and reducing our costs.
March 26th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I'm one of those who goes to the pool three times a week, and I get my personal shower then. The showers there are on a timer. At home, I still prefer to take a bath, and salve my conscience by sharing the bathwater with my marathon-running husband, nad sometimes soaking dirty cleaning rags in the leftover bathwater. At least that way, the water is thoroughly used before discarding.
It's quite easy to use "grey" bathwater for watering plants too, though it's a pain to lug it downstairs and into the yard.
I'm currently planning renovation of my main bathroom, and am interested in timers on domestic showers. Not for me, but for the three teenagers who currently are unable to make a shower in less than twenty minutes....
Does anyone know of any timers for domestic showers?