Sands through the hourglass count time in the shower
Showering can waste a gallon of water a minute. Yet a daily shower is one of those nonnegotiable, guilty pleasures I'm unwilling to sacrifice.
The 4-minute shower timer is an instrument of torture.
(Credit: Green Deals Daily)Still, the number of water-starved regions is only set to grow. For those who must watch every drop, a shower timer could be the next best thing to installing a high-tech, low-flow shower head.
A $3 timer from Envirosax, which makes trendy shopping bags, sticks to a shower wall with a suction cup. Its blue, pink, green, or gray sands take 4 minutes to pass through the hourglass.
Four minutes? Hair conditioner alone takes 2 minutes to work its magic. I would probably flip over the timer or ignore it, and feel guilty in any case. However, those who use the timer correctly could save hundreds of dollars a year on water bills.
The timer looks like an ideal stocking stuffer for green gift givers, although it's unclear how eco-friendly its plastic parts may be. Receiving one could be about as fun as a cardigan sweater. Those who are more eco-conscientious and self-punishing than yours truly may consider taking a Navy shower instead, which involves turning off the water while lathering, and then rinsing in a hurry.
(via Green Deals Daily)
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"hundreds of dollars a year." Assume a gallon a minute. Assume the average
shower time of 15 minutes, thus a reduction of 11 minutes and 11 gallons a
day. This'll save you about 4,000 gallons a year.
Where I live (DeKalb County, Georgia), water rates are $2.19/1000 gallons,
plus $3.22/1000 gallons for sewer. Total: $5.41/1000 gallons.
So, I'd save a whopping $22 dollars a year by shortening my shower. My
county is one of the drought-stricken areas, so there's still benefits to
shortening my shower, but my finances aren't among them.
Water is (still) relatively cheap. Energy is pricey and hot water is getting expensive. That is where you save the real $$.
Unless you have a solar shower.
Karsten
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http://www.polluteless.com
Practical Advice to Pollute Less