We apparently use about 10 liters of water for every minute of shower. That's a huge amount of water to spend everyday to clean on dirt that isn't even there. Then there is the added cost to heat your water, plus the cost of cleaning that water in the plants for future use, plus the actual cost of getting that water to you. Not to mention water tax and the impact on the environment with all those steps. Is it really worth it?
Here is some math I will attempt to do...
water used per 10 minute long shower = 100 liters
Number of showers in a month = 30
Total water used in a month = 3000 liters
Even though it uses US information, this site tells us that each shower could cost us over $2. Considering rate differences, lets assume it costs $2.50 in Canada per shower. That is $75 per person per month! If you have a 3 person household, as in my house, it could cost $225 just to shower everyone in the house in a month! This doesn't even include your other electricity usage like washer/dryer, fridge, lights, computers.
If people reduced their number of showers from 30 a month to even 20 per month, that could lead to a $75 savings in the monthly electric bill in a 3 person household. That is a $900 saving in a year!!!!!
Can you imagine that???
So I say: Limit showers..in numbers and in duration. And hey, share if you can :) Help the environment and your wallet.
Cool article. I agree. I think we are too clean anyway half the time. Look at kids. Mothers are terrified that their little baby will get something unsanitary in their mouth or whatever, so they use bleach and other cleaning products to sterilize an environment. I've heard reports that this obsessive level of cleanliness actually has a negative impact on someone's immune system, because it is too unnaturally clean. Also, look at the elevated rates of allergies, and to things I've never heard of before, like banana and kiwi!
ReplyDeleteI haven't done any scientific research on that topic, but I think somehow they are related.
You are absolutely right. The world these days lives off of panic and scare. Swine flu, avian flu..all these strange diseases are making people more vigilant than ever about keeping things things clean around them. They don't see the impact this is having on the children. When the environment is too clean, there is fewer microbe exposure so less likely to develop a better immune system. Here is one of the many papers discussing this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1448690/
ReplyDeleteIt is important to live a clean life but it is also important to not live in a bubble