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Water consumption: dishwasher vs. hand washing

Hand washing can give you a better sense of control over how clean your dishes get, but unless you’re a very eco-conscious hand-washer, it can also be very wasteful. Researchers at the University of Bonn in Germany found handwashing can use as much as 27 gallons of water and 2.5 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy to wash 12 place settings, compared with 4 gallons and 1.5 kWh used by a dishwasher to wash the same number of dishes.

Because dishwashers are still a luxury for many, researchers recommend several ways a person can become “supereconomic” with hand-washing dishes:

• Remove large food scraps from the dishes with a spoon or a fork.
• Manual dishwashing is easier if the food is not dried to the dishes, therefore start washing soon after the meal.
• Do not pre-rinse the dishes under running tap water.
• Manual dishwashing is best done in two sinks: one with hot water and detergent, the other with cold water for a quick rinse.