Comments on: 84 Ways To Help The Planet Starting Today.

By: Jill

Jill — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:44:47 +0000

I too disagree with “stop handwashing the dishes.” I can do 2 days of dishes in 8 quarts of water which I then throw out on the lawn to water a tree. (non-toxic biodegradable dishsoap has not yet had an effect on the area and I live in a low-rain location and NEVER water the lawn other than with dish or laundry water)

the embodied energy in dishwasher manufacture, the power to heat the larger quanitity of water, and etc must be taken into account. Obviously if I were an idiot who left the water running the entire time I did dishes and let it all flow right down the drain, kept my hot water heater at some excessive level and etc, then this would not be true.

By: fern

fern — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 13:28:21 +0000

have to agree with the others….i’m not convinced that hand washing dishes uses more energy/resources than the dishwasher. As a single person, i hand wash all the time; leaving dishes to accumulate for several days in the dishwasher until i have a full load is just skeevy to me.

i think the jury is still out on which is better, as it’s so variable, depending on how strong a flow when you let the water run, etc.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 06:53:27 +0000

I wish I had a dishwasher!

By: bjk

bjk — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:08:12 +0000

I think that for larger families it is better to use the dishwasher.