One idea/tool that's great in theory but made me a bit leery is the shower timer. Erin and I both love long hot showers. I'm not talking about 30-minute endeavors, but I know that I'm a regular exceeder of the 5-minute guideline we all learned about in grade school.
This winter, I was doing some consulting for a local company that involved brainstorming recommendations for an energy/water/comfort efficiency assessment for residential homes. When I stumbled across this simple, non-electric, inexpensive (< $5, check Amazon) timer, I knew that it'd be a good idea for others to implement:
-- since shorter showers not only result in less water usage (water efficiency), but a lot less energy required to heat that excess water (less electricity or natural gas, depending on your water heating system).
I admit, though, that for me, I had some resistance to the idea. I/we have made a lot of choices to reduce waste, but for some reason this one seemed a bit tougher and more personal. Nevertheless, about a month ago, I picked one up and stuck it on our shower wall.
And? It has certainly changed things for us. And it's been far less painful that I/we thought it would be. I've learned that:
This winter, I was doing some consulting for a local company that involved brainstorming recommendations for an energy/water/comfort efficiency assessment for residential homes. When I stumbled across this simple, non-electric, inexpensive (< $5, check Amazon) timer, I knew that it'd be a good idea for others to implement:
-- since shorter showers not only result in less water usage (water efficiency), but a lot less energy required to heat that excess water (less electricity or natural gas, depending on your water heating system).
I admit, though, that for me, I had some resistance to the idea. I/we have made a lot of choices to reduce waste, but for some reason this one seemed a bit tougher and more personal. Nevertheless, about a month ago, I picked one up and stuck it on our shower wall.
And? It has certainly changed things for us. And it's been far less painful that I/we thought it would be. I've learned that:
- While I didn't time my showers before, they were surely longer than 5 minutes.
- It actually only takes me about 2-3 minutes to get clean, followed by time that I just stand there and enjoy scalding-hot water running over me.
I've found out that I'm quite happy with a 4-minute (or so) shower. In fact, I frequently find myself jumping out at about the 3-minute point simply because I'm more cognizant that I'm "done" and it feels nice to be wasting less. Erin, too, has had no problems adapting.
In short, I thought it was going to suck to be "forced to" take shorter showers. It hasn't played out that way. It's not bad at all.
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